MORAVEC Tempest Fantasy.1 Mood Swings. B. A. S. S. Variations. Scherzo • Maria Bachmann (vn); Alexis Pia Gerlach (vc); Jon Klibonoff (pn); David Krakauer (cl)1 • NAXOS 8.559323 (60:40)

It is easy to understand why Paul Moravec would have been awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 2004 for the lead work on this CD. Tempest Fantasy is inspired by the Shakespearean play from which it takes its name, which puts him in a rich tradition indeed. Without a doubt, there is no other literary figure in history that so widely and profoundly influences the art of music. Each movement is a reflection on some aspect of the play, in the composer’s words, “points of departure for flights of purely musical fancy.” This is a beautifully crafted creation, amalgamating a range of stylistic influences, showing off a nearly prismatic sense for timbral color, and constructed with a sure sense for architectural cohesiveness. And yet, most of this music did not move me. Moravec’s manner here is clean, beautiful, and oddly out of touch with the deeper emotional nuances of his muse. He claims that he is not programmatic, but there is a sense, expressed in idiomatic gestures in the rhythmic and melodic elements, of an overtly dramatic sensibility, more so in the faster sections.

In the lovely “Sweet Airs” movement, we get a deeper sense of Moravec’s talents, with music of rhapsodic splendor. That impulse comes to fuller fruition in both Mood Swings and B. A. S. S. Variations (the title refers to the German notation for B♭, A, E♭, E♭, the base melody), where, freed of literary obligations of any kind, his imagination blossoms. All of this music is harmonically traditional, even proudly tonal, but Moravec has his own voice. At this point, I must mention that the performers—associates and dedicatees of the composer—are a strong factor in the success of this presentation. This is intensely focused and lyrically expressed playing, with obviously deep affection for the music. The disc ends with a whirling Scherzo, an encore piece written for this trio. In all, an honest and impressive portrait of a major American composer.

FANFARE: Peter Burwasser