Notes and Editorial Reviews
HARBACH
The Soul of Ra.
1,2
Freeing the Caged Bird.
2
Transformations.
1,2
Echoes from Tomorrow.
4
K. CHOPIN
Lilia Polka
(arr. Harbach)
3
•
Kirk Trevor, cond;
1
Bratislava CO;
2
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Bratislava Ww Qnt;
3
Ens Istropolis
4
•
MSR 1255 (69:41)
Barbara Harbach identifies herself as “an American voice,” and that capsule description holds true for most of the music here. Without access to a score, I won’t try to explain how her melodic and harmonic tendencies could be construed as American except to refer to her appreciation of folk music and a superficial resemblance to Copland and others of similar bent.
Transformations
for string orchestra—inspired by
Making an American Citizen
, a silent film directed by Alice Guy Blanche in 1912—exemplifies her approach to our national idiom. The opening “Pastorale” is lyrical, perhaps emphasizing the gentler side of a bucolic early America. There’s a transition to a rhythmically pronounced or dance-like theme before the movement subsides. “Towards Liberty” is more assertive, but optimistic strains are followed by “Restrain,” in which dramatic intensity and darker harmony imply struggle, no doubt correlated to episodes in the film. “Commandment” combines the lyrical “Pastorale” element and the striving implicit in “Towards Liberty.” All told, the eight movements continue in the same vein as these first four, encapsulating, in the composer’s words, “moods . . . from nostalgia to agitation to resolution.” It’s not uncommon for composers of film scores to compile suites to allow their music to be heard in the concert hall—Harbach has done so herself in
Echoes from Tomorrow
for chamber orchestra, adapting material she wrote for another silent film,
Simon Judit
—so, reversing that procedure, I suspect Harbach’s music would provide a moving and meaningful accompaniment for
Making an American Citizen. Echoes
, compared to
Transformations
, shows the same hand at work, insofar as the melodies and harmonies sound familiar, but the instrumental color is more diverse, as it’s scored for piano, winds, and solo strings (violin, viola, cello). There also seems to be more interplay among the instruments. The opening movement, intended to portray “the joy and exuberance of young love,” pulses with buoyant “Anticipation.” The spare violin and piano that begin “Changes” introduce a vaguely anxious motif that alternates with happier, dance-like episodes and a sweetly nostalgic violin solo—the fluctuating form is no doubt an attempt to convey the central character’s confusion and sorrow in the midst of life-changing circumstances. While sometimes bittersweet, the music doesn’t dwell on the film’s tragedy. Harbach, as her notes reveal, is more interested in the central character’s psychological evolution, and she finds hope even in a darkly oppressive story. “Transitions” alternates between major and minor and between themes implying struggle as well as cheerfulness, while “Remembrances” is reflective, sad perhaps but not somber—the price of hard-won wisdom? Harbach’s wind quintet,
Freeing the Caged Bird
, opens with a jaunty theme that could be heard as an introductory fanfare. Each of the four movements is named for the literary woman who inspired it: “Maya Angelou,” “Sara Teasdale,” “Kate Chopin,” and “Emily Hahn.” Teasdale’s adagio follows Angelou’s allegro, with Chopin and Hahn’s flowing allegrettos comprising the last two movements. Hahn is a trifle spicier than Chopin is, but also partakes of Harbach’s considerable lyricism (I only use the Italian terms as a convenient reference for readers as such tempo indications aren’t listed on the CD). The quintet’s prevailing mood is sunny, even though the subjects’ lives were hardly free from struggle, depression, or opprobrium. Although I fundamentally agree with Harbach that she’s immediately recognizable as an American composer, oddly enough, I thought of Mahler when I heard
Soul of Ra
’s second subject; it’s “a soaring melody of hope and heart’s ease” that closely follows an elegy, “In Memoriam,” intended to honor “all our lost love, loved ones and the many war dead.”
Soul of Ra
’s energetic second movement, “Phoenix Rising,” “personifies the indomitable human spirit that transcends loss and this world’s suffering.” The composer symbolically repeats themes from the first movement to stress that even “Amidst our joy there is always a reminder of ‘In Memoriam’ and the gentle ache of remembrances past.” The final track, Harbach’s delightful transcription for wind quintet of Kate Chopin’s
Lilia Polka
for piano, provides a whiff of ragtime and 19th-century Americana to end the CD. Conductor Kirk Trevor, the Bratislava Woodwind Quintet, the Bratislava Chamber Orchestra, and the Ensemble Istropolis play Harbach’s music in direct, communicative ways that never compromise the music’s integrity with uncalled-for tempo alterations or interpretive distortion of any kind. This is a fine disc of appealing music by a talented composer.
FANFARE: Robert Schulslaper
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Works on This Recording
1.
The Soul of Ra, for string orchestra: In Memoriam by Barbara Harbach
Conductor:
Kirk Trevor
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Bratislava Chamber Orchestra
Period: 20th Century
Length: 5 Minutes 57 Secs.
Notes: Director: Kirk Trevor.
2.
The Soul of Ra, for string orchestra: Phoenix Rising by Barbara Harbach
Conductor:
Kirk Trevor
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Bratislava Chamber Orchestra
Period: 20th Century
Length: 4 Minutes 9 Secs.
Notes: Director: Kirk Trevor.
3.
Freeing the Caged Bird, for woodwing quintet: Maya Angelou by Barbara Harbach
Conductor:
Kirk Trevor
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Bratislava Chamber Orchestra,
Bratislava Woodwind Quintet
Period: 20th Century
Length: 2 Minutes 43 Secs.
Notes: Director: Kirk Trevor.
4.
Freeing the Caged Bird, for woodwing quintet: Sara Teasdale by Barbara Harbach
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Bratislava Woodwind Quintet
Period: 20th Century
Length: 4 Minutes 30 Secs.
Notes: Director: Kirk Trevor.
5.
Freeing the Caged Bird, for woodwing quintet: Kate Chopin by Barbara Harbach
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Bratislava Woodwind Quintet
Period: 20th Century
Length: 3 Minutes 21 Secs.
Notes: Director: Kirk Trevor.
6.
Freeing the Caged Bird, for woodwing quintet: Emily Hahn by Barbara Harbach
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Bratislava Woodwind Quintet
Period: 20th Century
Length: 4 Minutes 23 Secs.
Notes: Director: Kirk Trevor.
7.
Transformations, for string orchestra: Pastorale by Barbara Harbach
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Bratislava Chamber Orchestra
Period: 20th Century
Length: 2 Minutes 24 Secs.
Notes: Director: Kirk Trevor.
8.
Transformations, for string orchestra: Towards Liberty by Barbara Harbach
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Bratislava Chamber Orchestra
Period: 20th Century
Length: 1 Minutes 43 Secs.
Notes: Director: Kirk Trevor.
9.
Transformations, for string orchestra: Re-strain by Barbara Harbach
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Bratislava Chamber Orchestra
Period: 20th Century
Length: 1 Minutes 33 Secs.
Notes: Director: Kirk Trevor.
10.
Transformations, for string orchestra: Commandment by Barbara Harbach
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Bratislava Chamber Orchestra
Period: 20th Century
Length: 3 Minutes 41 Secs.
Notes: Director: Kirk Trevor.
11.
Transformations, for string orchestra: For Life by Barbara Harbach
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Bratislava Chamber Orchestra
Period: 20th Century
Length: 1 Minutes 1 Secs.
Notes: Director: Kirk Trevor.
12.
Transformations, for string orchestra: One Out of Many by Barbara Harbach
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Bratislava Chamber Orchestra
Period: 20th Century
Length: 2 Minutes 21 Secs.
Notes: Director: Kirk Trevor.
13.
Transformations, for string orchestra: Profit by Barbara Harbach
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Bratislava Chamber Orchestra
Period: 20th Century
Length: 1 Minutes 9 Secs.
Notes: Director: Kirk Trevor.
14.
Transformations, for string orchestra: Return by Barbara Harbach
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Bratislava Chamber Orchestra
Period: 20th Century
Length: 2 Minutes 32 Secs.
Notes: Director: Kirk Trevor.
15.
Echoes from tomorrow, for chamber ensemble: Anticipation by Barbara Harbach
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Ensemble Istropolis
Period: 20th Century
Length: 6 Minutes 37 Secs.
Notes: Director: Kirk Trevor.
16.
Echoes from tomorrow, for chamber ensemble: Choices by Barbara Harbach
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Ensemble Istropolis
Period: 20th Century
Length: 8 Minutes 10 Secs.
Notes: Director: Kirk Trevor.
17.
Echoes from tomorrow, for chamber ensemble: Transitions by Barbara Harbach
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Ensemble Istropolis
Period: 20th Century
Length: 3 Minutes 30 Secs.
Notes: Director: Kirk Trevor.
18.
Echoes from tomorrow, for chamber ensemble: Remembrances by Barbara Harbach
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Ensemble Istropolis
Period: 20th Century
Length: 7 Minutes 59 Secs.
Notes: Director: Kirk Trevor.
19.
Lilia Polka, for woodwind quintet by Kate Chopin
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Bratislava Woodwind Quintet
Period: Romantic
Length: 1 Minutes 51 Secs.
Notes: Arranger: Barbara Harbach.
Director: Kirk Trevor.
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