Notes and Editorial Reviews
"Aikman was introduced to Fanfare’s readers in 24:2 in a review by Michael Fine of three of the composer’s chamber works. Fine called the music “accessible and inventive” and an “eclectic use of jazz-like rhythms and pop idioms merged seamlessly with the formality of the fugue.”
“Accessible,” of course, is one of those code words we invoke to telegraph to the reader that the music is listener-friendly, easy on the ear, and easily digested. I wouldn’t have expected a former student of Dutch modernist Louis Andriessen to fit that description, but indeed, Aikman’s music does. The Violin Concerto, “Lines in Motion,” was written in 2009. It’s in three movements, with both the first, Prologue/Improvisation, and the third,
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Toccata, being short and almost exactly equal in length. They serve as bookends to a 13-minute Quasi una Fantasia that is the heart of the work. Aikman begins his Violin Concerto with an orchestral introduction that, in its insistent repetition of a narrow compass of intervals, suggests a Minimalist at work in the style of Philip Glass. But with the violin’s entrance, the impression is dispelled, for this is to be a work of soaring lyricism, romantic beauty, and emotional urgency. Whether intended or not, I can’t say, but hints of Lalo’s Symphonie Espagnole and other famous violin works of the 19th and 20th centuries permeate the radiant and intensely gripping central movement. Concertos by Barber, Korngold, Rózsa, and Lee Holdridge come to mind. Unquestionably, this is a major addition to the 20th-century violin concerto repertoire, and soloist Charles Weatherbee is simply fantastic. Raymond Tuttle reviewed Weatherbee’s Naxos recording of another fine contemporary violin concerto by Jonathan Leshnoff in 32:6 and called the violinist “first class,” an appraisal reaffirmed here.
Ania’s Song,
a pavane for string orchestra, was written three years earlier. It was commissioned by Thomas J. Beczkiewicz as a birthday present for his wife, Ania Dowgiallo. Originally, the piece was scored for string quartet and is based on the musical notes A, D, B, the initials of Ania’s name. Note author Andrew Mead relates that Ania is of Polish royalty and that she and her family lost much in World War II. She emigrated to the U.S., became a citizen, and married Beczkiewicz. Recently, she was able to return to Poland to visit, and
Ania’s Song
is “a tribute to the nobility that lives within the sublime acceptance of life’s travails.” If you ever get tired of listening to Barber’s
Adagio for Strings
, Aikman’s
Ania’s Song
should make a good substitute. Aikman’s piece, however, is not emotionally shattering in the same way Barber’s is. It begins slowly and softly, builds to a big climax, and then subsides; that much the two works have in common. But there’s almost a sense of transcendent peace and joy rather than unbearable sorrow in
Ania’s
remembrance of things past. Yes, you’ll shed a tear or two along the way, but you’ll also smile. What emotionally stirring and spiritually uplifting music this is!
Aikman’s Alto Saxophone Concerto, completed in 2010, is the most recently composed work on the disc. Though each of its three movements sports a descriptive title—“Call and Response,” “Refrains,” and “Waltz Rounds”—the work is more regularly patterned than the earlier violin concerto in that it is more oriented toward classical design; the first movement is the longest and weightiest, while the last movement is the shortest of the three and fulfills the role of a finale in its dance-like character.
In style and musical vocabulary, however, the saxophone concerto represents a fairly significant departure from the two previous works. It’s the most modernistic in its approach to rhythm, dissonance, and orchestral scoring. And while I wouldn’t characterize the music as atonal, Aikman himself points out that his material is derived from a series of overlapping triads that echo in construction the tone row Alban Berg devised for his violin concerto. Of course, anyone familiar with that work knows that Berg adopted Schoenberg’s 12-tone technique and then adapted it to his own ends, transforming it into a less rigid, nonassociative tonal atonality with roots in the postromanticism of Mahler and Zemlinsky and the Expressionism of pre-12-tone Schoenberg.
As noted a few years back when I reviewed a couple of CDs by saxophonist Theodore Kerkezos, I have a special fondness for the alto sax, it being the instrument my father played. I’ve not had the pleasure of hearing Taimur Sullivan before, though I see that two of his CDs have been reviewed by Robert Carl and Raymond Tuttle. In a score like Aikman’s alto saxophone concerto, which is both quite contemporary-sounding and unfamiliar, it’s a bit difficult to judge the playing of any artist, but to my ear, Sullivan produces a smooth, evenly balanced tone and navigates the technical obstacles of the score with ease and poise.
This is a wonderful release of enjoyable new works that comes with a strong “buy” recommendation."
FANFARE: Jerry Dubins
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Works on This Recording
1.
Sonata for Violin no 3 by James Aikman
Performer:
Alexander Kerr (Violin),
Lisa Leonard (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 2002
Date of Recording: 02/2002
Venue: Solid Sound Studio, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Length: 18 Minutes 16 Secs.
2.
Fantasy for Violin and Electronics by James Aikman
Performer:
Davis Brooks (Violin),
James Aikman (Electronics)
Period: 20th Century
Written: USA
Date of Recording: 07/2003
Venue: Solid Sound Studio, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Length: 7 Minutes 18 Secs.
Notes: Composition written: USA (1989).
Composition revised: USA (1991).
3.
Sonata for Violin no 2 by James Aikman
Performer:
Zeyda Ruga Suzuki (Piano),
Hidetaro Suzuki (Violin)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1994
Date of Recording: 07/1998
Venue: The Lodge, Indianapolis, Indiana
Length: 13 Minutes 25 Secs.
4.
Sonata for Violin no 1 by James Aikman
Performer:
Joshua Bell (Violin),
Deanna Aikman (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1986
Date of Recording: 04/13/1989
Venue: Live Recital Hall, Indiana University
Length: 10 Minutes 39 Secs.
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