No
sooner had I dashed off my review of Facets than this
follow up volume arrived. All right, so maybe Facets 2
is more a film title than an example of imaginative descriptiveness
but the Crystal team does at least stick to its guns with invincible logic.
As
before John Holt is the primarius, relishing the demands and
rewards of this repertoire. Ewazen’s Sonata makes for a fulsome
start – lyric, fluent, nicely sprung, freshly generous and taking
advantage (in the first movement) of spatial distance to generate
a sense of remoteness without muting. We’re in broadly enriched
nineteenth century territory for much of the time even though
the finale feasts on some pungent and aromatic harmonies and
some jazzy writing as well. Turrin constructs an elusive Psalm
(the first of his Portraits) - pliant and calm – and a more
outgoing and conversational Incantation complete with craggy
piano writing. James Wintle’s miniatures encompass a clever
and rather saturnine Adagio espressione – complete with animated
flute writing (the only time on the disc) – and muted trumpet
in the Allegretto finale and its fluttering flute companion.
There are sheerly lyric morceaux as well, from Merrill Ellis
and Fisher Tull and a charming one from Francine Trester. To
add some more novelty there’s also Turrin’s arrangement of Gershwin’s
Someone to Watch Over Me and there’s a strongly argued
1956 (though 1986 revised) neo classical Sonata by Kent Kennan
– shades of Hindemith here – with its deliciously unstoppable
motoric finale.
The
performances are excellent and the sound quality, in the Texas
Mesquite Arts Centre, is thoroughly sympathetic and the notes
are the infamous Crystal fold out jobs – origami style.
Jonathan
Woolf
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