The information to
support this release is rather cursory,
but it is evident that composer/pianist
Richard Howard is something of a polymath:
a college biology professor and fencing
coach in addition to being a semi-professional
musician.
He is quoted as saying,
"The seven pieces that make up
the Prairie Visions suite are the result
of 30 years of composition and refinement.
The music is my homage to the Texas
Great Plains, which I have called home
all my life." Having never seen
the Texas Great Plains myself, I can
only assume that his aim in the compositions
is to create sound vistas that evoke
aspects of the landscape and its atmosphere.
The movements have titles such as "Prairie
Tempest", "Sunrise",
"Haunted Mesa", "Galaxies
of the Night", "Love Song
of the Western Wind", "Dance
of Fate" and "Sunset Refrain
and Reverie". Taken as a whole
the various movements could create a
montage across a series of moods and
times. The movements work when heard
individually too, as there is next to
no material that links them together.
The introductory note
about Richard Howard also states that
his "free nature … led him to work
in the Romantic Russian and French Impressionistic
traditions". Indeed, the music
does seem very improvised, relying more
on repetition and slight variation within
each movement than real thematic development.
Any Russian or French influences are
somewhat general and indirectly felt
in this extended Texan sound landscape;
certainly no specific composers are
identifiable as having any meaningful
impact. That could be something of a
pity, as direct influences might have
given Howard the composer a more individual
voice. What we have though is a mixture
of large gestures calculated to arrest
and impact momentarily, but without
long term significance, played off against
dappled repeated sequences lending an
air of space over a firmly fixed musical-landscape
ground.
As a player Howard
captures the grand sweep of his writing
with ease and manages nuance adequately
also. As with the composition, what
I miss in his playing is the authority
of his voice: that which makes you sit
up and take notice. It could be the
slight indistinctness that his fingering
has at times, which can make forte passages
a little overpowered especially given
his tendency to use the sustain pedal
as captured by the full bodied recording.
It is a pleasant enough
disc, which Richard Howard sinks his
heart into. For me, however, it is not
especially memorable in terms of composition
or playing, though others might feel
differently.
Evan Dickerson
for
details
Richard Howard (piano) 
