MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger


 
REVIEW


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Chandos recordings
All Chandos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 

alternatively
CD: AmazonUK AmazonUS


Moods – Piano Music by American Women Composers
Marilyn J ZIFFRIN (b.1926) Moods (2005) [6:23]; Piano Sonata (2006) [8:55]
Elizabeth BELL (b.1928) Arecibo Sonata (1968 rev 2005) [13:15]
Rami LEVIN Passages (2002) [8:24]
Rain WORTHINGTON Hourglass (1991) [7:57]; Tangents (1996) [10:29]; Dark Dreams (2001) [8:06]; Always Almost (1996) [6:16]
Max Lifchitz (piano)
rec. 17–20 December 2007, Chapin Hall (Bernhard Music Center), Williams College, Williamstown, MA, DDD
NORTH/SOUTH RECORDINGS N/S R 1049 [70:00]

Experience Classicsonline


 
One wonders why, in this day and age, it is deemed necessary to include in the title of a CD the words Women Composers. Surely no company would dream of issuing a CD under the title Music by Male Composers, would they? When CRI (Composers Recordings Inc) issued the complementary CDs Lesbian American Composers and Gay American Composers I think we’d reached the nadir as far as the naming of CD compilations could go. This title is merely a backward step, and I am none the wiser as to understanding why this name is thought to be essential. I wonder why North/South Recordings didn’t go the whole hog and employ a female pianist – a real chance to give the sisterhood full rein.
 
The big question is, who are these composers? They are all new names to me. The second question is, is the music worthwhile, no matter what the sex of the composer?
 
First things first. The booklet contains good notes which place each female composer in musical context, and introduces her and her work(s) to us. My first impression, on first hearing, was that whilst all this music is well crafted, and certainly very well performed, there is a singular lack of an individual voice at work in any of the pieces. These female composers - isn’t that annoying? – I’ve written that expression twice and it really irritates - better, these composers (doesn’t that feel right?) have certainly created well written pieces, but that really isn’t enough.
 
The presence of Hindemith is in evidence throughout. I have no problem with Hindemith the composer, and certainly, his influence is great and far reaching, and not just through his pupils, but when heard in the work of four composers, and all of them heard together on one disk, the voice becomes tedious.
 
The best of the bunch seems to me to be Rain Worthington whose website tells us that she is “… a distinctly unique voice within the field of contemporary music.” I feel that that statement, on the strength of what we have here, is pushing things a bit too far, but I do feel that there is probably a composer of some stature lurking somewhere in the background.
 
Overall, I find all these pieces to be far too serious, with no let-up, or gentle light relief from relentless greyness. Where is the variety of timbre, melody, metre? It’s all too much of a muchness. I am sure that Max Lifchitz plays with total authority and sincerity, but even his advocacy cannot help the fact that I really don’t care.
 
One final point. On YouTube you can find a 2 minute excerpt from Rain Worthington’s orchestral work Shredding Glass. Here is a work well worth our time. I want to hear much more of this composer, for she obviously, on the strength of this work, has a fine aural sense and can create atmosphere and a sense of time and space. However, I cannot, in my heart of hearts, welcome this disk. For me, there is insufficient substance in the music to grip the listener and - this is important - make them care about the compositions.
 
This CD is certainly a valiant attempt to introduce us to some work new to us, but good intentions are simply an insufficient reason for devoting an entire CD to this work.
 

Bob Briggs
 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools






Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.


 

bar.inc"-->