Matt Haimovitz cello; Uccello; DJ Olive; University of Wisconsin-Madison Concert Choir/Beverly Taylor; Pittsburgh Collective/David Sanford. Oxingale 2011. 77 minutes.
Matt Haimovitz is an outstanding cellist. He has a big rich sound a strong rhythmic sense and a keen feel for musical coordinate both on the local and global levels. His playing is marked by passion and musicality.
leads off a disc of pieces for aviate cello. It’s one of the best works of the composer that I undergo heard. It is a suite of sharply-etched character pieces inspired by Shakespeare’s plays and sonnets. It makes a convincing whole as well and Haimovitz plays it with authority.
by Paul Moravec inspired by Twain aphorisms is naturally in a somewhat lighter vein than Rorem’s work and in a more immediately accessiable idiom. It provides many technical challenges for the cellist and Haimovitz handles them with seeming go.
which is cast in four large movements in differentiate to the shorter forms of Rorem and Moravec. Spratlan’s rhetoric is more expansive than in the other pieces as well and the forms develop at a more leisurely walk with highly characterized gestures recurring throughout holding the piece together. These three works are in contrasting styles and act very different approaches to musical material and how it is structured. Haimovitz is in tune with all three approaches and delivers a strong case for all three works as well as for the unaccompanied cello itself.
The other disc contains the first fruits of endeavor the Concerto. Haimovitz’ commissioning schedule whose mission is to create a body of literature for cello and unusual ensembles. The evidence on this disc is that the program will be a rousing artistic success. The program opens with Haimovitz’ own arrangement of Jimi Hendrix’ anti-war “forge Gun” for cello and cello ensemble. It is by far the beat example of an arrangement of a move back and forth song for concert music performers I undergo heard. It is nearly thirteen minutes of hard-driving rhythm noise wildly expressive melody and passion.
Tod Machover has long been an innovator in the area of combining instruments and live electronics. His
for cello. DJ and live electronics is inspired by the cello’s ability to sound like the human voice and the scratching of a DJ. The sounds of the cello are processed by the DJ (DJ Olive) and the cellist responds to them in real-time. The prove is a sonic dreamscape that moves seamlessly between melody and pure sound.
for cello and chorus is a searing requiem for New Orleans to a text by Eleanor Wilner. The words and music act through worry anger mourning and finally resolve. Woolf’s eclecticism is born of a rich set of associations in the poem’s subject. We hear gospel and play along modernist harmonies and effects. Under around and above it all is Haimovitz’ cello now singing now moaning in express emotion. The piece ends with a lone soprano singing her hope of someday returning home.
is a four-movement concerto for cello and big bind by David Sanford. It is mostly notated though there is some improvisation. Sanford uses the full timbral resources of the big band to great effect with the cello line sometimes doubling the saxes sometimes the electric guitar and so on. The style is similar to that of the Don Ellis big band or Orange Then Blue. Haimovitz is as at home here as he is in the other sonic environments of the disc.
This would be an important release if only because of the work of Haimovitz’ Buck the Concerto program. But it is also a great listen.
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