The five pieces by Edward Smaldone (born 1956) on a new release from New Focus Recordings show a similar level of interest in varying sonorities and instrumentation. Cantare di Amore (2009) is for soprano (Tony Arnold), flute (Tara Helen O’Connor), and harp (June Han). The flute and harp interconnect with sensitivity in all three songs, although the “swooning” sounds of the flute can be distracting; the voice, singing in Italian, is set with welcome clarity and without overly strained or overstated sounds – indeed, its expressiveness is welcome in a contemporary work, although its tonal language is certainly modern. Double Duo (1987/2006) is for flute (O’Connor), clarinet (Charles Neidich), violin (Daniel Phillips), and cello (Marcy Rosen). As the title indicates, this single-movement work handles the instruments mostly in pairs rather than as a quartet. Its rhythmic angularity is effective enough, although it does not fully explore the auditory differences among the participants. Letters from Home (2000/2007/2014) is a set of six movements, the sixth a reprise of the first, written for soprano (Susan Narucki), flute and piccolo (Judith Mendenhall), clarinet and bass clarinet (Neidich), and piano (Donald Pirone). The letters’ topics are mundane ones of the modern world, although hearing matters such as taxes, graduation gifts and familial relationships given the art-song treatment gives the work a certain pleasant piquancy. Duke/Monk (2011), a duet for clarinet (Neidich) and piano (Morey Ritt), offers two movements in different styles (hence the expository title), the first slow and improvisational in feeling, the second more strongly ornamented in the clarinet and with a more-intense woodwind focus. This set of chamber pieces is capped by a work for string orchestra: Sinfonia (1986/2010), played by the Brno Philharmonic Strings conducted by Mikel Toms. This piece is something of a disappointment, without the level of creativity in the other offerings on the disc and with the usual stop-and-start feeling that contemporary composers often use (generally, as here, with limited success) to pull audiences in different emotional directions. As a whole, the CD offers a good portrait of Smaldone’s varying interests in instrumental and vocal contrast, and his particular skill at writing for, blending and contrasting woodwinds – both with and without the human voice.
Additional Smaldone works are offered on one-half of a two-CD set from Ablaze Records, the other disc being devoted to music by Douglas Knehans (born 1957). The four Smaldone pieces here continue to show his skill with chamber ensembles and his interest in reimagining traditional combinations of instruments. Rituals: Sacred and Profane is for flute (Nave Graham), cello (Yijia Fang), and piano (Matthew Umphreys), and balances the roles of the three instruments carefully: none truly dominates, and all have opportunities to take the material in their own directions. Suite is a three-movement piece for violin (Scott Jackson) and piano (Umphreys). Its movements are suitably differentiated and, as usual for a work with this title, not strongly related to each other: the first, Impromptu, is in large part an extended solo violin cadenza; the second, Adagio, is indeed slow-paced but not especially emotive; the third, Stephane’s Dance, is angular and irregular, with the two instruments often sounding at cross-purposes as if the dancer is somewhat awkward, or perhaps trying too hard to impress. Three Scenes from the Heartland is for solo piano (Umphreys) and is well-constructed in an impressionistic sense, with a broadly flowing Introduction, a short and bouncily dissonant Scherzo, and a concluding Nocturne that is quiet and generally soft enough, if not particularly restful in light of its meandering tonal relationships. This is followed on the CD by Double Duo in a slightly quicker performance than the one from New Focus. Here the performers are Graham on flute, Mikey Arbulu on clarinet, Jackson on violin, and Fang on cello. It is interesting to compare the two readings: this one is brighter and more propulsive, with stronger emphasis on passages that take instruments to the extremes of their ranges; the New Focus one is broader and less concerned with highlighting the sonic differences among the instruments, with the result that it sounds more like an ensemble piece. As for the other Ablaze Records disc, it offers four Knehans pieces – two of which call for larger forces and some more-exotic instrumentation than anything here from Smaldone. These two Knehans works are Bang and Falling Air, the former for sextet and electronics, the latter for sextet and sheng. Both are conducted by William R. Langley; the ensemble includes flute (Graham), clarinet (Arbulu), percussion (David Abraham), piano (Umphreys), violin (Jackson), and cello (Fang), with Hu Jianbing on sheng in Falling Air. Each piece is an 11-minute-or-so exploration of tonal and instrumental contrasts, with Bang integrating the electronics into the ensemble as if the non-acoustic material turns the sextet into a septet, and with Falling Air doing something similar with the sheng – not so much drawing attention to the difference between its sound and that of the Western instruments as presenting it as a distinctive member of the group that is nevertheless part of the totality rather than primus inter pares. The motivic and rhythmic material in these works is less notable than their sound: they convey no particular message, but are intriguing explorations of varying sonorities. Knehans also shows on this release shows that he does not need a chamber ensemble to make his points: Temple, a work for solo flute (played by Graham), goes on almost as long as the sextets-plus (nearly nine minutes) but manages a thorough exploration of the flute’s moods and capabilities – without turning the instrument into a parody of itself. Temple does not quite sustain through its entire length, but it has many very interesting elements and will be particularly captivating for flute players. Also on this disc is Lumen, a three-movement work for cello (Fang) and piano (Umphreys) that is somewhat overly expansive (24 minutes) and somewhat overly lugubrious: movements labeled Yearning, Strained, Exhaustedly Expressive and Lentissimo-Grave frame a short central one called Spinning that provides some relief of tempo but none from the work’s rather strained emotionalism. On the basis of this recording, both Knehans and Smaldone are quite adept at writing for the various instruments they select, but neither uses those instruments to convey any particularly compelling or consistent message to a potential audience beyond the distinctly limited one that is interested in contemporary composition for its own sake.