The Merian Ensemble (Christina Smith, flute; Emily Brebach, English horn/oboe; Marci Gurnow, clarinet/bass clarinet; Jessica Oudin, viola; Elisabeth Remy Johnson, harp)
Clarice ASSAD: The Book of Spells
Jennifer HIGDON: The Sound of Light
Lynne PLOWMAN: Small World
Nicole CHAMBERLAIN: Atalanta
Anne Leilehua LANZILOTTI: meridian
Mary KOUYOUMDJIAN/arr. Elisabeth Remy Johnson: A Boy and a Makeshift Toy
Clarice ASSAD: Solais
Soon Hee NEWBOLD: Alis Volat Propriis (“She Flies With Her Own Wings”)
Kimberly R. OSBERG: Just Another Climb
NAVONA nv6644
Formats: digital
Release Date: August 2, 2024
Total Duration: 66:34
Giorgio Koukl | 2 AUG 2024
When you do the math, adding eleven tracks of a new audio album, eight women composers, and five women players, what do you obtain? Simple: One exciting project, gorgeously prepared, played, and recorded.
nv6644 cover art (click to enlarge)
Featuring all-world premiere recordings of recent works by Clarice Assad, Nicole Chamberlain, Jennifer Higdon, Mary Kouyoumdjian, Anne Leilehua Lanzilotti, Soon Hee Newbold, Kimberly R. Osberg, and Lynne Plowman, this album provides a rare glimpse into a vivid all-female world of creativity.
Not that there were no female composers in the past. Despite the preponderant male chauvinism that reigned in the past centuries, many female names emerged among the exclusive club of male composers.
Female composers have made substantial contributions to the development of music across all historical periods. Despite societal challenges, they have produced works of great artistic and technical merit. In recent decades, there has been a growing recognition and celebration of their contributions, leading to a more inclusive understanding of music history.
Starting from the earliest known, Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179), a German Benedictine abbess, whose works, including the Symphonia armoniae celestium revelationum, are notable for their melodic beauty and spiritual depth until the mostly known Fanny Mendelssohn (1805-1847), Lili Boulanger (1893-1918) and Sofia Gubaidulina (b. 1931), just to name a few, the musical universe is dotted of examples of excellent female composers.
So listening to this album is particularly exciting, especially when it is played by five musicians of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra: Christina Smith, flute; Emily Brebach, English horn and oboe; Marci Gurnow, clarinet and bass clarinet; Jessica Oudin, viola; and Elisabeth Remy Johnson, harp.
That is the key to the success of this music: a mixture of enthusiasm, finesse, and dedication that transpires from every line of this rendering. It would be difficult to underline single instruments as particularly laudable. Their precision of ensemble play is outstanding.
The opening score of Clarice Assad’s three chapters of The Book of Spells, which gives the project its name, is possibly the best piece on this recording; together with her solo harp piece Solais, it is a stupendous showcase for Elisabeth Remy Johnson.
There are various degrees of minimalist technique use, sometimes a rhythmically refined treatment of the thematic material, as in Just Another Climb, written by the gifted Kimberly R. Osberg, which closes the album, and occasionally a less appealing combination of sounds. It is true that these instruments are not so easy to combine and maintain the listener’s attention, but it is equally true that all these composers reach a more than satisfactory degree of composition skills.
The music of Mary Kouyoumdjian and her A Boy and a Makeshift Toy, arranged by Ms. Johnson for viola and harp, is one of the pieces where it is easy to define the score as mandatory for all viola players, who still, despite all the Hindemith and others, lack viable solo material for their instrument. The gifted Jessica Oudin plays it with fantasy and nice musicality.
The Merian Ensemble delivers a first-class performance. We can only hope that this production will be followed by similar recordings for the joy of the ordinary music listener, enriching the already well-known list of female composers, maybe including some composers from other parts of the world as well. ■
EXTERNAL LINKS:
- The Merian Ensemble: themerianensemble.com
Read more by Giorgio Koukl.
