Intersection: Jazz Meets Classical Song
2015; Routledge; Volume: 71; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
2769-4046
Autores Tópico(s)Music History and Culture
ResumoIntersection: Jazz Meets Classical Song. Patrice Michaels, soprano; Kuang-Hao Huang, piano; Zach Brock, violin; Nicholas Photinos, cello. (Cedille CDR 90000 149; 43:58, 57:28)Tibor Harsanyi: Francis Poulenc: Violon (Fiancailles pour rire). Laurie Altman: Two Re-Imaginings: Per la gloria d'adorarvi, Danza, danza, fanciulla gentile. Gig Songs: Didn't Know What Time It Was/Where Or When, Always, While We're Young, Rain or Come Shine. Nikolai Kapustin: Prelude in Jazz Style, Prelude, opus 53, no. 4, Prelude, op. 53, no. 19. George Gershwin: Liza. Duke Ellington: Paris Blues. Lee Hoiby: Insomnia (Three Ages of Women). John Musto: Penelope's Lament (Penelope). Patrice Michaels: Anita's Story. Nils Lindberg: As You Are, Shall I Compare Thee. Chuck Israels: He's Gone Away, Balm in Gilead, Frankie and Johnny. Andres Beeuwsaert: Sonora. Antonio Carlos Jobim: Lamento no morro. Billy Strayhorn: Suite Strayhorn: Chelsea Bridge, A Flower Is a Lovesome Thing. Randall Bauer: Neighborhood Music: Where Has He Gone, Rossini's Got Nothin' On Us, The Local Record Producer, When I could Hear the Train Again.Chicago-based Cedille Records is a nonprofit recording company that seems incapable of producing anything other than exemplary releases combining innovative concepts, intriguing repertoire, and outstanding performances. In a commercial classical landscape that seems to grow more barren and bleak by the day, one must be grateful that this company exists at all and that it does what it does so exceedingly well. But even by the sterling standards of Cedille Records, this most recent release is an exceptional triumph both for the label and for soprano Patrice Michaels. Her spectacular and diverse gifts have been showcased in a dozen different recordings, featuring everything from thundering arias by Salieri to exquisite delicacies by Boulanger. Amazingly, this newest release represents almost as much versatility in itself as do all of Ms. Michaels's previous recordings combined. Indeed, although Intersection is billed as a blending of classical music and jazz elements, it's just as much the intersection of the soprano's many and varied talents and interests.That's just one of many intriguing points in Neil Tesser's superb notes about this eclectic but cohesive program with its fusion of disparate musical elements and styles. Tesser quite rightly points out that these kind of blended programs, whether in live performance or recordings, are relatively rare and often unsuccessful ventures. He further asserts that the difficulty is not so much that the genres of jazz and classical music are themselves inherently incompatible, but rather that issues of awkwardness, misunderstanding, or even outright disrespect can so often emerge between musicians who come to such collaborations with their own priorities and perspectives, as well as their own distinct language. It is somewhat uncommon to find musicians who are confidently grounded in their own world, yet fully open to and appreciative of other musical genres that approach the matter of performance practice and style very differently. Another way to say it is that the problem is not so much the incompatibility of the music as much as of the musicians themselves.That is most emphatically not the problem with the brilliant musicians who are collaborating here. In her lovely Personal Note which is included in the CD booklet, Ms. Michaels refers to pianist Kuang-Hao Huang, violinist Zach Brock, and cellist Nicholas Photinos as her Dream Team, and thanks them for their virtuosity, expressivity, and personal warmth which has encouraged and challenged me to further integrate my own forms of expression-so much that my range of vocal 'behaviors' turned out to be even broader than I initially intended. Listeners are served up a spectacular example of such musical daring in the opening track of the release, Tibor Harsanyi's Vocalise. …
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