Search - William Bolcom, Constantine Finehouse :: Bolcom: Music for Violin & Piano

American Double: The Bolcom Project (www.americandouble.com

Charles Olegar | Great Barrington, MA | 12/22/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"
Publicity hype in the world of classical music has made promoters' claims of "definitive" performances nearly as ubiquitous as the more general bandying-about of such superlatives as "great", thereby devaluating what is being assessed, as these expressions descend to new levels of meaninglessness. More serious analysis of the concept of a performance being "definitive" can bring the contemplator into the fairly arbitrary nature of musical interpretation, especially if one is willing to concede the large amount of established repertoire that yields to varying understandings, or the concept of a recording being at best a "snapshot" of a given performer's relationship to the music being performed at that particular juncture. Considered in such a light, can there ever be credible claims for a performance being "definitive"?



How remarkable it is, then, to be able to experience an album such as The Bolcom Project -- recorded by two consummate young artists whose playing is directly informed by the composer's personal guidance -- with the feeling that this recording's numerous attributes might very well include being "definitive". Consider the impeccable credentials of violinist Philip Ficsor for such an undertaking: While pursuing undergraduate studies at the University of Michigan's School of Music, with which William Bolcom has had a long association, Ficsor began a journey with this music that led to not only years of performing Bolcom's music in concert with his American Double partner, pianist Constantine Finehouse, but also these violin-piano works being the subject of his 2006 doctoral thesis at Boston University. At a number of points along this route, Bolcom provided coaching, imparting insight that most performers can only dream about. Those who have had the fortune of being on the receiving end of a session with William Bolcom know the immense effectiveness of this imaginative, energetic, wildly stimulating and extraordinarily articulate master teacher.



Stylistic eclecticism, a hallmark of this composer, abounds throughout The Bolcom Project, as it traverses musical terrain beginning with the 1958 Sonatina, written at age eighteen, continuing through the Fourth Sonata, composed toward the end of the twentieth century (1994) . However eclectic, Bolcom's thought flows in an orderly, highly-communicative manner, captivating and then propelling the listener on an amazing musical journey. For this reviewer, going through the two discs of Bolcom's violin-piano music brought to mind a recent visit to the historic district of New York's Greenwich Village, guided by a long-time resident friend whose continuous running commentary was a veritable stream-of-consciousness, as he interacted with a kaleidoscopic succession of varying architecture and street scenes. The pieces on this album impress me as being remarkably similar to that experience, the violin representing this highly-verbal friend, and the piano representing what is being observed -- the one existing in the mind, the other concrete. However naive this comparison, it might suggest at least one way in which these pieces can be perceived, underscoring this composer's remarkable ability to mold a strong personal style out of eclecticism, along with an almost palpable immediacy of thoroughly-engaging musical thought.



The unimpeachable effectiveness of American Double's reading is apparent throughout both discs of the set. Ficsor delivers an account of gripping realism, eschewing the all-too-common approach of sculpting and polishing each utterance with super-elegant uniformity. Consistently basing interpretative decisions on the essence of the score, he employs his vast reservoirs of technique and extensive tonal palette to convey a wide gamut of emotion and thought, ranging from the most exalted to the seamiest as called for by the composer. Particularly noteworthy is Ficsor's ability to infuse his playing with an astonishing array of vocal elements -- a property so fundamental to this music, through deft manipulation of such elements as phrase shape, pitch, timbre, and pacing, consummated by a most direct emotional realism.



This being music for violin AND piano, it is brought to full life through Constantine Finehouse's electrifying collaboration. Finehouse, who pursues a solo career apart from his role in American Double, is at all times more than equal to Bolcom's formidable technical and musical challenges, consistently transmitting a comprehensive, exuberant understanding of the composer's thought as he and Ficsor invite the listener into their partnership.



Such, I submit, are the attributes of a recording worthy of being considered "definitive".



Just as my Greenwich Village visit, alluded to earlier, carried with it a strong element of discovery as I travelled from one intriguing neighborhood to another, The Bolcom Project provides a rare opportunity for a similar encounter with one of our era's most accessible, fascinating composers, through American Double's truly definitive CD.



Charles Olegar

Great Barrington, Mass.

December, 2007



Charles Olegar is a professional organist and pianist based at St. James Church in Gt. Barrington, Massachusetts. While in Michigan during the 1990's, he reviewed chamber music for the Grand Rapids Press"

Bolcom's Complete Violin/Piano Music in Fine Performances

J Scott Morrison | Middlebury VT, USA | 11/23/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"It's odd how out-of-the-way repertoire has a tendency to go for years without being recorded and then suddenly there are two, or even three, new recordings of it. That is what has happened with William Bolcom's violin and piano music. A year ago a fine recording of his Violin Sonatas appeared on Naxos, played by Solomia Soroka, violin, and Arthur Greene, piano. I reviewed it and lauded it. William Bolcom: Violin Sonatas. Now we have not only the sonatas but all the other violin/piano music Bolcom has written to date, here in a 2CD set with spiffy performances by violinist Philip Ficsor (who also writes the excellent booklet notes) and pianist Constantine Finehouse.



We get the four sonatas -- not presented, however, in chronological order as on the Naxos disc -- plus the Sonatina (1958), Duo Fantasy (1973), Pastorale (1962), Fancy Tales (1872), Suite for Solo Violin (1977/2006) and Graceful Ghost (1983). Sonatina, Duo Fantasy, Fancy Tales and the Solo Violin Suite are in world premiere recordings, according to the booklet. Considering that Bolcom participated in preparing this issue, one can assume that the claims for the world premieres are accurate. As far as I'm concerned there is little to choose between these performances of the sonatas and those of Sorokia and Greene. But it's the added repertoire that makes this Albany release worth investigating.



The Sonatina lives up to its designation by being brief and relatively simple as compared to the Sonatas. The three movements last just over seven minutes. Written while Bolcom was still in college, it is entirely tonal, has memorable thematic material given primarily to the violin. There is some reminiscence of the music of Copland here. The metrical twists in the final movement are particularly winning. The Duo Fantasy, one movement lasting eleven minutes, was premiered by Bolcom and violinist Sergiu Luca. It is in what Bolcom calls 'onion form' with concentric sections that are easily distinguished. The motivic contributions of this work are more or less evenly divided between the two instruments, hence the title 'Duo.' There are some jazzy elements and some pitting of remarkably disparate parts between the two instruments (e.g. one playing tonal material, the other not). One entirely tonal section was nicknamed the 'Stephen Foster' section by Luca and appropriately so; I found myself thinking 'Charles Ives' here, I admit. Come to think of it, has anyone ever noted how often Bolcom's music sounds like that musical magpie, Ives? One section is a mini-compendium of American folk styles, with rag and country fiddle music primary. The final section recapitulates the opening section.



Pastorale, three movements lasting seven minutes, is by far the most consistently dissonant of the pieces here and, for me, the hardest to get ahold of. It includes such things as metrical modulation and harmonic substitution, according to Ficsor's notes. I admit I cannot pick these out by listening alone. Fancy Tales, four movements, seventeen minutes, is a sonata in all by name. The movements are named, taking their inspiration from such things as a 'Weird Tales' story about a man falling in love with a vampire, a poem about 'Centaurs in Flight' by nineteenth-century French poet José Maria de Heredia, a Pär Lagerkvist story about a dwarf, and an abandoned ferryboat Bolcom once saw on the coast of his native state of Washington. I cannot for the life of me relate the music to these things that inspired Bolcom, but that doesn't mean that the music itself isn't evocative. This is extraordinarily virtuosic music that Ficsor and Finehouse play brilliantly.



The Suite for Solo Violin lasts thirteen minutes and is in five movements, although because several movements are followed without pause by the next movement it sounds to be in two large sections. This is a large generally austere piece with complicated interrelationships. There are islands of lyricism amid atonal reefs peppered with double stops and far-ranging glissandi. Although this is tough music to 'get' I found myself drawn to it far more than the Duo.



The final non-sonata piece here is Bolcom's familiar modern rag, Graceful Ghost: Concert Variation. I say 'familiar' because of the oft-played piano version (and a later piano trio version) but indeed this version has some material that does not occur in the earlier versions. This piece is charm objectified and it is given an entirely appropriate loosey-goosey interpretation by Ficsor and Finehouse.



For Bolcom fans -- and their number is undoubtedly growing with releases like this one -- this is a must-have. Gorgeous playing, gorgeous recording, gorgeous music.



Scott Morrison"