Search - John [1] Harbison, Charles Wuorinen, Joan Tower :: Born in America 1938

Mostly introspective modern American music for cello

Dr. Christopher Coleman | HONG KONG | 09/28/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The premise behind this CD is an interesting one; take 6 mostly well-known American composers born in the same year and record their music for cello and piano. You might think, America being such a big place and there being such a diverse range of musical styles operative there, that you'd get a wildly eclectic collection. But all the composers included, with one exception, represent the same sort of aesthetic; a sort of pandiatonic approach that is mostly introspective. The exception, of course, is wild man William Bolcom, who really is eclectic, and his piece shines by comparison--in this one piece there's more variety than in the rest of the CD. Also of note is a composition by Ellsworth Milburn--a composer with whom I was unfamilar. Milburn taught composition at Rice University in Houston, a school known for some time as a bastion of serialism; but his Character Pieces show none of that influence. They're charming works, with a great sense of color and flair. The works by Wourinen, Tower, and Corigliano are all good, but so similar that the programming doesn't really do them service. How I'd have loved to hear a work by Paul Chihara, one of my favorite totally obscure composers; he's mentioned in the notes as being born in 1938 but lacking a piece for cello and piano.



Norman Fischer and Jeanne Kierman, the Fischer Duo, play superbly. Even if I do fault their programming, I can't fault their performance."