Search - Gary William Friedman :: Colloquy

Attracting Attention with a New Venue

Grady Harp | Los Angeles, CA United States | 10/10/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Gary William Friedman has a rich career in 'popular' music, or music outside the realm of what some would call 'serious music': his arrangements for jazz ensembles are among the finest today, and his music composed for film soundtracks and musical theater are highly respected. Few of us who admire his work in the jazz idiom knew that he has extended his gifts into writing classical music. This recording is a debut for an aspect of a highly respected artist's hidden career. It is a mixed bag (concerto, choral, vocal songs, and a sonata for piano and viola), with enough pieces to see the particular quality of this talented man's composition.



'Passages' is a concerto for clarinet and orchestra that has many moments of transcendent beauty in passages unhindered by attempts to be 'new'. Friedman has a gift for soaring melodic lines and here he intersperses some truly eloquent passages for clarinet with some reflections on the influences of Kurt Weill. Ed Matthew is the fine soloist here and sustains the mood and design of the concerto.



'Song of Moses' is an a cappella work in a liturgical vein that feels out of context on this CD, yet might have more power when isolated. `Colloquy' is a conversation between viola and piano and for this listener this is one of the more successful works presented. Though Friedman considers the work atonal, it is actually rich in harmonic phrasing and at times suggests Schoenberg's and Webern's works - atonal lines embellished with a key base that keeps them related. Judith Nelson is the fine violist and Judith Lynn Stillman the equally fine pianist: it is a conversation well delivered.



'My Heart's Friend' closes the collection and allows Friedman to enter the realm he understands so well - writing for the voice in a way that respects the poetry as well as the manipulation of the musical line. Set to poems by James Joyce, William Blake, a Shoshone Love Song and Harrison Smith Morris), the work opens with a an unaccompanied duet, moves to chamber orchestra accompaniment for the singers, and gradually adds some solo instruments for additional color. Silvie Jensen, soprano and Dominic Inferrera, baritone are the focused soloists who move comfortably through the mixed terrain of this composition.



Some may ask if composers of music in the more popular vein should stray away from their forte. But when the names of such composers as Korngold, Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Philip Glass etc are seen in the list of film score composers, the 'serious' compositions of Gary William Friedman are justified and well worth hearing. Once he finds his consistent voice his works could become staples in the experimental music territory. Grady Harp, October 08"