Search - Faye-Ellen Silverman, Ralph Shapey, Stephen Mosko :: Silverman: Restless Winds; Speaking Alone; Passing Fancies/Shapey: Kroslish Sonate; Concertante No. 1

No compromises with Shapey's structural musical strength

Rachel Abbinanti (tusai1@aol.com) | Chicago | 05/27/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The music of Ralph Shapey is hardly known anyplace, yet his music reflects a consummately original integrity, a music which summons the vigours of modernity,post-European from different strains His music engages a conceptual power of whatever we have learned and mastered this side of the Atlantic, Edgar Varese for one, was part of Shapey's initial departure of rendering sounds as beacons of powerful light and manipulation of pitch in motivic cells. With all do respect Shapey has an internal vision,almost prophetic which outdoes both Varese and another American master,Stefan Wolpe. But here the "Kroslish Sonata" is a relatively modest affair. It's dedicatees,cellist Joel Krosnick and pianist Gilbert Kalish have long been Shapey devotees, they both understand his music immesely,the overwhelming lyricism,the gruff,rugged power and precision necessary to impart Shapey's uncompromised sense of musical statement and severity. This "Sonata" however has an unfamiliar lightness, especially this first movement with obvious afterbeats in the piano,almost like a Waltz. The "Second" movement is simply a masterpiece in an of itself, 13 minutes of unrestrained beauty over a frozen terrain of rolled sonorities in the piano with the cello trying to maintain a sense of lyricism spread over triple octaves. Shapey's best music always engages the family of strings(look for his late "Quartets"),so the cello here encompasses a wide emotive field from the rounded sonorities in the lower depths to harmonics up in the stratospheres. The "Concertante" as well has relatively light means which features the trumpet .High energy and a richly diverse sound constitution which traverses ever changing sonic reliefs of structure from single exposed lines to full-bodied impenetrable chordal statements controlled always with a ferocious balance of contrapuntal voices, a Shapey hallmark. Silverman has yet to find a voice ,the "Quintet" does all the right academic renderings but never breaks free of itself into its own world. I didn't find a world-view through her beautiful music. The flute solo however in contrast was a more positive wistfull tale with well shaped lines and a devoted performer."