Aikman: Venice Of The North Concerti - Lande, Wetherbee, Sullivan (2011)
Aikman: Venice Of The North Concerti - Lande, Wetherbee, Sullivan (2011)
EAC Rip | Flac (Tracks + cue + log) | 1 CD | Full Scans | 305 MB
Genre: Classical | Label: Naxos | Catalog Number: 8559720
EAC Rip | Flac (Tracks + cue + log) | 1 CD | Full Scans | 305 MB
Genre: Classical | Label: Naxos | Catalog Number: 8559720
Award-winning composer James Aikman’s music is ‘accessible and inventive’ (Fanfare magazine), and these three works embrace a colorful tapestry of stylistic influences, including jazz and pop. The elegantly simple and subtle Ania’s Song is described by the composer as a ‘peaceful isle’ between the supple lines and intricate counterpoint of the Violin Concerto and the Concerto for Saxophone and Orchestra with its translucent orchestration and echoes of Alban Berg. Leading American soloists join one of Russia’s finest orchestras for a recording with truly international appeal.
Composer: James Aikman
Performer: Charles Wetherbee, Taimur Sullivan
Conductor: Vladimir Lande
Orchestra/Ensemble: St. Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra
Reviews: Ever since the classical avant-garde became the rear guard, and polystylism became the watchword of the new avant-garde, I’ve been slowly building a library of modern music. It’s admittedly not hard to do. A number of fine composers have rediscovered the joy of writing for an appreciative public, and with all of the past open to perusal—whatever else holds true, we are the most historically literate of musically minded generations—nothing is off-limits either in itself or as part of a continuum. Aikman’s music was brought to my attention more than a year ago, and I’ve been looking forward to reviewing a new disc of his music.
The Violin Concerto, “Lines in Motion,” dates from 2009. It’s in three movements, the first titled “Prologue/Improvisation.” A restrained, clockwork texture of pointillistic notes, reminiscent of Stravinsky in the 1930s, provides striking contrast to the soloist, who enters roughly a minute-and-a-half later in rhapsodic vein. Figurative Baroque touches appear in the cadenza. The finale, a toccata, continues with similar Baroque allusions, and Stravinsky is once again in the mix. The lack of contrasting elements and the overly insistent, simple, repetitive rondo theme make for pretty dry fare, though. It’s the weakest section of the concerto. But the central movement, a “Quasi una Fantasia” that’s considerably longer than both its musical bookends together, is the expressive heart of the work, and it’s a winner. Starting with a meditation on material from the first movement, the violin soon gains a greater lyrical ambit, and the piece at times recalls Barber in its harmonies and thematic warmth.
Ania’s Song (2006) was commissioned by a co-founder of the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, Thomas Beczkiewicz. (The work is also a birthday gift to Beczkiewicz’s wife.) It’s probably just my imagination, but the opening intervals recall the start of the tune Happy Birthday . Calling it a slow-moving study of string textures would completely miss the graceful character of the piece, with an undertow of somberness.
The Alto Saxophone Concerto of 2010 opens with a movement titled “Call and Response.” (The work as a whole is derived from two previous pieces by Aikman, his Call and Response for alto saxophone and piano and a trio for clarinet, cello and piano.) It’s a moderately more astringent composition in its harmonies and moments of clashing bitonality, though never dense, and accompanied by Aikman’s frequent recourse to light, danceable rhythms. The second movement, “Refrains,” is a motoric toccata with a chant-like theme recalling Javanese gamelan music in its repetitiveness and intervals, but also features a contrasting countertheme in augmentation, and a subtler weighting of textures than in the Violin Concerto’s toccata. “Waltz Rounds” furnishes the relatively short finale. The dance itself is only suggested, both in rhythm and clichés, hinted at and playfully tossed about. It’s an attractive conclusion to a piece of music that is thoroughly entertaining, with very idiomatic writing throughout for its solo instrument.
The St. Petersburg musicians perform adequately under Vladimir Lande, but I find their readings a bit stodgy and uninflected. The “Waltz Rounds” in particular would have benefited from more vivacity and lift. By contrast, both Charles Wetherbee and Taimur Sullivan are first-rate soloists, with excellent tone and facility. The sound is good and forward.
In conclusion, this is a welcome album. Aikman demonstrates throughout a convincing control of orchestration and a subtle rhythmic palette. It doesn’t hurt, either, that he has at his command a nostalgic lyricism that creates still moments of grave beauty. Definitely recommended.
Tracklisting:
1. Concerto for Violin "Lines in Motion" by James Aikman
Performer: Charles Wetherbee (Violin)
Conductor: Vladimir Lande
Orchestra/Ensemble: St. Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra
2. Ania's Song by James Aikman
Conductor: Vladimir Lande
Orchestra/Ensemble: St. Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra
3. Concerto for Saxophone by James Aikman
Performer: Taimur Sullivan (Saxophone)
Conductor: Vladimir Lande
Orchestra/Ensemble: St. Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra
Period: 21st Century
Written: 2010
Exact Audio Copy V1.0 beta 3 from 29. August 2011
EAC extraction logfile from 28. May 2012, 12:48
- / Con for Vln/A Pavane Str Orch/Con for Sax; Wetherbee/Sullivan/St Petersburg State SO/Lande
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Track 7
Filename C:\Documents and Settings\io\Desktop\James Aikeman - The Venice Of The North Concerti\07. James Aikman- Con for Sax and Orch (2010) - 003 Waltz Rounds.wav
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[CTDB TOCID: Wv7XheOtYMeUSsvkvkMyv_PkgWk-] found, Submit result: Wv7XheOtYMeUSsvkvkMyv_PkgWk- has been confirmed
[fc37d700] (1/1) Accurately ripped
==== Log checksum C8F2F20569CADB855778C9C437CA19743CB9F6C130634CA200AA77CFACE7CE70 ====
EAC extraction logfile from 28. May 2012, 12:48
- / Con for Vln/A Pavane Str Orch/Con for Sax; Wetherbee/Sullivan/St Petersburg State SO/Lande
Used drive : ATAPI DVD A DH18A1P Adapter: 0 ID: 1
Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No
Read offset correction : 6
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000
Gap handling : Appended to previous track
Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 896 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:\Programmi\Exact Audio Copy\Flac\flac.exe
Additional command line options : -5 -V -T "artist=%artist%" -T "title=%title%" -T "album=%albumtitle%" -T "date=%year%" -T "tracknumber=%tracknr%" -T "genre=%genre%" -T "comment=Ripped Using EAC (Secure Mode)" %source%
TOC of the extracted CD
Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
1 | 0:00.00 | 5:05.18 | 0 | 22892
2 | 5:05.18 | 12:58.63 | 22893 | 81305
3 | 18:04.06 | 4:57.43 | 81306 | 103623
4 | 23:01.49 | 9:11.01 | 103624 | 144949
5 | 32:12.50 | 10:51.30 | 144950 | 193804
6 | 43:04.05 | 7:52.74 | 193805 | 229278
7 | 50:57.04 | 4:15.71 | 229279 | 248474
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Track 3
Filename C:\Documents and Settings\io\Desktop\James Aikeman - The Venice Of The North Concerti\03. James Aikman- Con for Vln ''Lines in Motion'' (2009) - 003 Toccata.wav
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Track 4
Filename C:\Documents and Settings\io\Desktop\James Aikeman - The Venice Of The North Concerti\04. James Aikman- - Ania's Song_ A Pavane for Str Orch_ 2006.wav
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Track 5
Filename C:\Documents and Settings\io\Desktop\James Aikeman - The Venice Of The North Concerti\05. James Aikman- Con for Sax and Orch (2010) - 001 Call and Response.wav
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Track 6
Filename C:\Documents and Settings\io\Desktop\James Aikeman - The Venice Of The North Concerti\06. James Aikman- Con for Sax and Orch (2010) - 002 Refrains.wav
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Track 7
Filename C:\Documents and Settings\io\Desktop\James Aikeman - The Venice Of The North Concerti\07. James Aikman- Con for Sax and Orch (2010) - 003 Waltz Rounds.wav
Peak level 96.6 %
Extraction speed 2.7 X
Track quality 99.9 %
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None of the tracks are present in the AccurateRip database
No errors occurred
End of status report
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[CTDB TOCID: Wv7XheOtYMeUSsvkvkMyv_PkgWk-] found, Submit result: Wv7XheOtYMeUSsvkvkMyv_PkgWk- has been confirmed
[fc37d700] (1/1) Accurately ripped
==== Log checksum C8F2F20569CADB855778C9C437CA19743CB9F6C130634CA200AA77CFACE7CE70 ====
Thanks to the original releaser