Artists in Review
-- page 3
A necessary introduction
  If you've ever wanted tp read the words of a reviewer unfettered by an editor enslaved to space constraints, a time tempered allegiance to propriety and advertiser feedback . . . . TODAY IS YOUR LUCKY DAY!

By the cover
  The four pages are necessarily concise. Though every artist recorded in the Laureate Series has run a musical gauntlet of competitions, in many instances since childhood, his or her "arrival" as winner of the Guitar Foundation of America Competition by no means confers a "can't lose, star with a bullet" guarantee of long term success. There will be more than four pages of liner notes in the future, perhaps. But for now, purchasers of this CD take home an excellent front cover picture, which helps "sell" the production as few I have seen over the years, a page and two-thirds description of the music therein, and an all-too-brief biography of the artist. The liner notes, well written by Colin Cooper, address the sometimes-contested issue of whether or not music written for one instrument should be transcribed into an arrangement for another. It's good food for thought, and Cooper makes a strong case for the "pro" while not crediting Krivokapic for his transcription of Bach's Sonata No. 3 in C major. Krivokapic's bio covers the ground but left this reader curious for more than a scattering of barest essential facts. I am sure this shortcoming will be rectified in the many future releases which are certain to be produced by this young artist, barely 25 years old at the time of his March 25, 2006 concert in Springfield, Illinois.

By tne music
   1 - 3   This production is a mellow (C)D. Krivokapic's technique is piano-precise in the opening tracks. This is appropriate because Cooper states the music was "transcribed, presumably, from a piano version..." The lento movement seemed to drag on. I would have expected more varied intonation from notes anchored to this prolonged (6 minutes and 33 seconds) meandering. Happily, the well-intoned, fresh, breezy rondo vivace concluded the introductory selection. Krivokapic seemed to be having some fun with this movement, and so did this listener.
   4 - 7  With the left hand seeming firmly set near the guitar's bridge. the resemblance to the harpsichord was even more uncanny than Werthmuller's connection to the later instrument. Krivokapic seems in his element here. Crank up the volume for the Fuga. If you can listen without at least wanting to move to the beat, you probably don't have the volume right. Technique throughout is superb. The artist knows this music! The end of the Fuga is a mite understated, but that's okay. It prepares the ear for the contemplative largo which follows, which leads to the refreshing allegro assai, all of which shout of its keyboard origin while imparting greater passion than could have been expected from Bach's instruments of choice. If I had not read this was a transcription from the harpsichord, I would have deduced it.
   8  There are some enjoyable harmonies here, well paced and bright. To this reviewer, it's the "A" track of the CD.
  9. The first class musicianship is evident thrughout the tempered presentation. Technically, there seems no fault to be found, and anyone familiar with Scalatti, who likes Scarlatti, is sure to enjoy Krivokapic's rendition.
  10. The same can be said of the Sonata K.209 as well.
  11 - 14 There is more energy released in Bogdanovic's Sonata No. 2 as there is in the rest of this CD. This selection by this 20th century Balkan (born in Serbia, the same part of Eastern Europe as Krivokapic) composer is as different from what precedes it as moonlight from sunshine, evocative of dark colors, a sampling of atmospherics rather than melodies on a platter, a dissonance hoe down, but memorably so. The first time listener may not understand the details of this piece, but the variety of techniques Krivokapic unleashes will sometimes startle the ear . . . and gladly, entertainingly.
     Usually, first albums by artists are least remembered, even though a great deal of planning goes into producing them. They make a vital first impressiion in sound: the handshake, the presentation of primary interests and capability that leaves the listener either glancing at the CD player, as if to see the artist, perhaps a holographic image posing for just a few seconds, OR staring at the floor before hastening to the kitchen for a coffee refill. Without a doubt, in terms of demonstrated technical ability, Goran Krivokapic's Guitar Recital trumps every first CD I have reviewed. He clearly has a sense of his role in the classical guitar community as perhaps, the best Yugoslav-born purveyor of this wonderous art. My bet is that if he grows as an expressor, as well as a player, it will not be many years before he ranks amoung the greats of the world communty as well.

By the cover
  Because nothing in a CD production is published without permission of the featured artist, the picture(s), though relevant to the music as flavor  is to sky, provide an indirect glimpse of how the artist understands himself. Both featured on the covers of this production show Francois Fowler with eyes directed down and to his right. Both appear snapshots, probably made during the recording session. A third snapshot with the artist conversing with Jacques Hetu is equally informal. Each suggests an informal, perhaps even careless approach to the raison detre of any CD. And such a conclusion could not be further from what is revealed in the sound that issues forth from the CD.
   The 12 pages, unusually long for a first CD, are a first-class consideration of the musical content with ample credit given to the un-named orchestra's conductor - Alexander Jimenez - and the 12 members. Though the orchestral work was recorded in Florida, it appears the CD was produced in Canada. To Fowler's credit (from this American's perspective), the French-Canadian born artist has produced the liner notes almost entirely in English. Also to his credit, the musical selections included on the CD are listed, with times, in the liner notes.
   The 12 pages are informative and easy to understand. The technical aspects are explained so even a reviewer who did not major in music can understand and appreciate them. They include single-page biographies/appreciations of Head and Haug. and four pages about Hetu's Suite. Fowler is a devoted fan (disciple might be more accurate) of the modern Canadian composer, and after listening to the CD, I had become a fan as well. The notes conclude with a short biography of Fowler.

By tne music - or in short, BUY the music
   A short overview. This is modern music. Don't expect to be whistling the melodies during your morning jog through the park. I hasten to add, this is lyrical music: engaging from the first note, unusual in its construction, but warm and rich in mood and motion. The orchestral work is a romp. The CD is like a kaleidoscope of colors you've not seen before. and which don't seem to fade with repeated encnounters.
1. Not aware of this as the first notes came on first listening, I felt I had stumbled into a new dimension. This is Western musical scale music. No unfamiliar Far-Eastern mystery here. Just a two-minute, seven second blast that arrested my attention and captured it for the duration of the CD.
2 - 4. No toe-tapping here. These pensive tracks show just enough sunshine to keep an optimist's ears' attention. The melodies seem snippets of sound leading to snippets of sounds seamlessly tied together with absolutely no ambient noise.
5 - 9 Hetu's only composition for solo guitar, performed for the first time in 1991, this dark tableau is relentless in its impact on the ear's heart despite the varying pace through the movements; i.e. considering the ear to be minimally visceral, serving as a sentry which directs the truly stunningly powerful music to the listener's heart of hearts. Only in the Final does the piece reach the heart's heart with the rapid-fire high tension beginning and reprised in the last seconds. The conclusion is a jeweled moment.
10 - 12 W O W . . . or WOW for short. I can almost see cinema on a screen as the Concerto opens: a camera panning over a sleeping tragic character and transitioning into a strident rhythm as the action begins. This is a new dimension in classical guitar for this reviewer, and though I wonder if it's classical in the traditional sense today, I have no doubt that it will be regarded as a major composition by listeners and reviewers in the future. I can't intelligently speculate regarding the capability of other guitarists I've heard, but it's hard to imagine a better pairing of guitarist to composition than the combination recorded on this CD. The second movement -- luxuriantly largo, grandly redemptive -- generates the same visual vividness on the ears' eyes. Instead of writing music for a visual production, someone should write a visual production for this music. The orchestra is precisely positioned in the mix: not a hint of overpowering the guitarist. The orchestra's double bass (no frippin' electronics there!) plays a percussive role in the allegro while serving as the foundation of the sparkling harmonies that leap and shine during this final movement. This piece is worth the price of admission to this fine CD.
13 - 14 From that bastion of classical guitar unforgettables known as Switzerland, composer Hans Haug attracted the attention of Andres Segovia, whose influence on some of his work is evident. Though not "billed" as one composition, the liner notes indicate that Segovia played them in reverse order, as Alba and Prelude. I'm glad Fowler assented to the composer's intention in this presentation. Both are quietly, emotionally almost neutral with a hint of optimism in the final track; absolutely appropriate for concluding the CD, almost before the ears are ready for it to conclude. Alba ends as a sentence, seemingly in mid-paragraph with no hint of dynamic flourish or coda. I believe this is attributable to the composer being who the composer is and to Fowler's commendable allegiance to what's on the page, an authentic rendering of the music. It is a fitting final piece, leaving the heart at rest and wanting only to hear more of the type of music presented in the tracks which came before it.
     As a reviewer, I am surprised, amazed and delighted that after playing Nocturne MANY times before putting keyboard to CPU (pen to paper if you're yestercentury focused) the music still attracts my interest and attention. I can't imagine that unlike some wonderful compositions by legends whose repeated hearings have transformed their magic into background white noise too often, this CD will ever be considered background music. It is accessible, engaging and memorable. That is why I recommend this CD without reservation or equivocation. Do your ears a favor and buy this CD. They will thank you for your consideration.
   
    

By the cover
When the cover and liner notes don't include a picture of the featured artists, but instead (if permitted by the casual potential customer) fires the imagination with colors that suggest the nature of the music, it says alot about the artists' faith in the music, paramount over their ruggedly handsome countenances shared in live concerts. That faith will be appreciated when the first few measures of music reach the ears. The approach in their first release is strikingly minimalist and it works.
   The single page of narrative by McClellan and Hanser, followed by a list and times of music played and a fourth page of comments from reviewers underscores this approach. There is enough introduction to "sell" the listener on the virtues of South American music, shared in plain American lingo and with a touch of humor at the end, "Turn your stereo down toward the end because we start beating on our guitars and we wouldn't want your speakers to explode (just kidding)!"
   There are no life dates or bio info about the composers' lives, and there is no information about Kirk Hanser and John McClellan. That's okay; the music will tell you all they want you to know.
   The back of the CD case is also minimalist with only the music (no times per selection; heck, they included that info in the liner notes) and the requisite info, including their website address:  www.hanser-mcclellan.com    BTW, it's a nifty site; recommended.
By the music
   1 - The liner notes warned me about the dissonance of an original arrangement (not this track)  shared in this recording, but they didn't prepare the ears for the sparkling impact of the arresting dissonance in the first second of Jongo. The opening chords of the first track are followed by intricate and equally arresting harmonies. Imagens do Nordeste bursts out of the speakers like a happy hoot. This is clearly modern music.
  2. We return to earth in the second track, a meditative presentation, rich in unfamiliar harmonies which taste great to the ears.
  3. Each guitar's part is more obviousj in this third track. One guitar carries the lower register and one the higher melodic lines. It's the game plan. And Verano Porteno is a romp.
4. - The listener "returns to earth" via Motivo Barroco, from the soaring tempos and harmonies of the faster-tempoed track. It's a fine piece; a baseline from which other music ascends or descends. And on Jongo, only one track descends.
  5 - 8. If the Four Porteios were food, they would be hors d'oeuvres. If they were lights in the dark, they would be falling stars, each with its own flavor and course, glimpses of other worlds, tone poems perhaps, but not tunes for a sock hop. For dancing, I give thiese porteios a 9. For listening, a 99.
  9 - The elegantly melodic followup is absolutely delightful with the humor woven into the playing: the precise stops, the exquisite entrances to new rounds. It seems to be a cruise in the country in a convertible and no dust in the air. WOW! Now I know why the duo shared so much of Machado. One fine tune inspires another!
10. -  Modinha is the only tune on this CD that seems to plod. I say this not because it is slow, but because while the artists in some arrangements seem to leap into the beats, on this one, they seem to pace themselves a millisecond behind the beat. It is a delicate, minimalist piece, dark and atmospheric, with a memorable melody and as always, with precise, beautiful harmonies. But it seemed in need of another harmonic line, by one of the artists, to add some weight, some life to the moribund flow of the music.
11. - If the listener expects a "return to the sky" after Modinha, the listener will be proven correct. Very rhythmical, celebratory and well played, Boliviana could inspire soldiers to the battle line, and even reviewers to smile on a sleepy Sunday morning while writing a review.
12. - We return to the exquisite groove the Duo established early in the CD. The only track by Radames Gnattali, this tune is exquisitely Brazilian (or if my geography is off because of my poor book larnin' at least exquisitely South American for sure). This track is not a shout but an explication, rewarding to the listener and easy on the ears.
13. - Something about this genre of music takes the listener into a world of minor keys without putting the heart into a wringer. The redeeming element is the originality (to us gringos at least) of harmonies and a close second, the melodies. No single artist I have reviewed brings the dimension of these harmonies to the forefront as the Hanser-McClellan team. It's not that two hands are inadequate, but that four hands who clearly know what the hey they're doing give the listener more than double what two hands can do. Instead of playing to a memory of a single artist's best performance, it was obvious in their October 8 Springfield concert, that the duo are playing to each other, and this dynamic kicks the music up the quality scale a peg or two. My bet is that the same chemistry works in the recording studio as well, because throughout this CD, and especially on Lo Que Vendra, that here are more than two guys in black suits playing notes on paper. The range of this piece makes it a tour de force . . . to the extent that a tour de force can be packed into three minutes and fifteen seconds.
14. Hands beating a rhythm on guitars bring a dance element to this celebratory piece. Their "appearance" near the end of Jongo, give the mind's eyes a glimpse of dancers on a wood floor, the way that Michael guy did with the unforgettable Irish dance troup. This tune especially led me to wonder about a connection between Irish folk music and Latin American melodies. I know this is critique blasphemy, but you know, both are predominately Catholic cultures with strong canonic musical involvement in the cultures. I wonder if a Saint Patrick of guitar players voyaged to Brazil and planted a seed in the great great great grandmother of Paulo Bellinati. Impothible you say? I think perhaps not.
Though I thought I had heard the pop hit with a bullet when I heard Lo Que Vendra, I was wrong. Jongo is the dynamic apex of this CD. The melodic apex follows.
15. Bolinhas de Queijo takes the ears to a cool stream near the coast where we can see the south Atlantic, a grassy place for an unhurried, contemplative picnic with a really really good friend. (For the record that tableau is strictly this American reviewer's. I don't know what the title of this piece means in English; I just know where the music transported a part of me. It was a luxuriant, contemplative place with no melancholy, and a warm conclusion that left me wanting it to play on for just a while longer. It ended too soon, but that's okay. With Jongo a prominent part of my CD collection, I can always return.   

By the cover
Show me a more sensuous CD cover and I'll eat my guitar (to the delight of some who have heard my pale efforts). The back cover repeats the precedent of no times for the selections, a practice which works against the duo. If I'm a "disc jorkey" at a public radio station, times of selections are important to me. I don't want to start a selection close to the 59 after news break only to fast fade it for the buffer PSAs and preview of the next hour's music. And for me, the biggest surprise is that the times aren't even included in the six pages of liner notes OR (I kid you not) the CD itself! This is not a crime against humanity, and I don't want to make more a mountain of this Appalachan tall hill than propriety warrants, but I'm no DJ and it bothered me. It will bother others, I am sure.
    On the back side of the two fold liner notes, a fine picture of Kirk Hanser and John McClellan playing their guitars. Excellent touch! Kudos to Dreyfus + Associates of St. Louis, Missouri and Rachel Polster, the "cover model." If she can sing, Astrud Gilberto, you better watch out!
    The liner notes are superb, written by one or the other of the duo AND by some of the composers whose songs are played, with their take on the selections presented and including web sites of the composers featured --another excellent idea! With one exception, the music is modern if my understanding of the lives of composers shared is correct. Only two were composed before 1940. Almost no dates for the composers are included, the one exception being Manuel de Falla (1876 - 1946). I'm guessing age isn't important when considered against melody and motion. Even so, even though it's not important, it would have been nice to know. The facts shared are mind candy and easy to consume; concise, intelligently written and informative.
By the music
I thought about Jongo the way I thought about Mary Ann Pullin: that nothing after could take me to the heights I had shared in such close company. But I was premature (no pun intended).
1. - English translation thanks to those excellent liner notes "Cute Dark Girl of Brazil." This and other selections have connections to Chet Atkins who was Nashville's own Paul Bunyan because of the way he handled his "axe." The duo knew him well, and listeners are blessed not only with the HMcCGD insights but "Chet chat" memories which add sparkle to already glistening renditions. The tune is a friendly gate for entering the mainly melodic world shared in this CD.
2. - If you know Antonio Carlos Jobim's music you will appreciate how well Sergio Assad's homage reveals that Brazilian icon without imitating him. Wonderfully rich in harmonies and flow, this is a young Port wine; not a Nouveau Beaujolais, and I confidently predict the listener will discover something new in this piece every time it plays.
3. Jorge Morel claims that he decided to stop playing this composition after he heard John McClellan play it so well. I don't know if his awe extends to the Hanser-McClellan Guitar Duo's rendition, but I can't imagine this happy gallop of a tune to be any less free-ranging and delightful with two guitars than is with one.
4. Prelude to Olga, Morel's deceased wife is disarmingly intimate in its melody and harmony. Originally written for solo guitar, Morel explains he rewrote it after she died as part of a larger work for guitar and orchestra. How the Hanser-McClellan duo came to it -- perhaps they arranged it for two guitars; it's not explained -- and how they BECOME the lament is a mystery to this reviewer. Anyone who has lost a loved one and happens to be imbibing of the spirits distilled on a dark night is highly advised to skip this track for a few months or another night with a glass of iced tea. This is what lost love is all about, in a way that no harmonica-addled blues posse could never approach, no matter how loud the saxophone.  The ending is especially poignant, leaving the listener hanging on a musical phrase that remains hauntingly incomplete.
5.- Two to Tango, in Morel's words is not a tango; it is "a sort of fantasia" based on the Argentinian dance with "a little milonga -- which is the companion form of the tango" mixed in to vary the rhythm. It works: a concert piece for sure, in which one can visualize Hanser's and McClellan's left hands striding up and down the instruments, sometimes in contrapuntal harmonies and sometimes almost in unison and perhaps, faster than traditional tango, unless my mind is juxtaposing the milonga for the tango. The variety of tempos also works, playing what would be "movements" in a larger work. I would not recognize a milonga if one came up and bit me on the nose. After hearing this, I must confess I might react the same to an aggressive tango. All I know for sure is that the piece works very well, precisely rendered and hearty workout for the ears.
6.- If the well-esteemed artists had written an introduction to this CD, explaining what the title means in English and their thematic conception for the selections herein, it would have been easier for this reviewer's ears to welcome Cowboy Waltz with open arms. The liner notes explain the idea beind the song, but it's inclusion here is as dissonant to the established thematic context as  a Mr. Rogers song in an L.L.CoolJay CD. Even so it's well played and easy to enjoy.
7.- SIGH! The opening flouishes of this distinctly South American return me to my heart's new home. Don't get me wrong, I'm still proud to be a cityzen of the United Snakes of America, but my heart is on hiatus becuase of recurring fang impacts with my destiny, so it's residing in SaoPaulo now and left no forwarding address. This is a complex and comforting piece, sensitively and seamlessly rendered by masters Hanser and McClellan.
8.- Again, a great idea these notes by the composers. Roger Hudson explains the changes in time signatures from 3/4 to 6/8 and back and notes for the record, so to speak, what listeners will appreciate: the dance between the two guitar parts that bring them close together and send them away. I don't know that this is a South American sound, but the harmonies "reminiscent of the Impressionistic harmonies of Claude Debussy's La Mer" hold the listener's attention with their unconventionality and ear appeal.
9.- Kirk Hanser explains he's been playing Santa Cruz since "sometime around 1990" but does not tie it to the duo arrangement which - as the solo arrangement is no doubt - engaging and satisfying.
10. - This homage to Chet reveals Atkins harmonies, a country-westernly melody and to my ears, even a hint of Aaron Copland. Composer Morel states, "the Latin American temper was in the way!" I would suggest that Latin American music is the foundation for the piece, but it did not get in the way. It is absolutely Latin American by virtue of the most repeated harmonies and the brief slow moments in the production. Chet is there in some of the end-of-phrase chords and there are fleeting glimpses of him in the softer rhythmic elements. Musically, this is a complex piece, mature and enjoyable like a healhy draught of Guiness.
11.- First it was American cowboys and now an Iberian icon from across the Atlantic. The title song La Vida Breve  (Spanish Dance) is the most passionate selection on this CD, and considering its roots in Flamenco, it's only natural that it is. The duo approach give the piece major depth. This is one you will remember after you put the CD away!
12.- This wholly United States born and bred tune is another homage to Chet whose demise still reverberates among those who knew him and fans who loved the man and his music. I can't top John McClellan's  reverie about the man and this arrangement, based on Chet's. Its much more than a movie tune.
13.- While the presence of two guitars in the previous track is inconsistent, it is as obvious as two ice skaters dancing in sync with the sound track in this final track. They play in parallel in a lot of it, not needlessly duplicating each others notes, but adding depth to the music and subtle harmonies that are revealed in layers of later listenings but are there all along. Composer Rico Stover explains this piece incorporates musical elements from throughout South America. It will take a practiced ear to appreciate those elements, but thanks to the fine liner notes, I'm looking forward to running with the challenge. The reprise of the original theme toward the end of this piece returns the listener to the gusto that pervades so much of this CD. It ends with a heft four-handed swat through a quintisentially Latin American harmony followed by an almost whispered unhurried strum through a diminished 9th or something that sophisticated that lingers long in the ears. This is the world premier recording of this work, and I predict other practitioners of this exquisite music will leap on in -- albeit with more trepidation perhaps; this tune is not a walk in the park -- the way Hanser grabbed Santa Cruz so many years ago.
     Though some readers of these reviews may attribute my enthusiasm as so much sophomoric caca del toro, I respond to say I have listened to many CDs and vinyls of classical guitar since I was an hombrecito, and I have never heard music as engaging and joyful-in-the-main as what Hanser-McClellan Guitar Duo have done with these two recordings. If you have not heard them once, visit their website and buy La Vida Breve. Hear Kirk Hanser and John McClellan once, and my bet is that you will hasten back for Jongo, and you will enjoy hearing them again, and again, and again . . .

To SCGS Artists in Review, page 4  here
To SCGS Artists in Review page 2 here
To SCGS Artists in Review page 1 here
To Classical 6 Images Home here
Return to Arts Round Table  here