Dubugnon: Piano Quartet; Incantatio; Frenglish Suite; Canonic Verses; Cinq Masques; Three Evocations. Several soloists and the Royal Academy wind soloists – Naxos 8.555778 (77 minutes).
Born in 1968 in Lausanne, Richard Dubugnon has both Swiss and French nationalities. He started studying double bass and harmony at the rather late age of 20, and in 1995 he graduated with two first prizes in Double Bass and Counterpoint and a second prize in Fugue from the Paris Conservatoire.
He furthered his studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London following which he was awarded the Manson Fellowship for Composition in 1998-99.
In the last decade Dubugnon has made a name for himself with several outstanding compositions which won him a crop of accolades and commissions.
The French newspaper Le Figaro dubbed him “the son of Ravel and Prokofiev” because of his obvious link with these masters of the 20th century and other Eastern European composers.
His music can be described as “emotionally convulsive”, but within this outwardly disturbing language, the composer combines refined harmonies with complex counterpoint encased within an original sense of structure and form.
This disc of Dubugnon’s chamber music has all the hallmarks of his strong lyrical sense and feeling of rhythm and dynamics, but as with almost all 20th century music, these six pieces, despite their orchestral leanings and penchant for colour, do not make easy listening.
Nonetheless, there is much that one can identify with contemporary events which often catch us unawares. Music of today and for today brilliantly performed and attractively presented.
Waxman: Rebecca (music from the film). Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Adriano – Naxos 8.557549 (73 minutes).
Franz Waxman (1906-1967) was one of the most prolific composers of film scores during the 1940s and 1950s. During these decades he wrote music for 144 films, but when asked which was his favourite, he always replied Rebecca.
This 1940 classic was a challenging and rewarding experience, as it was only his second score for a David O. Selznick production, but like his first, The Young at Heart, two years earlier, it was a resounding success.
Waxman’s score for Rebecca was groundbreaking. Its impact on his musical style was indeed profound, and for the next 26 years of his Hollywood career, he would compose no fewer than six other film scores with a similar Gothic background.
Due to the popularity of both film and music, the composer was asked to arrange a concert suite, and the piece became a hit overnight. When taken as a whole, the score’s total length runs to nearly two hours spread over 71 cues, but for this recording Adriano decided to tape only 73 minutes due to time constraints.
The music for Rebecca nearly won Waxman an Oscar, but unfortunately he was pipped at the post by Pinocchio. The latter’s score is now only an item for the record books, but Waxman’s magically atmospheric and at times overtly dramatic creation continues to fascinate audiences of all ages, even today where sonic spectaculars are very much in demand.
Adriano’s superb effort is commendable in many ways, and although he omits some 50 minutes from the original he still manages to convey the dark and mysterious context of the story with telling effect.
Another showstopper in Naxos’s ongoing series of Film Music Classics which I recommend wholeheartedly.
Bright Sheng: Red Silk Dance; Tibetan Swing; The Phoenix; In Memoriam (Lacerations) 1966-76. The composer at the piano, Shana Blake-Hill, soprano. Seattle Symphony Orchestra conducted by Gerard Schwarz – Naxos 8.559610 (71 minutes).
Born in 1955 in Shanghai, Bright Sheng moved to New York in 1982. Throughout his career Sheng has collaborated with many eminent musicians of the past 50 years – Leonard Bernstein, Kurt Masur and Charles Dutoit readily come to mind – but this does not mean that his path to success was easy.
With Chairman Mao’s cultural reign of terror, everything foreign was eradicated. When Sheng began studying piano lessons at the age of five, the family’s piano and his father’s record collection were confiscated, but the boy kept practising by sneaking into the locked piano rooms of his school.
His mother, who was an engineer, also suffered, and it was not until the persecution had ended in 1978 that the composer could enter the Shanghai Conservatory to begin formal music study.
Obtaining American citizenship in 1988 was a turning point in his career, and for the last two decades, his many compositions have been performed the world over by many famous orchestras.
The four works on this disc are a mixture of Eastern and Western sounds, although each one has its own particular element of individuality.
The Phoenix and Lacerations are indeed contrasting. The mythical flavour of the former symbolises the muse that unites all peoples, while the latter is an often abrasive piece depicting the hardships of the Chinese under Mao’s regime. Red Silk Dance and Tibetan Swing draw mainly on the vibrant dance rhythms of the Central Asian plateau.
Gerard Schwarz is an ardent admirer of Sheng’s music, and his interpretations are as insightful as they are energetic. Excellent advocacy of a composer who speaks straight to the heart.
These CDs were made available for review by D’Amato Record Shop of 98/99 St John Street, Valletta.