SOUNDS OF AMERICA
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sparely and emphasising its multi-level melodic contours. Whatever Lin has planned for Vol 2, you can be sure that this pianist will avoid routine like the plague, as she does with every new release. Jed Distler
‘Nights Bright Days’ Britten Four Sea Interludes and Passacaglia from Peter Grimes Holst I love my love (arr Craig Garner) Meechan Love Songs Purcell Come, ye sons of art (arr Craig Garner) Chicago Gargoyle Brass and Organ Ensemble MSR Classics F MS1704 (64’ • DDD)
The Chicago Gargoyle Brass and Organ Ensemble (you will have to go far to find such a wonderfully named band) was formed in 1992 by students of the University of Chicago, whose faculty buildings, I am reliably informed, feature many, albeit faux, gargoyles. There is nothing faux about the exuberance of the playing of the eight brass and three organ-playing gargoyles, with their three percussionists, all of whom feature at times – but never all together – on this well-played and diverse programme.
The bulk of their repertoire, at least as highlighted here, comes from arrangements, those here made by Craig Garner, who is without doubt an accomplished arranger. His treatment of the Symphony from Purcell’s ode Come, ye sons of art (1694, using Rebecca Herrisone’s edition) is nicely done, and the lyrical acuity of the succeeding aria is replicated in Holst’s Song without Words, originally the slow movement of his Second Suite (1911; later reworked as a part-song, ‘I love my love’). By contrast,
Peter Meechan’s Love Songs are more complex, setting Shakespeare’s Sonnets 71, 147, 43 (providing the disc’s title) and 116 for a combination of male narrator, chorus and brass, with protracted instrumental introductions prefacing the vocal settings.
The cream of the crop on the disc, however, are the arrangements for brass, organ, piano and timpani of Britten’s Four Sea Interludes and Passacaglia from Peter Grimes. Some of the Interludes – particularly ‘Sunday Morning’ and ‘Storm’ – come off more naturally for this ensemble than others; the opening organ solo in ‘Dawn’ is near inaudible due to poor balance. The Passacaglia, however, is truly electrifying, as intense an account as I have encountered, with the piano – here played by Mark Sudeith, organist in the Meechan and Holst works – an evocative replica of the opera’s celesta. Guy Rickards
Our monthly guide to North American venues The Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts
Year opened 2011 Architect Moshe Safdie Capacity Helzberg Hall: 1600 seats; Muriel McBrien Kauffman Theater: 1800 seats Resident ensemble Kansas City Symphony
Boldly etched against the Kansas City skyline, the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts opened its doors for the first time in September 2011. Funded entirely by private donors, it is a thoroughly impressive centrepiece of civic achievement and a symbol of cultural revival and aspiration in the Midwest.
Designed as a cultural campus by architect Moshe Safdie, the two steel-clad shells form the theatre and concert hall respectively. A dazzling atrium links both, its 300-foot wide glass curtain wall showing off the glowing interior to those outside, and the south city view to those within.
The 1800-seat Muriel McBrien Kauffman Theater is the performance home of the Ballet and the Lyric Opera. Taking its cue from European opera houses, it is designed in vineyard style; its glowing murals were painted by local artists. The 1600-seat Helzberg Hall, centred around a stunning, sculpturally arranged Casavant organ, is the home of the Kansas City Symphony. Its acoustic has garnered much critical acclaim. Yo-Yo Ma described it as ‘absolutely sublime’, saying that it is ‘like you’re inside an instrument’. The Symphony conductor, Michael Stern, credits the alchemy involved to acoustician Yasuhisa Toyota. Warmth of sound is not sacrificed to clarity; thanks to wraparound sides, nobody is more than 100 feet from the stage, enhancing the intimacy of the experience.
A world-class acoustic has been transformative not only for audiences but for players, who are only as good as the sound they know that they are producing. Their former space,
the Lyric Theatre, had worked against them; they had to work the music hard to be heard adequately. Here, they had to change the way they played: the slightest sound could be easily heard. Indeed, there was an agonising time when they were rehearsing in the Hall before the official opening but going back to play performances in the Lyric. With this transition well behind them, the Symphony’s partnership with Reference Recordings has blossomed. In 2018 a CD featuring specially commissioned work by Adam Schoenberg was nominated for two Grammy Awards. They recently released Holst’s The Planets, which will be reviewed in the next issue.
Safdie envisioned that the Center would be a set for playing out the ritual of public life in the city, and by every metric he has succeeded. Flamboyant and modernist, the Kauffman Center represents, according to its chief benefactor, Julia Irene Kauffman, ‘a building for today and for generations to come’. Hilary Stroh gramophone.co.uk
GRAMOPHONE DECEMBER 2019 V
