Orchestrating the Pacific Northwest

Orchestrating the Wild Steve Schermer, double bass. London Symphony Orchestra/Jonathan Pasternack; Bobby Collins Aria Classics 022Total Time:  54:44 Recording:   (*)***/**** Performance: ****/****

Orchestrating the Wild is a new release featuring orchestral music by Canadian-American composer Sarah Bassingthwaighte is a noted flautist who is currently Composer-in-Residence in Sweden at the Visby International Center for Composers and the Uncool Residency in Switzerland.  There are four works here on this release which give listeners a chance to hear some of her orchestral writing.  Bassingthwwighte’s music is in a post-Romantic style often features brilliant colorful orchestration and great dramatic shape.  Her work tends to allow for individual solo lines to transfer primary ideas and she also makes full use of percussion as well. 

One can hear this especially in the opening work, Cape Flattery, which is based on a location in the Pacific Northwest.  A “symphonic poem”, the brief piece is filled with a variety of interesting orchestral colors and techniques that provide a somewhat cinematic sweep.  There are bits and pieces of contemporary writing that allows for a variety of brief solos across the orchestra in a piece that moves in a sort of stream of conscious way.

At the center of the work is a concerto for double bass and orchestra.  Cast in three movements, the work was written to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the Port Angeles Symphony Orchestra.  It is performed here by Steve Schermer who gave its premiere.  There are not a lot of works like this for the double bass so this has potential to become an important addition to the instrument’s concert repertoire.  The opening “Lachrymae” has some quite stunning moments of beauty in a work that also has the soloist front and forward in dialogue with other sections of the orchestra.  While it all starts rather serenely, it does grow into some intense moments in its penultimate section before the double bass’s plaintive return to the primary motive.  The briefer central “Scherzo” opens with pizzicato double bass and then shifts into tossing the rhythm about the orchestra which lends it at times a jazzier, and more playful quality.  The final “Pesante Feroce” provides a great deal more challenging passage work.  Throughout this last movement the interesting syncopated rhythms help drive things forward.  It does all end rather abruptly.

The chamber orchestra piece, Let There Be Sparrows, then (2022) is a more delicate set of variations based on a Buxtehude passacaglia.  While the palette may seem smaller, it is a perfect work for hearing how Bassingthwaighte has an ear for color.  There are moments that hint back into the 17th century against the more modern slides and slight dissonance.  The bits of the passacaglia are also masterfully strewn through the work. From there it progresses into more atonal territory in sections which are quite intense as well. It is a surprising highlight.

The album closes with the two-movement A Mountain Symphony (2012).  We are back in the Pacific Northwest here too for a musical essay that journeys through the mountains of Washington State.  This earlier work is interesting to hear back to the composer’s evolving style.  There are still exquisite solos cast across the orchestra.  The opening “Flowing” has specific repeated motives against an often moodier backdrop.  Here too though there moments when flashes of tonality pop for a moment before some of the more chromatic writing adds another level of emotional connection.  The second movement opens with focus on the brass.  The lower strings then start a jig-like folkish idea that provides the jaunty rhythm of the movement.  The dramatic flow of the piece, though somewhat episodic, is held together by the blends of repeated motives and thematic threads quite well.  It may be a bit too long in the second movement, though that may be more an issue of it appearing at the end of works dedicated to a single composer.  It should be fine on its own and is a strong work.

The LSO plays well here, though there are some sections that feel like they are a little shaky at times.  The recording has more of a Hollywood studio feel with a very dry acoustic at times, though there is some ambient distance and separation.  Closer miking sometimes also feels a bit off.  Since it is not consistent there appears to be some adjustments that were made during the sessions.  That said, the performances still maintain a good sense of energy and excitement across the four works here.     

While listening throughout to the pieces here, one is often struck by moments that could have popped into a film score (more in the Williams/Giacchino style).  This has to do with the blend of romantic-style, sense of drama, command of orchestral color, and command of rhythmic energy that are strewn throughout each of these works.  Certainly a disc to track down and hopefully more of Bassingthwaighte’s work will begin to appear on more than regional programs.  Highly recommended.