40@40
Laura Strickling (soprano)
Daniel Schlosberg (piano)
rec. 2021, Oktaven Studios, Mount Vernon, USA
Song texts enclosed
Reviewed as download from press preview
Bright Shiny Things BSTD0185 [76]

The title of this disc, 40@40, may be confusing, but is easily explained. In November 2019 Laura Strickling was 38 and suddenly realized that in two years’ time she would turn forty years old. This is in many ways a turning-point in one’s life, with the 40-year-crisis and all that – but Laura felt fit in every respect and decided to celebrate by commissioning forty composers each to write one song for her. No sooner said than done, she sent her inquiry and within a matter of weeks she had her “forty” in the can. Then of course Covid-19 put a spoke in her wheel and delayed the process, but here now are the first twenty songs, and the remaining twenty will appear in due course. 

Twenty newly-written songs in one go may seem like a daunting project for a reviewer, and in the end an impossible task if I want to do full justice to the works. In an ideal world, I would need three weeks to read the poems one by one and assimilate them before listening to the corresponding song, and then repeat the procedure twenty times – but in my world there is a pile with a dozen other discs which are in urgent need of my attention, so I have to resort to Plan B, which implies that I give a general overview and then write some brief comments on the individual songs and round off with an assessment. 

Let me begin with the interpreters. I wasn’t acquainted with either of them before but soon found out that Daniel Schlosberg is a clever pianist, rhythmically acute and dynamically expansive. He really wallows in the torrents of frothy chords that many of the composers invite him to deliver – but is also sensitive to nuances. As we already know, Laura Strickling is a fortyish soprano, and we need not listen to more than a few bars to find that her voice is in fine fettle. She has a wide range with strong upper extension, and it seems that it is this part of her voice that the composers adore. She certainly can handle the high tessitura with aplomb, but it worries me that she might overload her voice in the long run. There are signs of that in some places, but so far she isn’t in the risk zone. She is expressive also when she sings softly, and intensity does not automatically imply fortissimo. 

Turning to the music, I can imagine some readers asking uneasily: is it ugly? Contemporary art music tends to lack melody. My answer is: Don’t worry! Many of these composers – none of whom I had heard of before – write distinct tunes, sometimes short phrases only, but after a couple of listens one can hum them. They are singer-friendly. The problem for listeners who haven’t yet accepted the progress of the harmonic language, might be the accompaniments. They are rarely simple chords in the background, but independent piano works where a lot of wonderful things happen. One or two may be tougher nuts to crack, but every listener cannot love everything. When twenty very different composers throng on the limited space of a CD the crowd becomes motley, but there must be at least something for every taste. Uniformity is not the buzzword here, but one uniformity there is: these twenty individuals are writing for the human voice, not against it! Hopefully my thumbnail sketches, scribbled down while listening, can give a hint about what to expect, so here we go!

1. Not quite Stars opens the parade with a roaring piano part and a melodious voice part, high-lying. Great singing!
2. Wind, Carry Me, much the same comment Sometimes she presses the voice too much for comfort.
3. Prometheus’s Monster, rhythmically thrilling, jazzy, swinging. 
4. Thanks a Latte, one of the humorous pieces, so rare in the classical song repertoire.
5. At Spring’s End. Text by Ezra Pound. Full of emotions.
6. Saint. Warm and inward.
7. E-mail to Odessa. No direct references to the war, but beautiful and inward.
8. Peony. Dramatic opening, lyrical second half – very beautiful! 
9. This Ode is Mine. Very beautiful, melodious, warm – and a funny twist at the end.
10. Women Walking. Jazzy – but so much more.
11. anew. Left me blank.
12. The Mother who Died Too. Touching.
13. Sun of the Sleepless. Hypnotically intense.
14. May 1915 (Let Us Remember Spring). Most of the song lies in the highest register.
15. Las Palmeras. The only non-English text. Latin twist.
16. The Solitary Reaper. Text: Wordsworth. A catchy epic.
17. My Song is Sung. Left me blank.
18. Benediction. Ditto.
19. Two Old Crows. Funny and onomatopoetic. 
20. Song of Solitude (Alone …) Beautiful!!!

Appetizing? I regret the blanks – but every listener cannot love everything, and everything else was in my taste. Now I’m longing to hear volume two. 

Göran Forsling 

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Contents
1. Not Quite Stars
music by Juhi Bansal
lyrics by Julie Baber
2. Wind, Carry Me
music by James Primosch
lyrics by Susan Stewart
3. Prometheus’s Monster
music by Myron Silberstein
lyrics by Karen Poppy
4. Thanks a Latte
music by Lori Laitman
lyrics by Caitlin Vincent
5. At Spring’s End
music by Tom Cipullo, lyrics by Li Po, 
translated by Ezra Pound
6. Saint
music by Scott Wheeler
lyrics by Jeffrey Harrison
7. E-mail to Odessa
music by Dennis Tobenski
lyrics by Elizabeth Seydel Morgan
8. Peony
music by Ed Windels
lyrics by C.L. O’Dell
9. This Ode is Mine
music and lyrics by Bess McCrary
10. Woman Walking
music by Nell Shaw Cohen
lyrics by Megan Cohen
11. anew
music by Joseph Jones
lyrics by Christina Ramirez
12. The Mother Who Died Too
music by Eugenia Cheng
lyrics by Edith M. Thomas
13. Sun of the Sleepless
music by Felix Jarrar
lyrics by Lord Byron
14. Let Us Remember Spring
music by Andrea Clearfield
lyrics by Charlotte Mew
15. Las Palmeras
music by Reinaldo Moya
lyrics by Pamela Rahn Sánchez
16. The Solitary Reaper
music by Evan Fein
lyrics by William Wordsworth
17. My song is sung
music by Jodi Goble
lyrics by Yone Noguchi
18. Benediction
music by Daron Hagen
lyrics by Christina Ramirez
19. Two Old Crows
music by Juliana Hall
lyrics by Vachel Lindsay
20. Song of Solitude 
(Alone…)
music by H. Leslie Adams
lyrics by Nikos Valance