Margaret Brouwer (b. 1940)
Rhapsodies
ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra/Marin Alsop
rec. 2023, Grosser Sendesaal, ORF Funkhaus, Austrian Broadcasting Corporation, Vienna, Austria
Reviewed as 96 kHz / 24-bit FLAC download
Naxos 8.559933 [59]
A couple of years ago I reviewed Reactions, a Naxos disc with chamber music by Margaret Brouwer. I was fascinated by the music, easy to digest and often with a message. When the present disc was announced, I felt a yearning to renew my acquaintance with her music, quickly picked it up, and became immersed in her very personal sound world. Five orchestral works with the collective title Rhapsodies did not at first sound very appetizing, giving the impression of loosely structured works. However, the titles of the pieces were mouthwatering: Sailing at Dawn, Lake Voices, Sunrise, Flowers and Pluto. Pluto, the ninth planet discovered in 1930 – more than a decade after Holst composed The Planets – was in 2006 relegated to dwarf planet status. There is indeed a connection with Holst, to which I will come back.
The five titles promise images of nature, colours and a feel-good sense – and that is exactly what we are offered. Margaret Brouwer is an excellent orchestrator; her palette is filled with a broad set of colours that she combines to good effect. Her sonic paintings are not brash and glaring, rather soft, discreet and faintly suggestive. Take the opening work, The Art of Sailing at Dawn. It begins almost inaudibly: the sun is still below the horizon, and probably the sky is cloudy. Then gradually it clears up, we perceive contours, we feel the waves lapping against the hull. Suddenly the waves grow in intensity, we hear thunder and storm but only for a while. Then it is over and the music suddenly dies away. The surface is as smooth as a mirror…
Brouwer wrote Rhapsody, Concerto for Orchestra for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in 2009, and revised it in 2021. The second and third movements are practically identical with the earlier version, while the first movement is completely new. As can be gleaned from Margaret Brouwer’s own liner notes, she is extra-satisfied with this work: “I love the orchestra; its beauty, power and excitement. I take so much pleasure in the endless variety of beautiful sounds and colors it can produce. In this work, I immersed myself in these sounds and hope a listener will do the same. Additionally, I am so awed by the virtuosity of orchestral musicians that I gave them a chance to show off.” True; this work is a tour de force for any good orchestra, and the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra are really on their toes here under Marin Alsop’s inspired direction. The finale, Dance, particularly stands out for its rhythmic élan, vitality and virtuosity.
Symphony No.1 is, together with Pluto, the earliest work here. It is in one piece and is distinctly tripartite. The opening movement, pulsating with life, is followed by a solemn, hymnlike second movement. The finale begins rhythmically and with a lot of “business”, but it ends with a kind of fade-out, with a whisper, somewhat mysteriously. The subtitle “Lake Voices” eludes me.
Path at Sunrise, Masses of Flowers follows, almost attacca, seemingly growing out of the previous work. I hear the sun rising, birds beginning to sing. There is joy and beauty – a true old-fashioned idyll. This is Margaret Brouwer at her very best.
And so we return to Pluto, but it is not primarily the planet: it is the Roman god, ruler of the underworld. He was “aggressive, passionate, violent, intense, favouring war and extremes, inexorable but just”. That is exactly the feelings reflected in the music, written in a dark period in Margaret Brouwer’s life, when within a short time-span she lost her husband and both her parents. But halfway through the composition there comes a section of light, sun rays of hope, warmth and calm, comforting, conciliatory. The darkness returns towards the end, but defused.
The connection with Holst is that Pluto was a commission as a sequel for a performance of The Planets. Since Holst’s suite requires a women’s chorus, Ms. Brouwer also included a chorus in Pluto, but what we hear here is the version for orchestra. It is worth noting that at about the time when Margaret Brouwer composed her sequel, her British colleague Colin Matthews was commissioned by Kent Nagano and the Hallé Orchestra to write an “appendix” to The Planets. That was premiered in May 2000 and later recorded by Naxos (review) – an opportunity for comparison.
A distinctly individual composer, a many-faceted and thrilling disc. All the works get first-time commercial recordings.
Göran Forsling
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Contents
1 The Art of Sailing at Dawn (2020)
Rhapsody, Concerto for Orchestra (2009, rev. 2021)
2 I. Regrets
3 II. Airs and Rhapsodies
4 III. Dance
5 Symphony No 1 “Lake Voices” (1997)
6 Path at Sunrise, Masses of Flowers (2010)
7 Pluto (1997) (version for orchestra)
