Search - William Mayer, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, Minnesota Orchestra :: Two Pastels, Andante for Strings, Concerto for English Horn

Mayer's music is warm and expressive, somewhat in the vein of Samuel Barber, but Mayer's harmony is more diatonic, closer to that of the American neoclassical composers. The "Two Pastels" are knottier than their title might imply. Their delicate quality, intentionally "otherworldly," is balanced by a sometimes surprising intensity. Mayer's Andante, like Barber's often-recorded Adagio, was originally the slow movement of a string quartet. Skrowaczewski's language is more chromatic than Mayer's, and he includes prominent multiphonics for the English Hom. There are hints of the textural explorations of Skrowaczewski's fellow Poles Penderecki and Lutoslawski. But Skrowaczewski's musical discourse relies on traditionally expressive solo phrases rather than massed orchestral effects. This is not typical "conductor's music," in that there are no empty effects borrowed from orchestral showpieces. The orchestra is treated delicately-the necessity of balancing the English Horn sparks several intriguing textural ideas. This is a thoughtful composer with something to say.