Search - Nikkanen, Lin, Smith :: Gerber: Piano Trio; Duo; Elegy; Notturno

Reviews From The Press

James Farmingdale | New York, NY USA | 09/30/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"From David's Review Corner:



I read on the disc's back insert a quotation I wrote many years ago,

and it reminds of my unswerving opinion that Steven Gerber is one of

today's most important composers. Born in Washington D.C. in 1948,

Gerber's mentors include Milton Babbitt and Earl Kim, though his

style of composition that has been evolving over the last forty years

and shows no allegiance to anyone. The present release offers an

overview of his chamber music through much of his career, his

earliest, the Fantasy for solo violin, written when he was nineteen

and toying with a mix of tonality and atonality in a short virtuoso

showpiece. The Piano Trio was written a few months later with an

unashamedly commitment to pure atonality with writing that makes huge

demands on the technique of the performers. In two movements, and

often aggressive, it has a passion for the long held notes that form

a backdrop to solo hyperactivity. It is played with suitable

intensity by the violin of Kurt Nikkanen--also the soloist in the

Fantasy--with Brinton Smith and Sara Davis Buechner as the

distinguished cellist and pianist. The following year the Duo for

violin and cello comes from the same style, but turn the clock

forward sixteen years to the Three Songs Without Words, and we find a

total rethink, his astringent atonality mellowed in a listener-

friendly lyric tonality. The 1991 Elegy on the name `Dmitri

Shostakovich' fully embraces modern tonality, and takes a further

step in that direction for the dark but beautiful Notturno of 1996

for piano trio. One year later Gerber was taking a look at minimalism

in the Three pieces for two violins, before he comes to the naughty

Gershwiniana--using three well-known melodies by Gershwin--and from

2001 the Three Folksong Transformations. Where have such immaculate

performances been since their recording in 2002? They serve the

composer well, and I much commend the disc to you.



- David Denton, July 2009





From MusicWeb International:



Naxos's ever-burgeoning "American Classics" series has now reached

the work of Steven R. Gerber with this disc of diverse chamber works

dating from 1967 up to 2001. Not having heard any of his music

previously this proved to be a good way to sample his work within

this genre. Two things struck me immediately; firstly, whilst the

instruments called for are the most traditional of all chamber

instruments - strings and piano, the sounds that Gerber conjures from

them are far from standard. Yet it would be quite wrong to imply from

that that he `distorts' these instruments - there is no Cage-like

"prepared piano" effects here. Rather the choice of register,

instrumental and timbral combinations, and musical layering results

in a very unique sound world. Secondly, Gerber is indeed fortunate to

have this disc performed by such an elite group of players. The

technical demands he makes of them could have resulted in

performances of far less assurance and panache in the hands of lesser

players. Here all are virtuosi in their own right as well as sounding

thoroughly committed to the sound-world Gerber creates.



In his own informative and interesting liner notes Gerber points out

that the programme of this CD moves from later works first to

earliest works last. I'm not convinced that this was a good or wise

choice. Personally I find it more interesting to hear a musical

personality evolve - OK, a little judicious track programming sorts

that out but most of us pop a disc in and just want to hit play! As

presented here the two most substantial works that end the CD are for

me the least individual and least convincing. The external musical

influences are the least digested - some Messiaen-inspired birdsong

leaps out of the Piano Trio about halfway through the first movement

only to be overwhelmed by some thunderously modernistic passages. As

he admits himself these are clearly young man's music - a real sense

of gauntlets being cast down. There is a dogged determination here

NOT to write any phrase or harmony that could possibly be mistaken

for being diatonic. By the time of the later works (represented

earlier on this disc!) Gerber seems much more at ease with the idea

of writing music of an essentially lyrical melodic nature. But there

are traits here that Gerber continued to develop. He has a penchant

for writing string parts cruelly high - I can't stress strongly

enough how well these passages are handled by the players. In the

Blues-Etude which forms the final movement of Gershwiniana there is a

manic cat and mouse chase by the 3 violins which must be devilish to

perform and littered with the possibility of going horribly horribly

wrong. But here the players toss it off with exactly the kind of

ovation-inducing insouciance that Gerber must have envisaged. Oddly,

it was this same movement - which I really enjoyed - that raised one

little query in my mind. Clearly Gerber understands the instruments

he writes for well. Just occasionally though I couldn't help thinking

that the music was being used to serve a technique or effect rather

than the other way round. Comparing the Three Folksong

Transformations of 2001 for piano trio with the previously mentioned

1968 Piano Trio makes it clear just how far Gerber has developed. I

enjoyed the condensed aphorisms of the later piece - no musical

gesture is wasted - quite the opposite of the prolix po-faced student

work. In fact each of these later works is a masterful study in

concision.



Given the variety and brevity of much of the music here everyone will

have their own personal favourites. For me the two groups of

"arrangements" that open the disc gave the greatest pleasure together

with the haunting Elegy on the name Dmitri Shostakovich.

Interestingly Gerber notes that this latter is his most-played work

and I can understand why. In its brief four and a half minutes it

encompasses a powerfully wide range of musical emotion but here I

feel the compositional technique is serving the music. Kurt Nikkanen

proves himself to be as adept on the viola as he is elsewhere on this

disc on violin. Because of the diversity of the music on offer it is

hard for a listener new to Gerber's music such as myself to know for

sure where the true musical spirit of the composer lies. Elsewhere on

this site discs of his orchestral works have been well received and I

would be interested to hear how he handles larger scale forms and

ensembles.



The 2002 recording - I'm guessing licensed to Naxos from another

company - is up close and personal but as has been made clear none of

the playing is in any way compromised by that kind of intimate

attention. Also, there is enough air around the instruments to avoid

the sound becoming claustrophobic. Only in the unrelenting early

works does any aural fatigue kick in but this is more down to the

compositions themselves. This is a CD I enjoyed in parts, superbly

performed throughout but I need to hear more of this composer's work

to learn to recognise the musician behind the technician.



Diverse modern chamber works splendidly performed.



- Nick Barnard, September 2009





From The Infodad Team:



The new, very well-played CD of his chamber music spans most of

Gerber's compositional life, including works written over a period of

more than 30 years. The earliest pieces here are the least tonal and

most derivative: Fantasy for Solo Violin (1967), a virtuoso display

piece; Trio for Violin, Cello and Piano (1968), which harks back to

Bartók and requires both technical virtuosity and the performers'

willingness to wear their hearts on their sleeves; and Duo for Violin

and Cello (1969), in which Gerber consciously adapts Elliott Carter's

technique of making each instrument a separate personality and having

them argue or ignore each other before eventually reconciling. All

these works are interesting to hear and challenging (sometimes very

challenging) to play, but they are less indicative of Gerber's

personal style than the later, shorter and generally more tonal works

on this CD. Elegy on the Name `Dmitry Shostakovich' for Solo Viola

(1991) is a fascinating exploration that eventually incorporates the

earlier composer's signature "DSCH" motif to fine effect. Notturno

for Violin, Cello and Piano (1996) is dark, strong and (as Gerber

himself observes) rather Brahmsian--and conveys a real sense of depth.

The four remaining pieces offered here are all collections of

miniatures: each contains three brief movements, some barely longer

than one minute. But Gerber does a great deal in these short forms.

Three Songs without Words (1986), a solo-violin arrangement of some

Gerber songs with words, is simple and emotionally straightforward.

Three Pieces for Two Violins (1997) nicely mixes dissonance with

lyricism, eventually subsiding into the latter. Gershwiniana (1999),

for three violins, and Three Folksong Transformations for Violin,

Cello and Piano (2001) both take skeletal elements of tunes and re-

harmonize them while thoroughly changing their moods. The final

movement of the Gershwin-based piece, called "Blues-Etude," is

especially compelling. Gerber does not adopt tonality on a wholesale

basis in any of these works, but he flirts with it often enough--and

uses it frequently enough as a jumping-off or concluding point--to

show that he has thought its implications through carefully and found

some personal and very effective ways to adapt it to the late 20th

and early 21st centuries.



- Infodad Team, July 2009

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