Whatever your mood, this album has something for you. And I mean it.
The new album of Ellen Taafe Zwilich’s music, recorded by the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, brings new light to a composer who has been making waves since becoming the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1983. Zwilich’s music is full of extreme emotions ranging from whimsical chaos to the depths of grief and loss.
Case in point: the opening piece, Upbeat!, is a maniacal take on Bach’s third partita for solo violin. That memorable, bugle-like tune bounces around an orchestra that can’t seem to decide whether it’s playing Bernstein, Copland, or Shostakovich (and, somehow, never tries Bach himself). The title is apt—it’s certainly an upbeat piece, but in the way that the clown haunting your nightmares manages to keep a smile plastered on his face.
The Concerto Elegia for Solo Flute and Strings couldn’t be more different. Written in the wake of her husband’s passing, this piece rejects a lot of the showmanship you may expect of a concerto. All three movements move slowly and thoughtfully. There are a few moments of levity and some musical fireworks, but overall this piece focuses on nostalgic and mournful feelings that Zwilich couldn’t bring herself to put into words. She has in fact never written program notes for it. The most she was able to write was the simple dedication, “For Erik.”
The album proceeds with a parade of classic Italian stock characters represented by a violin soloist in Commedia dell’Arte. The clown Arlecchino plays some pranks (says Zwilich, “You can’t do Arlecchino without a slapstick”) and Columbina plays hard to get. The brash and arrogant Capitano makes an appearance, as well, before the showy cadenza and finale. It’s a motley crew of characters that Zwilich is able to capture masterfully with this vibrant concerto.
The centerpiece of the album, however, is the final piece: Zwilich’s fifth symphony. It is a somber piece dedicated to “composers whose voices were silenced by tyranny.” One can hear echoes of the many composers working under authoritarian regimes during World War II, under socialist regimes, and more. The frenetic second movement notably includes a jazz drum set, which calls to mind the way that jazz became such a cultural flashpoint both in the United States and abroad. This solemn, powerful symphony is fitting of a mature composer who has been perfecting her craft for decades, and especially of an album that showcases the full breadth of her work.
