Jessica Fotinos - Stuart Greenbaum: Mondrian Interiors (2016) [Hi-Res]

Tracklist

01. Mondrian Interiors: I. The Red Tree
02. Mondrian Interiors: II. Tree
03. Mondrian Interiors: III. Church at Domburg
04. Mondrian Interiors: IV. Composition in Oval with Colour Planes
05. Mondrian Interiors: V. Composition Chequerboard, Dark Colours
06. Mondrian Interiors: VI. Composition with Red, Yellow and Blue #1
07. Mondrian Interiors: VII. Composition with Yellow Lines
08. Mondrian Interiors: VIII. Composition with Red, Yellow and Blue #2
09. Four Finalities: I. Footsteps
10. Four Finalities: II. The Thread
11. Four Finalities: III. Unbroken Snow
12. Four Finalities: IV. An Empty Room
13. 9 Candles for Dark Nights

This recording project is a spinoff of the “Australian Voices” series of concerts, a collaboration between the Melbourne Recital Centre and the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM). The CD consists of three works by Melbourne-based composer Stuart Greenbaum performed by ANAM musicians Jessica Fotinos (harp), Lotte Betts-Dean (mezzo soprano), Aiden Boase (piano), Dafydd Camp (cor anglais), Paul Dean (clarinet), Christopher Haycroft (bassoon), Cinzia Posega (horn) and David Reichelt (oboe). The program is unified by the prominence of the harp in all three works.

Mondrian Interiors for oboe, clarinet, horn, bassoon, piano and solo harp (2007) is a work inspired by a series of eight picture cards of paintings by Dutch modernist, Piet Mondrian, cards which the composer purchased after attending a Tate Gallery exhibition in 1997. Each movement is devoted to one of the images. Three of the movements (I, IV and VIII) employ the full ensemble whilst the other movements are scored for subsets of the ensemble. A feature of the work is the association of colour combinations with musical texture. For example, the third movement, “Church at Domburg” for solo harp is based monochromatically on a charcoal sketch “contained within an oval perimeter”. The following movement, “Composition in Oval with Colour Planes” is a reworking of this material for the full ensemble, thus adding multiple tone colour layers. Like this title, many of the movement titles relate to colour combinations. My pick of the movements is “Tree” which deftly combines the sound colours of harp, piano and plucked piano strings.

Four Finalities for voice, harp and cor anglais (2012) is a song cycle with a text by Ross Baglin, a poet with whom Greenbaum has collaborated over many years. The theme is “snow” but the treatment is much more abstract and philosophical. In a strophic song one expects repetition of lines, but I found the repetition of lines in a less metrical context to be quite ineffective, particularly in the first two movements. None the less the four-movement piece has a pleasing textural structure: voice with harp and cor anglais; voice with harp; voice with cor anglais and then a return to the opening combination. The most impressive movement for me was the second, characterised by a compelling vocal melodicism and interesting counterpoint between voice and instrument.

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