Richard Pennycuick writes:

>I heard on the radio Ewazen's Violin Concerto, a most beautiful work
>apparently influenced by Vaughan Williams' Tallis Fantasia and Dives and
>Lazarus.  I tracked down the contents of the rest of the Albany CD, and
>there was information about Ewazen's career at his website.  There are
>a number of CDs of his music available but I hadn't heard of him before
>and Classical Net's search engine hadn't either.  I'm interested to know
>if the violin concerto is typical of his style or, if not, which other
>composers he might be compared to.

I haven't yet heard the violin concerto, but here's a review I did of
another CD about two years ago.

	Eric Ewazen

* Classical Concerto for Tenor Saxophone and Orchestra
* Ballade for Clarinet, Harp, and String Orchestra
* Concerto for Flute and Chamber Orchestra
* Chamber Symphony

James Houlik, saxophone; Charles Neidich, clarinet; Marya Martin, flute;
Eric Ewazen, piano; Czech Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra/Paul Polivnick,
cond.
ALBANY TROY 477 Total time: 75:29

Delightful.  I don't know why I like this music so much.  I know I was
predisposed to like it because Eric Ewazen comes from my home town, so
I was rooting for him before I heard a note.  How's that for shallow?
But, of course, Ewazen's place in the world, fortunately, doesn't depend
solely on me.  Ewazen has had, for a contemporary composer, a fairly
good career.  He teaches at Juilliard.  He's garnered some nice commissions.
The soloists on this program all have notable careers themselves.  The
music is eminently tonal, with much of its interest stemming from startling
harmonic progressions.  On the evidence of this CD, I'd say that Ewazen
has an original voice, albeit one with a rather modest range.  Still,
the artistic modesty remains a chief attraction for me, mainly because
it seems part and parcel of his composing personality.

The Classical Concerto, written for Houlik, opens with vigorous rhythms
and harmonies that leap miles very quickly, all within a strong tonal
context.  The concerto asks for an heroic soloist with a singing tone,
and Houlik fills the role superbly.  The slow movement sings beautifully,
if a bit eclectically, with a strong modal flavor that reminds me a bit
of Hovhaness, Rozsa, and Vaughan Williams now and again.  The finale,
with its composite rhythms against a large backbeat, recalled Creston,
but probably only because I'd been recently listening intensively to
Creston.  If the influences occasionally peek out, nevertheless, the mix
is both original and effective.  The concerto itself has a strong profile,
much stronger than, for instance, Ward's concerto for Houlik.

Ewazen has also written a Ballade for Trombone, Harp, and Strings.
It may turn out, as with the Swiss composer Frank Martin, a series. The
Ballade for Clarinet, however, seems to have been inspired by a particular
landscape: the rural shores of the Chesapeake Bay, where Ewazen lived
as guest composer of Maryland's Tidewater Music Festival.  Again, the
music, at least the opening and closing, dreams a bit like Rozsa,
particularly the Notturno Ungherese, while the orchestration calls to
mind Hanson's Serenade and Pastorale.  This music sandwiches an exceedingly
quick and lively near-moto perpetuo for the clarinet.  The quick and the
dreamy combine, before the dreamy wins out.  The pattern repeats without
sinking into dullness.  A beautiful work, beautifully played by Neidich,
who gives his clarinet the singing quality and gorgeous, heartfelt tone
we normally associate with the oboe.

The flute concerto disappointed me somewhat.  So much of it struck me
as the composer on "automatic," without a clear sense of movement forward,
so outstanding in the sax concerto and the Ballade.  On the other hand,
I'm not terrifically fond of the sound of a solo flute, so this may
account for my lack of enthusiasm.  The first movement seemed almost
mired.  Ewazen's "normal" (and I'm really in little position to say what
Ewazen's normal is, since I've heard only these works) devices -- the
asymmetrical rhythmic skips, the near-willful diatonic chord progressions
-- don't pack the same punch as in the other works on the disc.  My
favorite movement is the scherzo second, which worries a little figure
on the flute and manages to sustain momentum from first note to last.
The slow movement is okay and certainly well-written but, compared to
the Ballade and to its counterpart in the sax concerto, small beer.  We
already know that Ewazen sings better than this.  In character, it reminds
me of the Griffes Poem and, for me, exudes an air of "settling," even
(or especially) in its initial inspiration.  Things get back on track
with the attractive finale, which has a gorgeous secondary "big" tune
and a charming surprise in its presto coda.

Right now, I think of Ewazen as a composer who knows his limits and
keeps within them.  But he's still a relatively young man.  The Chamber
Symphony, from 1985, shows that he may be capable of more.  It opens
with a roar and a bigger set of ambitions than any other work on the
disc.  The first movement bounds from the gate in a wide-spanning
three-quarter time.  One hears the same harmonic and rhythmic quirks,
but the composer has turned them to larger expressive ends.  Ewazen gives
the piano a prominent, though not strictly speaking a soloist's, part,
something similar to a continuo, which tends to beef up the sound.  The
slow movement puts forward a real symphonic argument, rather than just
a sweet song.  I've nothing against the latter, but it's nice to learn
that Ewazen isn't stuck with it.  The slightly eerie ending with celesta
and cymbals raptured me out.  The finale, "big-shoulders" music,
nevertheless manages to dance.  My one quibble with the work is that the
composer too often doubles the orchestra with the piano, rather than
create a separate, contributory part.

The Chamber Symphony counts as my favorite work on the program.  I hope
Ewazen can build on it, because modesty is all very well, but it tends
to wear after a while, if that's all you do.  I compare Ewazen with
someone like Arnold Rosner, who uses many of the same tricks and manages
to produce a much wider emotional range: from charm to epic.  Unfortunately,
this isn't really something an artist can will.  The empty epic is
ponderous, even ludicrous.  The best advice any artist can take is the
old chestnut, "To thine own self be true." You express what matters to
you in the way that suits you best.  If Ewazen is truly an American
FranAaix, rather than a Poulenc, so be it, but he won't know until he
takes the chance.

The recorded sound is a bit raw, too heavy on the treble.  The playing
of the Prague Chamber Orchestra reminded me a little of the orchestras
from odd corners of Europe on the old CRI recordings: acceptable, if not
great.

Steve Schwartz