MELINDA WAGNER, Concerto for Flute, Strings and Percussion.  Paul
Lustig Dunkel, flute, Westchester Philharmonic, Mark Mandanaro, cond.
(24:30).  PAUL RUDERS, Concerto in Pieces (Purcell Variations).  BBC
Symphony, Andrew Davis, cond. (17:14).  Interviews of Ruders & Wagner.
Bridge 9098.  TT 55:51.

This recording, for me, is the find of the year.  (Literally, as well as
figuratively.  Browsing in Virgin's megastore in Chicago, I came across it
shelved with Richard Wagner.) Until now I had never heard a note by either
composer.  Wagner won the Pulitzer Prize last year, for this work, but I
see only one previous recording listed for her in Schwann.  The work by
Ruders, a Dane, was performed at the Proms, and he has a number of other
recordings, including two symphonies, a concerto for violin and one for
piano. His opera, The Handmaid's Tale was recorded for release this year.

Both works on this disc are exciting and repay repeated listening.  The
partial origins of each would be more nakedly revealed if they had been
named Music for Strings, Percussion and Flute, and Variations and Fugue on
a Theme of Purcell, though I would not want to overstress this; both are
fresh and inventive.  Wagner openly admits that Bartok's work was a model
with respect to the instrumentation (as well as Bernstein's Serenade); she
did not want to overwhelm the flute with brass or other woodwinds.  In
Ruders' case, the work was commissioned on the occasion of the tercentenary
of Purcell's death and the fiftieth anniversary of Britten's young Person's
Guide.  Ruders felt that he might "just as well jump out the window" as
choose the theme Britten did; the one he selected was the "fast, swinging,
Ho-Ho-Ho witches ' chorus" from the beginning of Act II of Dido and Anaeas.

Wagner's Concerto for Flute, Strings and Percussion has a vigorous,
attention-getting opening that could fairly be called Bartokian.
She invokes strong rhythms and uses the percussion section effectively
throughout the work, including bells, piano, triangle--and celesta.
There is a also a lyrical gentleness, particularly in the long, lovely
middle movement, which is quiet and lightly scored, with only a few intense
moments.  It is marked "Sad, Simple, Warm." The first movement is marked
"Playful"; it has its hushed moments.  The vigorous finale is simply marked
with the quarter-note value of 100.  The flute displays its full range--or
nearly--and the melodic phrasing definitely keeps one's attention.  The
soloist is fine, as is the orchestra.

Ruders' Concerto in Pieces, a concerto for orchestra, has ten variations
culminating in a "finale fugato" or a "minimalist fugue" and shows some
of the composer's eclectic tendencies, most charmingly illustrated with a
(4th) variation for alto saxophone (my favorite.) Variation 5 is for tuba
with horns, trumpets and trombones (quieter than you might expect); 6 is
a drumming variation and 7 (andante lamentoso) for harp, flute, trumpets,
vibraphone and celeste; #8 is for high strings and muted trumpet; 9 is a
pizzicato with double base harmonics.  The finale is for full orchestra
with unison horns and trumpets rousingly playing Purcell's theme at the
end.

A bonus on this recording is a pair of interviews with the composers.
 One learns that Wagner, the recipient of several prestigious awards and a
considerably greater number of rejection letters which gave her calluses to
work with, wrote songs as a child which formed part of a musical play, "We
Love Recess," her first performed work.  As a young child she also listened
constantly to Amahl and the Night Visitors and West Side Story.  Ruders got
a later start and was largely self-taught as a composer.  His interest in
the baroque came out of his work as an organist.  Ruders' musical aims are
to "entertain, enrich and disturb."

I am looking forward to hearing other works by Melinda Wagner and Paul
Ruders With two such composers--among others--writing today, I do not fear
for the future of classical music.

Copyright 2000 by R. James Tobin