The Four Cycles in this release on the Naxos label's fine American Classics series are song cycles in the classic sense, unified by a common poetic thread and musical structure. One even feels that San Francisco composer Peter Scott Lewis has the Romantic Lied tradition in mind with his lengthy introductions that set forth mood, concept, and pitch inventory for most of the songs. This said, the four cycles differ substantially from one another, with vocabulary ranging from nearly conventional tonality in the brief, guitar ...
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The Four Cycles in this release on the Naxos label's fine American Classics series are song cycles in the classic sense, unified by a common poetic thread and musical structure. One even feels that San Francisco composer Peter Scott Lewis has the Romantic Lied tradition in mind with his lengthy introductions that set forth mood, concept, and pitch inventory for most of the songs. This said, the four cycles differ substantially from one another, with vocabulary ranging from nearly conventional tonality in the brief, guitar-accompanied Three Songs from Ish River to substantially irregular chords and rhythms in the opening Where the Heart Is Pure. Two are for vocal quartet, not solo voice, and perhaps the Five Love Motets (2014), with texts by Lewis himself, work the best here: they are less motets than madrigals, with the texture fitting the texts effectively. The New York Virtuoso Singers Quartet also catches the informal language of Lawrence Ferlinghetti in The Changing Light (2013). Sample one from...
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Add this copy of Peter Scott Lewis: Four Cycles to cart. $32.47, new condition, Sold by newtownvideo rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from huntingdon valley, PA, UNITED STATES, published 2016 by Naxos American.
This CD in the Naxos American Classics series has introduced me to the music of Peter Scott Lewis (b. 1953), a composer based in San Francisco. The four song cycles included on the recording constitute, according to the liner notes, his complete vocal music to date. Lewis has also composed in other genres, including orchestra, concertos, chamber works, and solo instrumental music. The four works in this collection were composed between 1976 and 2014 and thus capture something of the breadth of a lengthy compositional career.
The music is in a tonal but modernistic idiom. It includes declamatory passages for voice and frequently changing tempos and rhythmic figures. The music for solo singers features large angular vocal leaps. I thought much of the writing for vocal quartet was particularly close-knit harmonically. The four cycles here focus in different ways on the composer's love for the Pacific Northwest.
The earliest work on the CD is the "Three Songs from Ish River" (1976 -- 1978) which combine a simple, folk-like guitar accompaniment performed by Colin MacAllister and a declamatory, wandering vocal line sung expressively by award-winning soprano Susan Naruki. The work sets thematically related poems by three poets: the composer's friend Robert Sund, Paule Barton, and Theodore Roethke. These short early songs are simple and delightful with lovely poetry.
The other work on the CD for solo voice is "When the Heart is Pure", setting three poems by the poet Robert Sund (1929 -2001) who lived a simple life for many years in a shack near the Skagit River. Lewis composed this work for chamber orchestra and voice but revised it in 2013, in the version heard on this release,for mezzo-soprano and piano. I was glad to read the three poems by Sund (as well as his poem in the prior cycle) in their introspectiveness. In the second poem of the cycle, for example, Sund writes:
I think of
Anonymous Chinese poets, old poems on silk,
The pleasure of being alone,
Walking
Through a herd of cows asleep in scant alfalfa,
the last crop of summer
Lewis' music is thoroughly integrated with the texts of the poems, here and throughout. The cycle celebrates the river and Lewis' relationship with his friend. The music has a feeling of nostalgia, with expressive declamatory singing by Christine Abraham and an elaborate piano part with extended clangorous solos by Keisuke Nakagoshi.
The remaining two song cycles feature the New York Virtuoso Singers Quartet, which specializes in the performance of contemporary music, rather than a solo singer. As he did with "When the Heart is Pure", Lewis reduced his "The Changing Light" from a large ensemble to a work for piano and vocal quartet. The piece sets poems by Lawrence Ferlinghetti and focuses on the Big Sur region of California. Those who love Ferlinghetti will enjoy Lewis' settings of his work.
The most recently composed work on the album is a set of five love motets for vocal quartet alone setting five poems by the composer It is relatively unusual for a composer to set his own texts. The five poems in this cycle are an almost embarrassingly direct expression of the composer's love for his wife in various nature settings. As often is the case with both art and popular song, the texts might not work standing by themselves while their unabashed feeling comes through beautifully in music. These songs are closely written, as befitting motets, and hark back to an earlier style of composition. They are lovely, intimate works.
The American Classics series is an outstanding way to get to know the breadth and diversity of American music. I was glad to hear and enjoy Lewis' Four Cycles on this CD. As the above discussion suggests, the music in these cycles is closely intertwined with the texts and needs to be heard with them.. Lewis' own brief liner notes help to introduce the music. Listeners with an interest in contemporary American music will enjoy getting to know Lewis. Naxos kindly sent me a review copy of the CD.
