Fifth House Ensemble - Excelsior (2014)

Posted By: Piterets

Fifth House Ensemble - Excelsior (2014)
Contemporary Classical | Cedille Records CDR 90000 148 | 2014 | 63:28 | EAC (FLAC, cue, log) | Full Scans | Various File Hosts | 267 MB
Fifth House Ensemble

A new Chicago-based chamber group, the Fifth House Ensemble, presents their debut recording Excelsior. They come across as a very capable outfit with fine readings of four contemporary works, each work with its own more-or-less post-modern qualities, some rather firmly in the realm of radical tonality.The title work, a short chamber opera by Caleb Burnhans (b. 1980) that was composed in 2012, features an ultra-tonal panorama with some ritualistic repetition and lyrical diatonic matter-of-factness that centers at the end around a folkishly modal part for soprano.
fifth-house.com


Red River uses a medium of mixed quartet comprising clarinet, violin, cello and piano, complemented by a pre-recorded track of electronic sounds that adds a new age dimension to the piece. Like Burhans’s Excelsior, the writing in Red River induces a state of meditation that will have you reaching for your yoga mat. The opening (and most compelling) movement of the work, The Continental Divide, seeks to transport the listener high into the Rockies. The writing is at once appealing, with a gentle harmonic style and homage to Americana that, along with of prominent use of the interval of the Perfect fifth, evokes a sense of spaciousness akin to “The Open Prairie” movement that opens Copland’s ballet, Billy the Kid. Strong ostinato patterns introduced by the clarinet soon follow, which in turn steers the music into a well syncopated jazz idiom that will continue to unfold during the two movements that follow. With its jazzy colorings, asymmetrical metric patterns and lively syncopations, Interstate 70 has strong ties to Copland’s Clarinet Concerto(which Copland had dedicated to Benny Goodman). Indeed, the clarinet maintains a strong prominence throughout the work — not just because it’s the only wind instrument among strings, but because of its ubiquitous melodic and rhythmic prominence. Hoover Slates Vegas, for example, recalls Morton Gould’s perky jazz idiom and syncopations in his Derivations for Clarinet and Dance Band (also written for Benny Goodman). Clarinetist Jennifer Woodrum generated lots of anima throughout Red River in her unofficial role here as the “Queen of Swing.”
fifth-house.com



This is another modern music ensemble that promotes music by young American composers following in the footsteps of other groups such as eighth blackbird, Ensemble Now, inscape, Brooklyn Rider, Ethel and others, all of which were represented in my shares on this site.

Track List:

ALEX SHAPIRO (b. 1962)
1 Perpetual Spark (2011) (6:53)* — Arranged for Fifth House Ensemble

JESSE LIMBACHER (b. 1991)
2 Air (2012) (6:09)* — Written for and premiered at the 2012 fresh inc festival

MASON BATES (b. 1977)
Red River (2007) (19:23)
3 I. The Continental Divide (4:20)
4 II. Interstate 70 (3:54)
5 III. Zuni Visions from the Canyon Walls (4:38)
6 IV. Hoover Slates Vegas (3:49)
7 V. Running Dry on the Sonoran Floor (2:48)

CALEB BURHANS (b.1980) / JOHN COLETTI, librettist
8 Excelsior (2012) (30:57)* — A New Music USA commission

*World Premiere Recording

Exact Audio Copy V1.0 beta 3 from 29. August 2011

EAC extraction logfile from 18. October 2014, 22:28

Fifth House Ensemble & friends / Excelsior

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3% recovery record is included.

Of related interest:
http://fifth-house.com/

More contemporary American and European music is available at my blog.