Visconti’s extensive use of marked glissandi within the writing adds to the ecstatic visionary quality of the work which seems to be influenced by Indian musical gestures. The Shruti box drone sits discretely in the background colouring textures and providing an intriguing blurring of the expected aural soundscape. This is an evocative and serenely beautiful piece, with Visconti creating hypnotic textures that slip and overlap each other in a rather haunting way. Musically Visconti treats this by starting with a simple “breathing phrase” which lengthens and elaborates as this melody in turn passes around the ensemble. The title “Eternal breath” embodies the idea of the breath of life being passed from one family generation to another and expanding as it goes through the broadening family tree. All credit to Visconti, because interestingly this instrument adds a very effective musical anchor cum framework to the piece and is more central to its success than one guess a potentially contrived part for a non-musician might be.
#1960 tango instrumental soundscape professional
The ‘issue’ of one spouse not being a professional musician was circumvented by the part for the afore-mentioned shruti box. The concept was for a work that could involve all four of their children and their spouses. Returning to the theme of collaboration and community, Dan Visconti’s Eternal breath was commissioned by the parents of the Freivogel siblings to celebrate their 40 th wedding anniversary and it receives its World Premiere recording here. This is still finely played and well conceived as a performance I simply prefer the approach of Ehnes. The Jasper/Jupiters are more muscular and serious. By timings alone there is very little between Ehnes’ Seattle group and the current disc but to my ear Ehnes captures the sheer joy and sense of affirmation this work has. Listen to how the Seattle players urge the syncopating accompanying chords forward at the work’s opening. Ehnes, and indeed the whole Seattle group, play with a rapier-like light brilliance. A fairly recent performance from James Ehnes leading a members of the Seattle Chamber Music Society points up the quality I miss here.
If I am left craving that extra sprinkle of musical magic it is because I feel this performance lacks the last ounce of playfulness and flamboyance. Tempi are generally pretty standard although the closing Presto bustles along vigorously slightly faster than what might be deemed the norm. This new version is good, well played with the quite close recording affording plenty of detail and allowing Mendelssohn’s brilliant musical jousting between the instruments to register effectively.
#1960 tango instrumental soundscape full
Of course the catalogue is full of famous versions by famous groups and players. So the Mendelssohn is the only ‘true’ octet on the disc although given its ubiquity and popularity, I doubt it would be the main attraction for most collectors. Osvaldo Golijov’s Last Round was written for string orchestra – simply adding a double bass to the ‘standard’ octet, makes this in effect a small string orchestra. Daniel Visconti’s Eternal Breath was originally written for the unique combination of three cellos, three violins, one viola and a shruti box. The String Octet repertoire is not exactly over-burdened with choice – in fact neither of the accompanying works are string octets/double quartets themselves. So even before a note is played there is a deep bond of amity and respect that lies at the core of all good music-making.
Three Freivogel siblings are split between the quartets, with other members married or close friends dating back to their college days.
Dig a little deeper below the surface of these two American String Quartets and you realise there are many pre-existing connections and interactions between the groups.
Collaboration and community are at the heart of this new recording. This would be a desert island piece for me as it embodies not only the essence of what string playing is about but also as a collaborative work, the way in which the instruments share and interact seems to me to distil the spirit of music-making in a single work. Stony-hearted indeed the string player who does not love playing the Mendelssohn String Octet. 17-19 December 2019, The Foellinger Great Hall, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, University of Illinois, USA
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