Cuban Composers on the “Bleeding Edge”

from the Amazon.com Web page for the recording being discussed

Regular readers probably know that I have adopted “bleeding edge” as my metaphor for particularly adventurous composers and performers, primarily in the Bay Area. However, that is the metaphor that quickly came to mind while listening to Sonidos Cubanos 2, released by Neuma Records at the beginning of last month. As the title suggests, this is the second album in a series; and I must confess to regret (but not surprise) that Amazon.com does not seem to be aware of the preceding album. I suppose our country still has a “virtual wall” to support the argument that, if we cannot see musical practices in Cuba, then they must not exist.

Sonidos Cubanos 2 presents recent works by five composers, each in its own genre and each making a solid case that we should not maintain our delusions about those musical practices. Most likely none of those composers’ names will be familiar to most readers, but they all deserve more proper recognition. Here is a quick précis of their respective contributions:

1. The album begins with a full-orchestra tone poem by Flores Chavino entitled “NiFe.” That title juxtaposes the periodic table abbreviations of the elements of nickel and iron. The score was inspired by a mining accident in 1995 in Spain, and it tracks the date of the account of that accident, which leads to a cathartic climax. The resources of the orchestra are extended with sources of “concrete” sounds.
2. Art song is represented by Ivette Herryman Rodríguez’ “Memorial.” The music is a setting of Christina Rossetti’s poem “When I am dead, my dearest.” Soprano Lindsay Kesselman is accompanied by both pianist Oscar Micaelsson and cellist Norbert Lewandowski.
3. Odaline de la Martinez provides a sample of instrumental chamber music through “Litanies,” scored for flute (doubling on bass flute), string trio, and harp, performed by members of the Lontano chamber ensemble.
4. Libertaria is a song cycle based on the narrative of an opera by Sabrina Peña Young. The title is the name of the primary character, who  escapes from the GenTech factory and teams up with her addict father to lead a children’s cyborg army against evil reverse-aging geneticists. The song cycle excerpts five highlights from the opera.
5. The final selection is a duo by Eduardo Morales-Caso entitled “Evolving Spheres,” which explores the diversity of sonorities that can be evoked by a bass clarinet (Lorenzo Iosco, accompanied at the piano by Duncan Gifford).

All of this makes for more than most attentive listeners will be able to take in by playing this album from beginning to end, but there is much to be gained by focusing on each of these selections individually.