Singing About Meteorology

Cover of the album being discussed (from its Amazon.com Web page)

When, during my undergraduate years at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, I first began seriously to hone my craft at writing reviews of concert and dance performances, I frequently encountered the adage that writing about music was like dancing about architecture (whose origins have never been verified but seem to date back over a hundred years ago). I was reminded of that experience this morning while listening to Beaufort Scales, a cantata by Christopher Cerrone, on a new Cold Blue Music album. The album will be released this coming Friday; and, as is so often the case, Amazon.com has already created a Web page for taking pre-orders.

The Wikipedia page for the Beaufort scale describes it as “an empirical measure that relates wind speed to observed conditions at sea or on land.” I probably was first aware of it in weather forecasts involving the strength of a hurricane with a number between zero and twelve. The National Weather Service has created a Web page giving the descriptions for each of those steps, and they provide the texts for the “Prelude” and twelve “Step” movements of Beaufort Scales. Interleaved among those thirteen movements are four narrated “interludes.” Two of those interludes (the second and fourth) draw upon Herman Melville. The other sources come from F. Scott Fitzgerald (the first interlude) and Anne Carson (the third), as well as a single verse (about fair weather) from the Book of Matthew, which serves as the “Postlude.”

The texts are sung by the Lorelei Ensemble, which consists of a “double quartet” of four sopranos, two mezzos, and two altos, led by Artistic Director Beth Willer. Any “accompaniment” is provided by electronics conceived by Cerrone and realized with the assistance of Dave Sanchez, Olivier Pasquet, Nate Thatcher. This was clearly an ambitious undertaking.

My past experiences with Cerrone’s music have been sporadic (to say the least). According to my records, the most recent one took place in November of 2021, when he was one of nine composers featured in a recital by pianist Ting Luo presented by Old First Concerts. Going back even earlier, percussionist Andy Meyerson performed his “A Natural History of Vacant Lots” at Z Below in September of 2019; and that performance was subsequently released as a YouTube video. In those contexts I have found Cerrone’s music engaging; but I have to confess that, after listening to Beaufort Scales several times, I have come away feeling that I have been overwhelmed by too many ideas and not enough music.

I see from Cerrone’s Wikipedia page that much of his effort has gone into working with vocal resources; but I fear that, if Beaufort Scales is representative, I would much prefer the instrumental encounters.