Cover of the album being discussed (from its Bandcamp Web page)
This coming Friday will be the release date for the latest album produced by Queen Bee Records. This will be a performance by a twelve-piece “pocket chamber orchestra” playing Astrolabe, a seven-movement suite by Nathan Clevenger. The group includes a five-member wind ensemble: saxophonists Kasey Knudsen and Beth Schenck, Cory Wright on different sizes of clarinet and alto flute, Polly Springhorn on different sizes of flute (including piccolo), cellist Crystal Pascucci-Clifford, Lisa Mezzacappa on bass, and five percussionists: Jon Arkin, Jason Levis, Tim DeCillis, Mark Pascucci-Clifford, and Nathan Clevenger, the latter doubling on keyboards. The duration of the suite is 74 minutes, and Bandcamp has already created a Web page for processing pre-orders.
As is often the case with Queen Bee releases, this is music that deserves multiple listening experiences. One can begin by recognizing how thematic material migrates across different instrumental settings, punctuated, from time to time, by solo improvisations. The advance material I received cites Clevenger’s influences as “20th century concert music, jazz, film scores, collective and free improvisation, and percussion ensemble music,” leading me to wonder why he neglected to add the kitchen sink!
Nevertheless, I was drawn to the lyrical qualities of the solo work, even when I was not sure of who was playing what! Another interesting contribution from the advance material involves “modes borrowed from Messiaen.” However, the inventive approaches taken by those modes make any past experiences of Messiaen feel like a walk in the park. More often than not, Messiaen’s compositions tend to feel like a string of beads with little room for an overall framework. Astrolabe, on the other hand, comes across as a more integrated series of episodes with an underlying sense of shared exploration within a framework defined by the selection of contributing instruments.
My past encounters with Clevenger have not been very frequent. My last serious experience dates back to May of 2021, when he led a trio set for an Unsolitary concert arranged by avant-garde guitarist Karl Evangelista. I hope that I do not have to wait another half decade before encountering Clevenger’s next undertaking!
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