Earworm: "Absence"

in

Provided to YouTube by DistroKid Absence · Carolina Eyck Elegies for Theremin & Voice ℗ Butterscotch Records Released on: 2019-09-27 Auto-generated by YouTube.

One of my favorite ways to encounter new music is to stumble into it quite accidentally. I recently ran across a 2017 video of Carolina Eyck performing Ennio Morricone’s “The Ecstasy of Gold,” set for voice and theremin, and I was mesmerized. This stand-alone track sent me off in search of more of her music.

Ms. Eyck’s most recent release, from October 2019, is the aptly-titled “Elegies for Theremin & Voice” (available on all major streaming services). She goes off on explorations of the technical capabilities of the instrument and its compatibility with the human voice.

One of my favorite tracks on the album is "Absence." Haunting and hollow, it creating a space in the listener where longing creeps in. In one nearly five-minute track, she takes us from the quiet beginnings of separation and guides us to the edge of an empty void in our souls.

Throughout the album, her vocals are stellar as is her skill on the theremin. Even in the gentlest passages, her voice maintains a vibrant, warm sound that draws the listener in deeper. The theremin is strikingly versatile in her hands, and Ms. Eyck's ability to coax so much depth from the instrument is remarkable.

You can learn more about Ms. Eyck's performance and teaching her website, https://www.carolinaeyck.com/.

Earworm: “Case of You”

in
“I remember that time you told me, you said
’Love is touching souls’
Surely you touched mine
’Cause part of you pours out of me
In these lines from time to time”
— Joni Mitchell

I was a freshman or sophomore in college when a friend asked me if I liked Joni Mitchell. When I sheepishly replied that I’d liked what I’d heard of her but didn’t know very much of her work, he handed me a pile of her CDs and told me he hoped I would enjoy them.

One of those CDs was her seminal album, Blue, released in 1971. Her fourth album, Blue was the first of her records to reach platinum on both the US and UK, even going double platinum in the UK.

Truth be told, I don’t think there’s a bad track on this album, but one in particular caught my attention when I first heard it and again when I stumbled across it recently. “A Case of You” is probably my favorite song on Blue. The combination of her sparse mountain dulcimer and compelling story-telling is irresistible. Like so many of Mitchell’s songs, “A Case of You” is about a relationship, but what makes it stand out to me is the complexity that she captures in just under 4 1/2 minutes. This lover is by turns infatuating and infuriating, and though it all, she never fails to perfectly illustrate how they are “so bitter and so sweet.”

Earworms: "Sing, Sing, Sing" and "Inside Out"

in

I eagerly listen to just about anything that I can get my hands on. Always have. I grew up listening to Nitty Griity Dirt Band; Patti Lupone's performance in Evita; La Boheme when it aired on the local PBS station. When I started playing flute at age 9 and more seriously orchestra music at 14, I just expanded what I listened to. Music was not an "either this or that" situation for me; it's always been more of a "both this and that." 

Thanks to the curiosity of one of my students, there's been a lot of jazz in my ears lately. Recently, while I was scrounging YouTube for some Mingus, the "Up Next" feature recommended Benny Goodman's "Sing, Sing, Sing."

I love jazz clarinet, and in particular I love Goodman. His sparkling tone cuts through the band as a soloist but can respectfully take its place in accompanying lines as well: a rare balance! He uses the clarinet in a driving, rhythmic way that completely changed my perspective on the instrument the first time I heard it. 

This particular time, the brass lick in “Sing, Sing, Sing” prodded something in my recent listening memory. That melody, combined with the prominent drum line, reminded me of Imdela May’s 2011 release, “Inside Out.”

Decades apart, these two pieces strike a dialogue. Love it when music connects like that. 

Earworm: Lurie and Baker Play Muczynski

in

A friend and duo partner gifted me this for my birthday last week! An LP of Julius Baker and Mitchell Lurie playing Muczynski. Today, my first LP player as an adult arrived so I can enjoy it. So excited!!

2 Likes, 1 Comments - Anna Luther (@flutist.anna) on Instagram: "A friend and duo partner gifted me this for my birthday last week! An LP of Julius Baker and..."

A friend and colleague of mine recently gifted me with a real gem of an album, recorded in 1984: Laurie and Baker Play Muczynski. These legendary soloists perform the late 20th-century composer's chamber works for flute and piano, clarinet and piano, and flute and clarinet:

  • "Time Pieces" for Clarinet & Piano, Op. 43

  • Six Duos for Flute & Clarinet, Op. 34

  • Sonata for Flute & Piano, Op. 14

  • Three Preludes for Unaccompanied Flute, Op. 18

My favorite work on the record (yes, it's actually a record!) is the Duos for Flute and Clarinet. This album is the first recording produced of the Duos in this configuration. The six-movement piece was originally composed for two flutists rather than the flute and clarinet instrumentation heard here. It's not atypical for music for flute duo to be arranged for a flute and clarinet pairing, but what makes this particular arrangement interesting is that Muczynski himself opted to re-arrange his flute duet upon learning that Baker and Lurie would be making this record. 

Baker's reputation for exquisite phrasing and an impressive dynamic range in the extreme registers of the instrument really shines in these pieces. His performance holds up 30 years later as an example of truly virtuosic American flute playing.

Curiously, Lurie's performance, while excellent in its own right, doesn't hold up quite as well under modern scrutiny. The two colleagues I spoke with regarding Lurie shared a similar conclusion: Lurie's aesthetic is on the lighter side, embracing a pure core for his sound without exploring much of the darker, warmer timbre that the clarinet is capable of producing. This style of clarinet has largely fallen out of favor, overtaken by powerful, overtone-rich, lush sound.

Still, Baker and Lurie's sounds complement each other beautifully in this recording, where individual lines so often weave in and out of each other that it's difficult to discern where one melody ends and the next begins. They work together expertly to deliver a striking, virtuosic take on these demanding but eminently enjoyable duos. 

The entire album is well worth a listen if you can get your hands on a copy of it, a real gem of American composition and performance--and the duos are absolutely worth playing if you can find yourself a duet partner willing to take on the challenge with you.