I saw New York Philharmonic percussionist Chris Lamb reveal Joseph Schwantner’s Percussion Concerto at its premiere performance back in the 1990s. Lamb is an astounding artist, and he plays the living daylights out of the piece. I felt then, and still believe (despite being a percussionist, sort of) that the concept of a percussion concerto is all but impossible to pull off musically, and Schwantner, who really knows how to write for percussion instruments, comes as close as anyone ever has to succeeding. It’s a fun work, full of color and, obviously, rhythm. Whether it has the necessary staying power to reward repetition is up to you.
The other two works here are tone poems that are based, like so much of Schwantner’s work, on images of light and nature. Chasing Light… is a “Ford Made in America” commission, a remarkable project that features the participation of dozens of orchestras and guarantees the work not just a multitude of performances all over the country (remarkable for new music), but also inevitably a Grammy since just about everyone involved is a NARAS member who will vote for the recording. In fact, this disc snagged a trophy for Chris Lamb’s “Best Instrumental Solo” in the Classical division. It may be a racket (what industry award isn’t?), but you can’t help but feel good for the support of contemporary music that this program encourages.
Anyway, the music is colorful, shimmering, occasionally melodic, and quite accessible. Schwantner is by any standard a very accomplished composer. He balances thematic and purely textural elements with a keen sense of timing, and both here and in Morning’s Embrace he creates confidently articulated musical shapes on a large scale, filling them with arresting ideas. The performances by the Nashville Symphony under Giancarlo Guerrero are as brilliant and exuberant as the music itself, and are very well recorded. Naxos, which happens to be located in Nashville, has a lot to be proud of with this one.
