Bent Lorentzen uses a strongly gestural musical language, and he has a real knack for inventing memorable “events” that, in tandem with driving percussion ostinatos, give his music a clearly discernible shape. He also has a sense of humor, employing a bracing and eclectic range of thematic materials. In the Piano Concerto this all comes together best in the entertaining finale, but in the first two movements (of four) the piece doesn’t quite cohere. The problem with the modern “eclectic” school generally is that composers have to get the recipe right, finding a satisfying blend of traditional and “advanced” elements, balancing tonality with atonality and original material with “found” or externally referential ideas. Lorentzen doesn’t quite achieve that here.
The Italian Concerto, for trumpet, trombone, and sinfonietta, is another story altogether. Here the music really is distinctive, the writing for the two soloists exciting and interesting. Structured as a baroque suite in one long movement, the piece should find a secure place in the repertoire of brass players. The use of two soloists was a particularly inspired idea since it allows for many more fresh and new timbral combinations than you usually find in concertos for single brass instruments.
Lorentzen’s sense of humor comes to the fore in the Hunting Concerto for solo horn, gun-shots, and strings. The soloist jogs along amiably for three short movements, until a percussion fusillade brings the hunt, and the concerto, to an abrupt close. The music is tonal and easy to follow. Whether this joke stands up on repetition is another story, but it’s undeniably fun. The performances are all first-rate, the sonics excellent, and while not equally successful these three works certainly establish Lorentzen as a distinctive, often appealing musical voice.
