This is a very pleasing recital of vocal music as well as a happy introduction to American composer Lita Grier. Now based in Chicago, Grier was a celebrated young Juilliard-trained composer in the 1960s when, like many others at that time, she grew so disenchanted with the censorious and ultimately oppressive cult of serialism and uncompromising atonality that had so thoroughly captured the minds (if not always the hearts) of the arbiters of classical music style that she left composing and channeled her musical talents and interests elsewhere. In the 1990s she returned to composing, acknowledging new commissions and succumbing to demands of musician colleagues for new works to add to the already established ones from her early career. This recording features songs–and a set of five pieces for children’s choir (to poems by Mattie Stepanek)–from as early as 1955 (Five Songs from A Shropshire Lad) and as recently as 2007/08 (Songs from Spoon River and the previously mentioned children’s choir set).
Perhaps partly a reflection of her early development, Grier’s songs are not about “tunes” but rather seem to take form from textual rhythms and inflections, the linear shape of the vocal line taking direct cues from the poetry rather than being imposed by the composer’s melodic preconception. I say this is how it seems, because these songs–whether from 1962 or 2007–impress with their uncontrived spontaneity and sensitivity to words that’s not always easy to achieve when writing songs to English texts.
Although most of these songs are not “about” tunes, that doesn’t mean they aren’t “tuneful”–and attractively so; in fact, Grier’s experience in writing for musical theatre shows quite tellingly and engagingly in songs such as The Bluebird, Sneezles (text from A.A. Milne), and I AM (Mattie Stepanek), the latter of which you could imagine as the big closer to a Broadway show. Other songs, such as Someone (the famous Walter de la Mare poem), Petit the Poet, and Margaret Fuller Slack (the latter two texts from Edgar Lee Masters’ Spoon River Anthology), show the more nuanced, multilayered sophistication of the most refined songwriter, reminding us that Grier was–and is–the real thing, and we can be glad that she’s back as a full-time composer.
She’s also fortunate to have some very fine singers and pianists to present her work on this recording. Sopranos Michelle Areyzaga (who performs the majority of the songs) and Elizabeth Norman are both superb, their technique solid and their voices eminently listenable (and I don’t often say this about sopranos!); baritone Robert Sims is also first rate (and he shows off some wonderful falsetto), but he also has a couple of the less ingratiating songs in the Shropshire Lad set, where Grier’s music sometimes seems at odds with the text. Both pianists–Welz Kauffman and William Billingham–are sensitive, reliable partners, and the Chicago Children’s Choir should receive some kind of medal for the wonderful things they do, not only on recordings such as this but in their various ongoing programs that bring young people together to sing great music.
While you may understandably have been unaware of Lita Grier’s music during the past 30 years, here’s your chance to correct the situation–and to show your support for a composer who held out for creative integrity over blind devotion to faddish, stylistic conformity. You’ve gotta love that–and you’ll really enjoy this well-conceived, excellently performed program. Highly recommended! [10/22/2009]
