Eberhard Piano Concerto, 'Shadow of the Swan'; Prometheus Wept
First sightings of an American composer unafraid to tackle contemporary events
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Dennis Eberhard
Genre:
Orchestral
Label: American Classics
Magazine Review Date: 7/2004
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 56
Mastering:
Stereo
DDD
Catalogue Number: 8 559176
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Concerto for Piano & Orchestra, 'Shadow of the Swan' |
Dennis Eberhard, Composer
Alexander Tchernoushenko, Conductor Dennis Eberhard, Composer Halida Dinova, Piano St Petersburg Cappella Symphony Orchestra |
| Prometheus Wept |
Dennis Eberhard, Composer
Alexander Tchernoushenko, Conductor Dennis Eberhard, Composer Peter Migounov, Bass St Petersburg Cappella Symphony Orchestra |
Author: Arnold Whittall
Naxos declare that ‘Dennis Eberhard is one of America’s leading composers’, which is quite a shock to those of us who have never heard of him. Nor, despite the fact that he was 60 in 2003, are we told anything about his earlier career. Judging by the music recorded here, he could well have worked mainly in films and theatre, and the mention of Lutosawski and Pärt in the notes is on the right lines, even if there’s rather more to these composers than a propensity for heavily-scored cluster harmonies or a solemn spirituality that spreads itself in ways which its basic material doesn’t begin to justify.
Like John Adams or Steve Reich, Eberhard has no qualms about tackling big subjects from real life: Prometheus Wept (1998) is a threnody for the victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, while Shadow of the Swan evokes not only 9/11 but also the Challenger disaster and the loss of the Russian submarine Kursk. Prometheus Wept works best, simply by being shorter and more understated, at least after its first five minutes, in which a solo bass (a sonorously close-miked Piotr Migounov) chants verses from the Book of Revelation as he ascends by semitones from the bottom of his register to the top.
Shadow of the Swan is efficiently orchestrated but, at more than 40 minutes, its episodic forms and reliance on heavy percussion to spice things up underline the difficulties of sustaining the listener’s interest when the basic materials lack the sustained memorability found in Adams’s On the Transmigration of Souls, or Reich’s Three Tales: it also lacks their cumulative formal power. In Eberhard’s piano concerto, the soloist has too little encouragement to make her presence felt, despite what sounds like a full-blooded performance and a well-balanced recording.
Like John Adams or Steve Reich, Eberhard has no qualms about tackling big subjects from real life: Prometheus Wept (1998) is a threnody for the victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, while Shadow of the Swan evokes not only 9/11 but also the Challenger disaster and the loss of the Russian submarine Kursk. Prometheus Wept works best, simply by being shorter and more understated, at least after its first five minutes, in which a solo bass (a sonorously close-miked Piotr Migounov) chants verses from the Book of Revelation as he ascends by semitones from the bottom of his register to the top.
Shadow of the Swan is efficiently orchestrated but, at more than 40 minutes, its episodic forms and reliance on heavy percussion to spice things up underline the difficulties of sustaining the listener’s interest when the basic materials lack the sustained memorability found in Adams’s On the Transmigration of Souls, or Reich’s Three Tales: it also lacks their cumulative formal power. In Eberhard’s piano concerto, the soloist has too little encouragement to make her presence felt, despite what sounds like a full-blooded performance and a well-balanced recording.
Eberhard Piano Concerto, 'Shadow of the Swan'; Prometheus Wept
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