The nuance within composer Trevor Weston’s musical language floats through a range of influences, including Impressionism, Modernism, and African American traditions and genres such as jazz, blues, and more. On a new portrait album titled Remembrances (New Focus Recordings), Ecce Ensemble offers contemplative recordings of works relating to ancient architecture, visual art, and race.
The album begins with a new adaptation of A.N.S. (A New Sound) for flute and piano. Originally written for flute and marimba, the work is inspired by Duke Ellington’s critical essay about the ways institutionalized racism has held the United States back. Flute is the driving force, opening the piece with fragments of a larger phrase that end in mid-air, as if asking a question. Emi Ferguson’s bright sound leads the vibrant and insistent direction, emerging into expansive trills and dusts of jazz harmony before getting stuck in her own hypnotic theme.
Conceived in collaboration with abstract painter Arn Strasser, Images explores ideas of space and gestures. “Shadow” opens with cellist Robbie Bui emerging from nothing into hollow phrases that invite violinist Natalie Boberg and pianist Geoffrey Burleson into the texture. The tonality is never fully settled in this cautious atmosphere, with the trio trading lines in close counterpoint to create an incessant series of cascades.
“Lumen” breaks free, with each artist taking charge to drive the music forward sonically and rhythmically. The ensemble glances back at the shadow behind us with themes that feel reminiscent of the first movement while simultaneously looking ahead to reverberant chords and a harmonious ending. Strasser’s paintings feature dramatic, thick lines of black and grey carving through shades of pastels. In live performances, a collection of Strasser’s paintings are projected with the music; the disadvantage of an audio recording is not being able to see this correlation.
Principles of architecture are the inspiration behind Eurythmy Variations for solo piano. At the core of the work is a sweet interlude that dances across the piano in nostalgic patterns, nodding to Weston’s influences of both Impressionism and jazz. Beginning with a series of well-tempered chords, we are drawn into their thick pulse before flitting off in different directions as Weston explores ideas of balance and proportion. Burleson’s performance is beautifully balanced and paced, bringing us into worlds of mysticism with twinkling little fragments, lopsided melodies, and later, a relentless theme hammered through the range of the piano.
Remembrance begins with a striking clarinet solo from Joe Eller that flutters around trills in the instrument’s low register before meeting with piano to create an almost swung tune. As Eller and Burleson link their abstract phrases to create waves of counterpoint, the groove becomes more addictive. The work pushes the boundary of typical clarinet and piano repertoire, balancing jazz glisses, falls, and angular phrases while maintaining the duo relationship between the instrumentalists. A brilliant moment toward the middle of the piece sees the duo fold into unison and octave harmonies before doing their respective dances again: Eller with stunning glissandi above Burleson’s punctuated beat.
Arioso for solo cello juxtaposes activity and stillness in an homage to Weston’s experiences in Venice. The watery structure of the piece oscillates between sharper pizzicatti and longer lines warped through glisses and col legno, and Bui’s performance is both ferocious and meditative.
Rhythm is the primary focus of the three-movement Verve Music, but the flute, oboe, and cello instrumentation is equally interesting as glimpses of their individual tones blend together to create unique timbres. “intro” snaps us into action with a quick cello pizzicato; at first, it feels as though the cello and the winds are fighting against one another, with string slides like the honks of a car horn, but then common ground is found, a collective pulse in a thick, unrelenting texture. “pulses”features a swinging pendulum of flute and oboe themes with dots of cello punctuating the surface, evoking a sense of both tranquility and impatience for the music to pick up. “bop” scratches this itch and takes the ensemble off the ground and into the sky, pushing along as if being moved by the driving force of percussion, but it’s the force of Ecce’s trio.
The album’s final track, Legacy Works, is an instrumental adaptation of Weston’s Griot Legacies, originally scored for children’s choir, adult choir, and orchestra. “There is a Balm in Gilead” is led beautifully again by Eller’s rich and dark clarinet tone carrying over the ensemble’s phrases, creating abstract Neoclassical shapes within an otherwise simple chord progression. In the melancholic “Lord How Come Me Here,” the clarinet often blends imperceptibly with the strings to create a watery texture. “I Got Shoes” floats with a Baroque-ian hope, its phrases dancing lightly, but with pointed edges.
Remembrances is a triumph in celebrating the unusual and striking textures of Weston’s solo and chamber music, brought to life beautifully by Ecce. The practice of portrait albums are necessary to keep alive in today’s culture, as these close explorations of a single composer allow listeners to fully immerse themselves in one artist’s unique sonic world.
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