Voices Of The Night
Navona, 2022
8/10
The exceptional composer Richard E Brown brings us a top notch listen that uses a pair of orchestras and composers, where texture and rhythm are present in spades.
The title track opens the listen with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and Dave Watkins as conductor, where the moody strings and tense percussion ebbs and flows with a very full, often tense landscape, and “Concerto For Clarinet And Chamber Orchestra” follows with the Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava and Karel Dohnal’s clarinet working together with grace and adventurousness under the direction of the conductor Stanislav Vavřínek.
The back half of the listen is entirely the Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava and Vavřínek, where “Paisano Suite” emits rich textures that can be dreamy and light as well as booming and lush, and “Expansions For Orchestra” exits with a bit of an ominous quality that’s quite cinematic.
A listen that’s often calm, but also can be very powerful, Brown balances space and tone splendidly, where each composition carries its own emotional depth and unique brand of dramatic song craft.
Travels well with: The Lowell Chamber Orchestra- Miniature Symphonies; Mary Howe- Between Us