Fumeé
Neuma, 2026
9/10
The London composer Geoffrey Gordon turns composition into visual art here, where mostly world premiere recordings are executed with much detail and imagination.
“Gotham News” starts the listen with the Radom Chamber Orchestra’s precise strings that are as colorful as the Williem de Kooning painting the songs is named after, and “Premiére Rhapsodie” follows with the Hong Kong Sinfonietta and Horácio Ferreirra’s clarinet interacting with no lack of melody populating the Debussy original.
Next up, the title track, which features the same cast as the previous selection, is a bit more cryptic in nature, and moves with the playful wind complementing the symphony’s cautious presence.
The final track, “Creavit Deus Hominem”, unfolds across 4 segments, where cinematic stabs and orchestral swells from the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra and José Luis Garcia Vegara’s oboe range from intimate to rhythmic and pulsating.
A daring effort that embraces classical, chamber and orchestral ideas, the artistic and post-romantic nods are also much appreciated in yet another impressive outing for Gordon.
Travels well with: Bonnie Whiting- Through The Eye(s); Galan Trio- Kinesis, Vol. 3