At the Edge of Night was released in 2018 by Centaur Records.
Music is sound searching for its significance.
Poetry is language searching for its freedom.
When composing an opera, Jon Pescevich creates tonal material to match the literary themes and characters of the drama he is setting. In his first opera, Hamlet’s Obsession (2014), the composer gave resonance to the themes of existence and transcendence, thoughtfulness and empathy. The tonal language he developed to reflect these literary themes is revisited and further explored in all of the chamber music introduced on this CD.
Ophelia (2017) is a set of three airs for solo violin, based on the opera Hamlet’s Obsession. The airs incorporate some of the most beautiful melodies from Hamlet’s Obsession and transform them by presenting their material within an entirely new abstract structure.
Drawn from the mad scene sung by Ophelia at the beginning of the second act of the opera, ‘Ophelia’s Sorrow’ is a set of seven slow variations which modulate across the circle of fifths, arriving at the tritone and ending unresolved. ‘While Digging a Grave’ is also derived from the second act, and is based loosely on the song that the Gravedigger sings as he shovels earth to create Ophelia’s grave. This second air is quicker than the first, and its seemingly spontaneous sense of structure is underscored by a languid repetitiveness. The melody of the last air, ‘The Willow Song’, is drawn from the scene in the opera in which Gertrude describes the circumstances of Ophelia’s drowning. Here the melody is repeated twice, without variation, the repetitions separated by a tritone rather than a fifth. A transformation of the opening phrase of ‘Ophelia’s Sorrow’ is then heard, drawing this work to a close.
American Transcendental (2012) is a cycle of four songs, based on poems by Poe, Emerson and Dickinson. Within the microcosm of this work, the Hamlet’s Obsession tonalities and themes of existence are heard accompanying a hero along her journey through life. Each of the cycle’s four songs is like a statue, symbolizing a station along her way.
In the first song, the hero sets out on her journey, committing to the cause of seeking ‘Eldorado’. The three tonal colors of this first song and several of its accompaniment patterns reverberate like echoes in the next three songs, reminding us of how her quest began. When the god ‘Brahma’ speaks to her in the second song, two of these three tonalities – one bright and one questioning – are placed side by side in constant alternation. With one breath the god opens our hero’s eyes to new possibilities, and with the next causes her to question everything she thought was true. As our hero is brought to her grave in ‘The Chariot’, the remaining dark tonality is given full compass. We hear it in the horse’s hooves on the cobbles and the creaking of the carriage. The fourth and last song, ‘A Dream within a Dream’, mourns the passing and elusive nature of our lives in this transient world. Here, all three tonalities are united again and their chord progressions and modulations mirror those heard in ‘Eldorado’. The bass line threatens to break free of its moorings, as the right hand of the piano and the vocal line circle one another, longing for freedom.
Wie ein Bogenstrich (2014) is a work for violin, voice and piano, based on three poems by Rainer Maria Rilke. Rather than setting the poems as free-standing songs, the composer has woven them together into a through-composed work that tells a story. Each song has its own pattern of accompaniment and its own tonality, once again derived from the opera Hamlet’s Obsession. The piano generally remains loyal to these patterns and tonalities, mixing them two at a time like primary colors. The violin, which functions as the poet Rilke’s alter-ego in this piece, always presents an instrumental version of the melody first, to be followed by the song itself. After the song has been sung we hear the melody again as an improvisation, with voice, violin and piano parts careening into one another and intertwining to create a cannon.
Sitting alone in his room on a rainy night, the poet hears a violin. Inspired, he sings ‘Der Nachbar’, while the unseen violinist practices some scales. Each excited by the music of their unseen neighbor, the poet and the violinist begin to improvise. When the violinist segues into an erotic melody, the poet falls silent, his thoughts turning to his lover. He gives voice to his feelings in a love song, ‘Liebes-Lied’, as on the other side of the wall the violinist returns to practicing some etudes. The love song exerts its fascination through the wall, touching the soul of the violinist and drawing him into another wild and life-affirming improvisation. The poet ceases singing as his gaze falls on the view outside his window, leaving the violinist to play on alone in frustration and anger. As the poet muses on the night scene that has captured his thoughts, he ventures into a contemplative song, ‘Am Rande der Nacht’. His singing calms the violinist, who once again returns to practicing scales. When the song concludes there is a momentary hush. Tentatively, poet and violinist begin a last improvisation. With mounting passion, their melodies and patterns oppose and disrupt each other until they reach catharsis. Having finally found unison, their last notes melt away into the night.
If music is sound searching for its significance, and if poetry is language searching for its freedom, then this CD shows music and language finding and completing each other again and again in a tapestry of variations.
by Erika Swedberg
Available at Presto Classical and iTunes.