East Chamber Music - artsongLAB - Fall 2022
East Chamber Music - artsongLAB - Fall 2022
February 11, 2023
Premieres by: Heather Savage, Hannah Sobel, D. Wesley Unruh
East Chamber Music is a for-profit group which hosts workshops, festivals, and lessons to promote contemporary music. Their recent artsongLAB features three different settings of the same poem, Who Has Seen the Wind?, by Christina Rossetti. The concept of a singular poem being set by multiple poems is not necessarily a new one, but has become more popular in recent decades, mostly as a gimmick to attract audiences.
Performed by soprano, Maghan McPhee, and pianist, Valerie Dueck, the virtual concert is provides excellent recordings for the three composers (important since that's what they paid for). Surprisingly, McPhee voice sounds increasingly strained as the three pieces progress; maybe it would have been better to record over a multiple day period.
All three settings of the Rossetti are relatively straightforward, simple, and pleasant. If anything, the awkward similarity of all three settings reflect poorly on ECM and professional mentors. Groups like ECM either tend to seek out younger, 'safe' composers, or limit musical intuition into simplistic, easy-listening pieces. Out of the three, the most engaging and cohesive is the final setting, by D. Wesley Unruh. Unruh is the only one to create a contemporary art song for voice and piano, rather than voice with a basic accompaniment.
Listen and watch the whole ECM artsongLAB Fall 2022 playlist here.
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