Derek Bermel: Migrations
Naxos American Classics

In featuring three dramatically different works, Migrations captures the seeming ease with which Derek Bermel's able to bring his inestimable gifts as a composer to multiple milieus. It's not eclecticism for eclecticism's sake, however: each work is conceived in a manner true to the subject matter, whether it be the jazz orchestra stylings of 2006's Migration Series or 2011's Portuguese saudade-influenced song cycle Mar de Setembro. Said diversity comes naturally to the New York City-based composer, a musical omnivore and clarinetist whose appetite spans jazz, rock, and classical. Among those with whom he's studied are Henri Dutilleux and Louis Andriessen, and Bermel's composing endeavours have been informed by his exposure to multiple musical traditions, including those from Brazil and Africa. That his compositional approach has been deeply enriched by an immersion into the music of other cultures is evidenced resoundingly by the material on the recording.

For the Wynton Marsalis-commissioned (in his capacity as head of Jazz at Lincoln Center) Migration Series for Jazz Ensemble and Orchestra, Bermel drew for inspiration from the sixty-painting series by Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000) depicting the South-to-North movement of African Americans during the First and Second World Wars. The writings of Portuguese poet Eugénio de Andrade (1923-2005), on the other hand, provided inspiration for the song cycle Mar de Setembro (September Sea), while the three-movement A Shout, a Whisper, and a Trace (2009) honours Hungarian composer Béla Bartók, who emigrated to New York City and spent his last five years in the city. Abetting Bermel in the recording's realization are the Juilliard Jazz Orchestra, saxophonist Ted Nash, vocalist Luciana Souza, and the Albany Symphony Orchestra under David Alan Miller's direction.

Of the three pieces, Migration Series is the most substantial and at nearly thirty minutes the longest. Its five parts not only cover a remarkable stylistic range but also afford solo opportunities for a number of players, Bermel included. Blues, jazz, gospel, and swing are central threads within the musical fabric, the piece rich in counterpoint and rhythm, as well as energy, swagger, and life-spirit. Intricately structured it might be, with Bermel treating its form like a mosaic whose tiles are woven into different combinations, but it also communicates with immediacy.

The growl of muted horns instantly establishes the connection to blues and jazz in the opening part, “Landscape,” with the musicians in the Juilliard Jazz Orchestra bolstering the instrumental forces of the Albany Symphony collective. When the bluster of the trumpet emerges, it's easy to visualize Marsalis himself as a featured soloist in another performance of the work. We're far from classical, strictly speaking, when the blues-gospel feel of the second part, “After a Lynching,” asserts itself with such feeling. Mellifluous horns and strings imbue the material with uplift, perhaps suggestive of hopeful times ahead for the migrators. In an engrossing clarinet-and-double bass spotlight, Bermel struts his stuff in “A Rumor” before giving way to a slow, skanky rhythm and muted horns. “Riots and Moon Shines” alternates between blues-drenched passages and uproarious swing, after which horns, saxes (including a soprano-wielding Ted Nash), and guitarist Andrew Renfroe give exuberant expression to the closing “Still Arriving.”

Comprising five short songs, Mar de Setembro is distinguished by evocative, at times eerie atmospheres and Brazilian jazz singer Souza, whose delivery conveys the longing and sadness associated with saudade. Bermel begins the work with the mystery-laden shimmer of “Prologue: Que voz lunar” (“What Moonlit Voice”), after which its most captivating and affecting part, “Mar de Setembro,” arrives to stir the senses. The coupling of Bermel's writing with a luminous vocal by Souza and an ever-so-delicate backdrop by the Albany Symphony makes for the recording's most arresting moment. Again we see the deftness with which Bermel blends classical writing with other elements, in this case bossa nova-tinged vocal melodies (most conspicuously heard in the fifth song, “Frutos”).

September 2019