Garrett Keast and the Berlin Academy of American Music: Transatlantic
Onyx Classics

This debut recording from American conductor Garrett Keast and the Berlin Academy of American Music is immensely rewarding, but how the ensemble came into being is interesting in its own right. In the summer of 2020, when the pandemic had rendered the possibility of performance moot, Keast and American bassist and fellow Berliner Rosie Salvucci set about organizing some distanced orchestra readings to be conducted in-studio. Invitations were extended to musicians who they thought would cotton to the idea of playing orchestra works by Stravinsky, Copland, and others, and they were right. Jump to November where a discussion between American composer Craig Urquhart, Greek flutist Stathis Karapanos, and Keast about recording Urquhart's Lamentation for Flute and Strings evolves into the formation of an orchestra to record it followed by the subsequent notion of recording a full album. That led to sessions at Germany's Teldex Studios in early 2021 and ultimately Transatlantic, its title reflecting both the globe-spanning composers whose works are featured and orchestra personnel whose nationalities span five continents.

Among those performing on the eighty-two-minute release are an array of Berlin-based orchestra musicians, including Karapanos, harpist Marie-Pierre Langlamet, violinist Noah Bendix-Balgley, pianist Chelsey Padilla, and percussionist Lukas Böhm. Also making memorable contributions to the release are soprano Chen Reiss, who appears on the song cycle Nofim by Israeli-American composer Avner Dorman and “No word from Tom” from Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress. In addition to those pieces, the release includes stellar renderings of Stravinsky's Concerto in E-flat ‘Dumbarton Oaks,' Takemitsu's Toward the Sea II, Copland's Appalachian Spring Suite, and, of course, the piece that jumpstarted the project, Urquhart's Lamentation for Flute and Strings.

The Stravinsky and Copland works receive terrific performances. The pieces have been recorded many times, which less cowed the ensemble, it seems, than inspired it to produce readings that hold their own against others. The angular rhythms of Stravinsky's Concerto are essayed with agility, and the fine detailing in the score is effectively realized too. Throughout the fifteen-minute work, woodwinds, strings, and horns weave the composer's nimble lines into an exuberant, engrossing tapestry that speaks highly to the nascent group's ability to play as a unit. Following a gorgeous instrumental intro, Reiss splendidly captures the inner turmoil and insecurity Anne Trulove feels during the aria excerpt from The Rake's Progress. If the listener's attention more focuses on her than the ensemble, it's due to the ravishing vocal she delivers to both the aria proper and the spirited cabaletta; that said, the instrumental treatment of the neo-classical material is as unerring. While Copland's 1945 Pulitzer Prize winner is familiar, it sounds magnificent nonetheless, especially when Keast and the musicians show great sensitivity to tempo, dynamics, balance, and texture in their interpretation. Copland's lyrical meditation exudes all the warmth, humble majesty, and pastoral allure one could hope for in this original arrangement for thirteen instruments. It's tempting to single out the hymnal passages for being so exquisite, but much the same could be said of the spirited dance episodes.

The three remaining works are as impactful. Stathis and Langlamet appear with string orchestra in Takemitsu's three-part Toward the Sea II, commissioned in 1981 by Greenpeace for its ‘Save the Whales' campaign. The soundworld of the Japanese composer is instantly recognizable, especially when alto flute so vividly evokes the movements of the sea and harp contributes such enticing embroidery to the mystery-laden tone-painting. The eight-minute Lamentation for Flute and String Orchestra, which Urquhart wrote in memory of Jutta Gräfin zu Reventlow (the composer was Leonard Bernstein's assistant when he first met the von Reventlow family), movingly expresses the grief and anguish of losing a dear friend. Reiss distinguishes herself again in Dorman's Nofim for vocalizing Hebrew text by Yuval Rapaport in three of the four parts. The title translate as ‘Sights,' and the songs are, in fact, rooted in experiences the composer and lyricist shared in the Tel Aviv neighbourhood where they grew up together. Scored for soprano, flute, violin, percussion, and piano, the work adds another distinctive flavour to the album, with the rambunctious instrumental “Rikud Hashedim” (Demon dance) living up to its name and “Chikiti Lashemesh” (I was waiting for the sun) offering a swoon-inducing counterpart.

December 2021