Mark John McEncroe: Musical Images for Chamber Orchestra: Reflections & Recollections Vol. 2
Navona Records

Listeners who warmed to the first volume in Mark John McEncroe's Musical Images for Chamber Orchestra: Reflections & Recollections series will likely have a similar reaction to the second. The two collections couldn't be more complementary, given that the compositions were in both cases orchestrated by Mark Saliba and are brilliantly realized by the Janácek Philharmonic Orchestra under Anthony Armoré's direction. As he has in the past, Saliba shows himself to be an invaluable partner to the composer, his arrangements of these piano works authoritatively capturing the essence of the originals.

Recorded in January 2018 in Ostrava, Czech Republic, the eleven works form an engrossing seventy-minute suite of sorts. Regardless of whether the pieces were or were not written as parts of a single large-scale work, a feeling of connectedness asserts itself as the recording plays. Certainly one reason for that is because the Sydney-born composer conceived of the material in its originating form as reflections drawn from personal events, feelings, and impressions. While the album content encompasses multiple moods, joy among them, melancholy and wistfulness dominate. Helping to reinforce the impression of a narrative trajectory is the sequencing of the material, with Daybreak a natural opener and tracks such as A Rainy Summer's Day and Nocturnal Images logically appearing in turn. The portrait that emerges is of a person spending a day reflecting on life experiences and people he's known and loved whilst touring a city on foot, with occasional rests to catch his breath before carrying on. The recording thus acts as something of a soundtrack to that imagined journey.

A graceful woodwind passage introduces Daybreak, after which the sound world blossoms through the addition of sweeping statements by strings and horns. McEncroe's sensibility is in place from the start, as well as his gift for transcribing emotion into expressive melodic form. Eschewing complexity, his material speaks with sincerity, each setting a genuine expression marked by honesty and compassion. However full the orchestration in these pieces, they never lose their deep sense of intimacy. While the melodic dimension of his material is a major reason for its accessibility, the concision of these pieces is also a factor: with three exceptions, all of the settings are in the four- to five-minute range, and as such they register as song-like constructions more than symphonic epics.

Cindy's Song exudes a child-like charm in its stately primary theme, the greatness of Saliba's contribution to the project exemplified in the orchestral colour with which he adorns the music. Hear, for example, how wondrously delicate episodes featuring harp, clarinet, and vibraphone alternate with emphatic sections featuring strings in this treatment. Moments of splendour are plentiful on the recording, up to and including the set-ending Shimmering Lights.

Darkness casts long shadows on A Penny For Your Thoughts and Natalie's Theme, whereas a powerful sense of mischievousness infuses Dance of the Pagans, its cryptic playfulness calling to mind one of Mahler's scherzos. If a luscious, romantic character is present in Fleeting Images and Fading Memories, a nostalgic ache informs Floating Lilies, its tone perhaps intending to suggest awareness of time's relentless flow and the preciousness of each moment.

Saliba's empathy with McEncroe is evident in his sensitive handling of the material and in the unerring choices he makes to maximize its impact. The listening experience is constantly elevated by the beauty of the orchestrations, and one's impression of the composer's music is enhanced all the more as a result. One shouldn't underacknowledge either the remarkable performances delivered by Armoré and the Janácek Philharmonic Orchestra.

Admirers of the first two Musical Images for Chamber Orchestra releases will be pleased to know that since the time of their recording, McEncroe has completed the third and fourth volumes, piano versions of which will appear as recordings in due course. Following that will be sets featuring the material in chamber orchestra arrangements by Saliba, the release pattern for these future volumes likely to replicate the one used for the existing pair. While there'll no doubt be differences between the material on the two sets, one anticipates all of the aspects that have distinguished McEncroe's music to date will be very much in place.

March 2020