J. Pavone String Ensemble: Brick and Mortar
Birdwatcher Records

Brick and Mortar is the premiere recording from Jessica Pavone's J. Pavone String Ensemble, which features two violins (Erica Dicker, Angela Morris) and two violas (Pavone, Joanna Mattrey). Recorded at Brooklyn's Issue Project Room in May 2018, the recording follows three solo viola releases by the Astoria-based composer: Knuckle Under, Silent Spills, and In the Action. Formed in 2017, the quartet format enables Pavone to further develop ideas examined in the solo project, things such as repetition, long tones, block forms, and the sheer physicality of sound.

One of the more salient aspects of the material on Brick and Mortar (the title deliberately chosen, obviously) is its tactile dimension, the material fact of four string instruments sounding together; it's also a strongly visceral music that's enhanced by the performances' live feel (according to Pavone, the recording includes a single, tiny edit). Architecture is also paramount, specifically the way pieces are structured so that certain sections last for set times and cells of different lengths result in gradual shifts in the sound. Though Pavone gravitates towards a set compositional form, she allowed a modest amount of indeterminacy to enter into certain tracks; a given piece might have a predetermined beginning and end, for example, with the middle part allowing for some degree of variation.

Brick and Mortar is music of significant power; though a modest number of players performs, the sound generated is large and imposing. In using the word block to speak of her music, Pavone identifies one its key aspects, its thickness, a quality that asserts itself especially vividly when the players assemble into mass formation and generate long tones. Individual soloing is eschewed, the emphasis on group expression and through-composition.

Bowed strings saw furiously through the opening Hurtle and Hurdle, their keening expressions like wails; although the violin and viola are both upper-register instruments, contrast is present between the upswinging figure of the violins and the churning undertow of the violas, and while bowed tones dominate, pizzicato playing emerges at the end to close the circle. In Lullaby and Goodnight, unison lines gradually separate into individual expressions, the violins producing whistling, high-pitched tones while the violas see-saw underneath. The rocking rhythm is consistent with the lullaby form, but in this case the strings' droning lends it a haunting, even macabre edge.

The hypnotic title track unspools a thick drone of overlapping tones for nine electrically charged minutes. With the material unfolding at the pitch of a controlled howl, a rustic quality in the strings brings the music's plaintive dimension to the fore. Sooner or Later proves as hypnotic when the players execute their phrases at different tempos and pitches, the result a swirling colossus of sound; Pavone's capacity for surprise is evident here also in the shift that occurs midway through the piece, the sound mass stopping abruptly to be replaced by a stabbing melodic figure that leads into another dense cycle of staggered patterns.

The plaintive quality present in the title track emerges even more forcefully in the closing By and Large, with Pavone and company ending the set with affecting expressions that while forceful exude longing and tenderness. At thirty-five minutes, the release might be a tad short by CD standards, yet feels perfectly timed as a musical expression and registers as a complete statement.

October 2019