Monica Pearce: Textile Fantasies
Centrediscs

Originally from Prince Edward Island and a graduate of Mount Allison University and the University of Toronto, Texas-based Monica Pearce (b. 1984) has oriented her debut full-length around an arresting concept, a move that seems even smarter for bringing unity to a collection marked by diversity. In simplest terms, Textile Fantasies presents eight chamber works conceived with specific textiles in mind, from leather and velvet to denim and silk. Using that as a creative impetus, Pearce exploits the timbral character of toy piano, percussion, harpsichord, and regular piano to evoke the tactile and visual properties of those textiles. If the choice of piano seems prosaic for this context, there's nothing ordinary about Pearce's writing.

However much that preliminary description suggests a collection of experimental pieces, the eight settings are, in fact, extremely accessible—no one need be afraid to dip into these waters. Which is not to imply that Pearce compromises her approach for the sake of accessibility; it's simply that the material inhabits a sonorous space. Consistent with that, melody isn't the dominant compositional element in play, but it's not absent either. Each piece features a modest number of instruments, in some cases one only, but the sound world generated dazzles nonetheless. It doesn't hurt that Pearce's music is brought to life by sterling musicians, namely keyboardists Cheryl Duvall, Wesley Chen, Barbara Pritchard, and Joseph Ferretti, tabla player Shawn Mativetsky, TorQ Percussion Quartet, and SHHH!! Ensemble.

A librettist as well as composer, Pearce has seen her work performed by numerous companies, from the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and International Contemporary Ensemble to Array Ensemble and Essential Opera. Her interest in toy piano, incidentally, runs deeper than mere infatuation. She co-founded in 2008 the Toy Piano Composer collective, which has presented more than 120 new pieces and issued a debut album titled Toy Piano Composers. Pearce has also won many awards, including the Harry Freedman Award for her harpsichord work toile de jouy, commissioned by Wesley Shen. It provides a fitting opener to the album, especially when it's Shen who's the performer. Distancing itself from baroque associations, toile de jouy registers as an audacious showcase for the instrument's timbral range. Eschewing graceful filigrees of contrapuntal patterns, the work expands into an engulfing, opaque mass that barrels relentlessly, consuming everything in its path. Though insistent repetition lends the material a Glass-like quality, it would be a mistake to label Pearce a copycat minimalist when toile de jouy shape-shifts throughout the eight-minute journey.

The sound design shifts and expands for leather, which as material is tough and durable and as music is unpredictable and explosive. Here performed by SHHH!! Ensemble duo Edana Higham (piano) and Zac Pulak (percussion), rhythm's again accentuated, with the piano careening through its lower register and gongs, cymbals, and other metal objects providing ongoing punctuation to the keyboard part. Armed with a title referring to armour whose rings link to form a protective mesh, Chain maille is also tailor-made for a percussion treatment, which TorQ Percussion Quartet handles terrifically. Bowed vibraphone, rattles, marimba, glockenspiel, gongs, and more are deployed to produce a sparkling panorama, with melody as important to the work as rhythm and timbre. In contrast to the unrelenting attack of the opening piece, Chain maille gradually decompresses to become a gently shimmering meditation where time feels suspended.

November 2022