David Starobin, Family Album (New Music with Guitar, Vol. 7). Bridge Records CD 9239. 2007.

Abstract

The seventh volume in guitarist David Starobin's New Music with Guitar series contains works by composers whom Starobin has known for years, who have written for him in the past, and/or who have become a part of his life: thus the title, Family Album. Starobin (b. 1951 in New York) and his wife Becky formed Bridge Records in 1981 and began New Music with Guitar in 1988. Like other volumes in the series, the music is newly written for the classical guitar and calls for not only an imposing technical facility-which Starobin has in abundance-but also inspired musicianship. This volume is the most personal thus far, with the long associations with the composers as well as pieces relating closely to the performer's life. Works on the recording are by U.S. composers William Bland (b. 1947), Paul Lansky (b. 1944), and Starobin himself, as well as the Cuban-born Tania León (b. 1943), who has worked in the United States since the 1960s. Danish composer Poul Ruders (b. 1949) is also represented. Bland was born and works in West Virginia and has known Starobin since their student days. His set of 48 Preludes for Guitar (the pieces here are from 2005, but the set was completed in 2009) cycles twice through all the major and minor keys-an extremely ambitious feat for the guitar. Originally conceived for guitarist Michael McCartney, preludes from the set have become part of Starobin's concert repertoire; six were selected for this CD (nos. 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, and 15). Each piece is a miniature on a single idea. Of particular note is Prelude No. 3 in Dflat major, as lyrical and accessible a piece as one could imagine in a key rarely encountered on the instrument, and the bluesy and dramatic Prelude No. 8 in C minor. These preludes could find their way onto the concert stage of technically well-equipped guitarists, although they appear to be available only in manuscript at present. Known mainly as an opera composer (especially The Handmaid's Tale and Kafka's Trial), Danish composer Poul Ruders has stayed with the Starobins in their home in New Rochelle, New York, on trips to the United States. One of these visits inspired the New Rochelle Suite (2004/2005) for amplified (classical) guitar and percussion, originally written for Starobin and his daughter, Allegra, but here performed with percussionist Daniel Druckman. The instrumental combination is arresting and effective, highlighting the percussive aspects of plucked strings and adding a tremendous variety of timbres through the various percussion instruments. Movements are entitled "Grand Opening," "Kafka" (based on the opening theme to Kafka's Trial), "Thanksgiving," "Night Tango," and "Stampede." As might be expected from Ruders, the music is dramatic, even theatrical, and challenging, for both listeners and performers. Starobin has known composer/conductor Tania León since the 1970s. Her Bailarín (The Dancer; 1998) was originally intended for Starobin's Newdance