Reviewed by Alex Rainieri, Loudmouth, March 2023
The Art of Disappearing
This is tremendously balanced music, uncluttered by the bombast that so often pervades contemporary musical works.
A 2019 release on the Kammerklang label, this album features music by Sydney-based composer Cameron Lam and performances by mezzo-soprano Jenny Duck-Chong and the Geist String Quartet. A song cycle for voice and quartet, The Art of Disappearing is comprised of eight songs, complemented by four string quartet interludes (which can exist independently as Lam’s String Quartet No. 2 “Time Echoes Your Sound”).
The song cycle sets texts by Sarah Holland-Batt from her book Aria, winner of the Judith Wright Poetry Prize (among many other impressive accolades). Themes of grief and temporality resonate throughout the poetry of the song cycle. Musically encapsulating this thematic impetus, Lam’s oscillation between timbral intrigue and melodic focus is beautifully refreshing. This is tremendously balanced music, uncluttered by the bombast that so often pervades contemporary musical works.
The performances by Jenny Duck-Chong and the Geist String Quartet are imbued with compelling sincerity and a deep connection with the score and it’s many subtle nuances. Duck-Chong’s mezzo resonates with bell-like purity and beautiful control across her register. The quartet impressively negotiate a constant flux between foreground and background, playing a role in this song cycle that is not just that of accompaniment, but that of equal integration. This allows the logic of Lam’s score to speak with a dialogue where each presence within the work is one another’s musical catalyst.
The first song of the cycle is scored for voice and cello only. A lyrical tune gently weaves up and down the vocal tessitura, in captivating dialogue with a cello counter-melody. The following movement Tracey sees the entry of the other string players. Acting as a united sonic unit, the quartet weave a spectral discourse that punctuates a twisting vocal melody, in search of catharsis.
The first of the quartet interludes Synchronous Time is a vibrantly pulsating movement, filled with soaring melodies and an energetically oscillating metric structure. Meditation on the Plums I follows. This movement incorporates a similar-natured repertoire of musical motifs and while the music is captivating, it is coloured by a sense of familiarity with its predecessor. This slightly breaks the continuum of creative intrigue that has pervaded the listening experience thus far.
Scattered Like A Broken Crusader shines the spotlight onto the quartet once more. A pulsating two-against-three rhythm opens this movement. The pervading feature of this movement is its optimistic vibrance, imbuing the listener with an undeniable sense of groove. Elegie is perhaps the emotional core of the work. Gorgeous chords pulsate from the quartet, allowing Duck-Chong’s slowly morphing vocal line to speak with piercing gravitas.
A complete change is heralded with the spoken utterance “night strangles the island” which opens Athenian Jar. This shifts perspective from a work that is ‘sung’ to a musical piece of theatre. The quartet punctuate Duck-Chong’s oration with pointillistic motifs, lending a chilly, programmatic nature to this movement.
Silence Resonating Into Sound continues the incorporeal aesthetic with aspirated sounds emerging from the quartet. The Geist String Quartet is in excellent form here, rendering from their instruments a captivatingly united timbral curiosity, one in which it is impossible to pick out which instrument is which. As I listen, I am reminded of George Crumb’s ‘Black Angels’ (which bears a similarly willowy sound-world).
Enduring Ritual teleports us back to a familiarly consonant environment. Meditation on the Plums II, hearkens back to its partner piece earlier in the work.
That Which Was Always There is the final movement of the string quartet. A furious explosion of sound thunders this movement into being. From the virtuosity of the opening, perspective is gently shifted to the slow, tender progression of harmonies. The crystalline second section is beautifully reflective. The Art of Disappearing II also mirrors the earlier movement of the same name, lending a sense of cyclical structure to this song cycle.
This is an excellent disc of wonderful performances by Jenny Duck-Chong and the Geist String Quartet performing Cameron Lam’s gripping and emotional song cycle The Art of Disappearing. Highly recommended listening for all curious ears!
Alex Rainieri
This review appeared in Loudmouth, The Music Trust’s e-zine