Composer
William McClelland
has written music in various styles. Some of it is influenced by jazz, which is not evident in the songs, choral works, and piano pieces offered here. Even within this program, the tonal language of individual pieces ranges substantially, but the program never feels like a stylistic pastiche; rather, one has the impression that
McClelland
has responded in deep, individual ways to the texts he sets, and this is true even of the
Five for Piano
pieces, which were written in response to poetic stimuli. Most of the pieces set American poetry and were composed between 1995 and 2015, but they date back as far as 1975. One poem is by
Catullus
, about the death of his brother, and another is a medieval pastoral. Many of the modern ones focus on nature in some way, but there is also a satirical
Spencer Appling
poem, "The Politician."
is especially subtle in the minimalist texts of
William Carlos Williams
and
H.D. (Hilda Doolittle)
. The text settings are natural and flexible, and the various singers who perform them here, including those of the
New York Virtuoso Singers
choir, make the
Naxos
label's inclusion of texts almost superfluous (although it is, as always, welcome). All of these recordings are world premieres, and many listeners will wonder where
has been all their lives. In some of the song recordings, the piano tends to overwhelm the singer. ~ James Manheim