Arthur Levering

In his astute and entertaining program notes for this CD, Robert Carl, attempting to describe the music of Arthur Levering, reluctantly settles on the admittedly inelegant term, “post-neoclassical.” It’s not bad for conjuring up an aspect of Levering’s music — it’s something like neoclassicism gone completely wild, while being disciplined at its core. Carl also offers a less technical assessment of the music — “simultaneously natural and surprising,” and that is indeed an apt characterization. The music may sometimes seem like it’s on the verge of careening into chaos, but it’s clear the composer is in complete control of what’s going on. Levering describes one of these pieces, Still Raining, Still Dreaming, as an homage to Takemitsu, and in fact many of the works here do resemble Takemitsu, but a hyperkinetic Takemitsu, a heavily caffeinated Takemitsu, a Takemitsu on steroids, a Takemitsu with Attention Deficit Disorder. Not that that’s a bad thing — the exquisite precision and the harmonic language and gestures characteristic of the Japanese composer’s work are audible, but have an entirely different effect when presented with Levering’s level of frenetic energy. His music does also have moments of blissful repose, but these moments are never allowed to become static; they typically begin to accelerate into hyper-drive, or are interrupted by brash explosions of playful energy. That playfulness is one of the strengths of Levering’s work; this is music that is composed with consummate skill and inventiveness, but which doesn’t take itself too seriously. It’s never trivial, but it’s fun music, and it’s fun to listen to. (One of the pieces, Sppooo, takes its title from a caption in Roz Chast’s transcendently goofy cartoon, Parallel Universes.) Any listener jaded by the grayness that can characterize late twentieth century academic music, but who finds little solace in the pop-tinged sounds of some post-modernist composers should be heartened to discover the intellectual integrity and color and liveliness of Levering’s pieces. The performances by the Boston-based Dinosaur Annex Music Ensemble, conducted by Scott Wheeler, along with various soloists, are simultaneously pristine and boisterous.
–Stephen Eddins —allmusic.com

The music of Boston composer Arthur Levering features a wonderful blend of rhythmic vitality, instrumental color and expressive urgency – and this new compilation disc offers as good an introduction as any to Levering’s work. The repertoire here ranges from ambitious orchestral tone poems to intimate chamber works, all of them marked by an inviting combination of delicacy and robustness. “Furies,” the opening selection for chamber orchestra, plunges into a world of dark harmonies sustained by the buoyancy of the rhythmic patterning, and is matched by the austere grace of “Parallel Universe” for string orchestra. In between come “Il Mare Dentro,” an orchestral evocation of the sea whose inventiveness leaves a listener eager for more, and the rigorously structured piano duet, “Partiite sopra Ciaccona.” These are potent, impressive pieces, but for sheer exquisite charm, it’s hard to top Levering’s “Drinking Songs,” with insinuating vocal melodies set to crystalline accompaniments for two harps and two pianos.
–Joshua Kosman, San Francisco Chronicle, Feb. 27, 2014, Updated: March 2, 2014

Arthur Levering has been active as a composer for more than three decades, during which time he has created works full of enchanting and vibrant soundscapes. This recording, performed to the dramatic hilt by the Boston Modern Orchestra Project and other superb artists, focuses on pieces from the past decade, confirming his continued exploration of colourful territory. All the works have titles suggesting a narrative but what’s most intriguing is the composer’s ability to maintain a constant flow of organically shaped material. Furies (2006), for example, rumbles and glistens, with Stravinsky-like wind textures and motoric rhythms, tolling of bells and ominous flourishes. The aura in Il mare dentro (2008) alternates between menacing and dreamy as it evokes the motion of the sea, even quoting Debussy’s La mer, as if that music were naturally wedded. The tonal roots often anchoring Levering’s art are most apparent in the four Drinking Songs (2005), charming and heartfelt evocations of verses in English, Latin, French and Middle English. The collection is scored for mezzo with two harps and two pianos, giving the songs distinctive, sleek ambiences, with hints of gamelan. Levering uses an old form with imaginative depth in Partite sopra ciaccona , in which two pianos dart about their respective keyboards (based on material from Furies) and engage in antagonistic volleys and bell-tolling at the extremes. The disc derives its name from Parallel Universe (2004), a gripping theme and variations for string orchestra marked by anxious swirls and urgent interweaving of thematic lines.
–Donald Rosenberg, GRAMOPHONE, October, 2014

I’ve written before about the American composer Arthur Levering (b. 1953) (disclosure: Over the years he’s become a friend, though the relationship developed after my initial evaluations of his music. And my policy in such a case would be never to review a work if I felt I had to pull my punches for personal reasons.) This new release shows an ever-greater diversity in the composer’s technical toolkit and expressive aims, even though he remains true to his continuing vision.

Furies (2006) for 11 Players feels like the work most rooted in Levering’s familiar practice. By this I mean a tensile rhythmic energy that generates unflagging momentum, a tight control over motives, a clear and transparent orchestration, and an overall scrupulousness that suggests every note and gesture has been carefully weighed for impact and function within the piece’s structure.

Il Mare Dentro (2008) is the first of a series of orchestral movements the composer plans in response to images of water, and to earlier pieces that deal with the subject. In this work’s case it’s Debussy’s La Mer, which even makes a quotation appearance near the end. While the work has Levering’s trademark ostinatos and nervous energy, it also has sections that are much more open and spacious in their sound and evolution. And when the two approaches combine, it’s as though a chemical reaction releases a new sort of energy.

The 2005 Drinking Songs for mezzo-soprano, 2 harps and 2 pianos are even more different from the composer’s previous norm. In this case the repetition is more modal than chromatic, and I hear distinct echoes of gamelan. (Though unlike gamelan, there are still modulations from one mode to another here.) Setting four texts—two by Yeats and Valéry, two anonymous Medieval—the music has a light, music-box quality in the first two songs. The third and fourth become increasingly expressive and open, perhaps mirroring an increasingly inebriated state, though this is still a gentle inebriation.

Partite sopra Ciaccona (2011) moves in yet a different stylistic direction. This piece for two pianos is far fiercer than anything I’ve heard before of the composer. It is more clangorous and dissonant than most of his other works, though I find it invigorating and athletic rather than abrasive. As the title suggests, it’s a set of variations above a chaconne (a cycling harmonic progression). Its contrasts of register, pounding clusters, and vaguely sinister repeating notes make it one of the most “Modernist” of Levering’s pieces.

Parallel Universe (2004) is for string orchestra, and its sound and gestural palette remind me a little of Charles Wuorinen’s Grand Bamboula (not my favorite composer, but a piece I love). Levering once again finds compelling ways to superimpose broad lines over agitated “micro-ostinatos,” to grand effect. The music can range from playful and athletic to spacious to anxious.

I find Levering to be a composer who is closer to the Stravinskian legacy than many who are self-proclaimed Neoclassicists. Perhaps that’s because if this is the case, it’s the late-period Stravinsky that motivates him, a music that’s intense, compact, and demanding on its listeners, but which gives great reward. The same can be said for Levering’s. Performances are all superb, projecting just the right tautness and exactitude of execution to bring out the beauties of the music.
–Robert Carl, Fanfare