Stanley Grill: At the Center of All Things

Stanley Grill: American Landscapes; Lonely Pieces; At the Center of All Things; Diderot String Quartet – Adriane Post: vn; Johanna Novom: vn; Kyle Miller: va; Paul Dwyer: vc

Can an ensemble as small as a string quartet create music that is ‘epic’ in nature? Perhaps not always because it is not intended to be that way, but certainly the Diderot String Quartet certainly transforms this extraordinary music by Stanley Grill into something proverbially Whitmanesque in the sweeping poetry of its performance. Masterpieces though they certainly are, they are only one side – a visual, neo-Americana side – of the work of a highly inquisitive and analytical artist who seems always on the lookout for a new challenge. This must not be construed as a critique for being one-sided. On the contrary, the work “American Landscapes”, which begins the recording of these three set pieces, is orchestrated to be a plain, clean-coloured, deeply imaginative and theatrically functional and sweepingly gorgeous at the same time.

Once the meditative last notes of this piece melt away they are replaced by a vivid description of social dissent that has been crafted into “Lonely Voices”. Arching phrases from the violins, viola and cello build into the richness and complexity of the work’s architecture, which attempts to place a sole voice of dissent at the center of the work. This ‘voice’ is ‘sung’ by each soloist in turn as a considerable contrapuntal picture emerges in which musicians unfold the work’s diaphanous body as lucid, open textures are combined with strong affirmative melodies, culminating an eloquent resolution in the final, Presto movement.

In “At the Center of All Things”, the crowning glory of this album, inspiration from Rilke’s unique lyrically-intense voice in Bohemian-Austrian literature is woven into the single, rhythmically fluid movement of this work creating a singular work conveying – at once stroke – the voices of both poet (Rilke) and composer (Grill) in a powerful mix of the personal, the quietly resolute and the visionary; all this so convincingly and so sympathetically. And all of this music – including that of the first two works – is captured in the brilliant, persuasive performances of the Diderot String Quartet – violinists Adriane Post, Johanna Novom, violist Kyle Miller and cellist Paul Dwyer. Throughout this remarkable group provides a very real sense that the performers know the works inside out and they are especially good at conveying the dynamic and fluid inner pulse of Stanley Grill’s music

Released – 2017
Label – Innova Music
Runtime – 1:03:12

Bach by the Dideror String Quartet