Jeremy Beck - 2025 - Song of the Sky

(59:33; Neuma Records)

Track list and line-up:
- Cello Concerto (2020)
1. With determination; Slower, pensive 7:29
2. Playful  4:07
3. Relaxed  5:07
4. Deliberate; With longing 6:25
: Atanas Krastev, cello
: Sofia Session Orchestra
: Grigor Palikarov, conductor

- Rhapsody (2016)
5. Rhapsody for violin and orchestra 6:56
: Dora Dimitrova, violin
: Sofia Session Orchestra
: Grigor Palikarov, conductor

- The Highway (1992), an opera noir (excerpts)
6. Prelude  1:37
7. Scene 1 - The Highway on the Left 7:12
8. Scene 2 - The Highway on the Right 3:03
9. Scene 2 - The Highway on the Right 3:05
10. Scene 3 - The Highway in the Middle 1:59
: Emily Albrink, soprano
: Robert Frankenberry, tenor
: Chad Sloan, baritone
: Sofia Session Orchestra
: Lyubomir Denev, Jr., conductor
: Seth Thomas, electric guitar

- Song of the Sky (2022)
11. Song of the Sky for harp and orchestra 12:30
: Denitza Dimitrova, harp
: Sofia Session Orchestra
: Lyubomir Denev, Jr., conductor


US composer Jeremy Beck is a heralded creator of classical music that have won both awards and acclaim in the decades that he has composed material in various aspects of the classical music tradition. While he earns his living in areas outside of music, he has continued writing compositions and currently there are numerous recordings of his work commercially available. Now at the start of 2025 US label Neuma Records are out with the album "Song of the Sky", featuring four of his compositions.

While I am very much a novice in terms of the classical music legacy, my overall impression about the material on this album is that these are compositions that will appeal to those who are well aware of the big composers of yesteryear. While I'm not the person to point towards specific composers, traditions or other measures of pinpointing similarities, the landscapes explored in these four compositions are all of the kind that I personally associate with the term classical music. Or classical symphonic music to be a bit more exact.

The four part 'Cello Concerto 2020' explore and visit scenes with different emotional associations in an intriguing manner for me. With a bit of what I'd describe as a romantic feeling, we get the more flowing and dreamladen opening part, followed by a more dramatic and theatrical sequence where darker tones and sharper surges are more prominent. The third part is one I'd describe as a more balanced display of the moods explored in the first two parts, while the concluding fourth chapter adds a playful spirit to a more prevalent non-threatening darkness as well as the flowing, dreamladen landscapes we encountered in the opening part.

'Rhapsody 2016' strikes me as a bit more of a mournful affair, where the tempo is slower and we get some dramatic drops into darker toned displays. Here my main associations are towards longing, and possibly loss.

The excerpts we get from the opera 'The Highway 1992' is a much darker creation, and one where an ominous mood and atmosphere comes across as being very much a prevalent state of affairs. And while the singers do take on a lot of the ominous sounding associations when the vocal parts are at play, the instrumentation toned a bit down in those passages, the is a brooding darkness and a bit of an unnerving feeling that is a presence here. Emphasized by the clever use f the electric guitar in some select parts. I do find the conclusion to be a bit less ominous though, or more passionate and emotional than it is ominous and unnerving if you like.

The composition 'Song of the Sky', that was chosen as the album title, concludes this album in a manner that is charmingly similar in mood and atmosphere as the opening part of the 'Cello Concerto 2020'. Elegant, dreamladen and flowing textures is the order of the day here, with the harp adding an additional tranquil and calming element to the proceedings. We do get some darker undercurrents and some surges with more of a firm character, but the associations I get in terms of mood and atmosphere here is more in line with a gentler melancholy and longing.

For my sake I do find this to be a solid production, where the moods and melodies are engaging and the compositions come across as well developed creations. It is easy to listen to these compositions and there is a natural engagement to these landscapes that balance the use of compelling melodies and harmonies and the use of more dramatic impulses in an efficient manner. Flow is maintained while dramatic impulses and subtle as well as more overt alterations provide the variety and change needed to maintain tension and interest.

In my easy and novice assessment of the classical music tradition, the main impression I get is that this is a collection of material that should be of interest to a broad segment of people with an interest in the symphonic tradition of classical music. There is material here for those who enjoy the more dreamladen and alluring landscapes just as much as for those with an affection for the more dark and dramatic, and with compelling melodies and harmonies making this one a creation that I'd generally will describe as traditional sounding.

Olav M. Björnsen, January 2025

Links:
https://beckmusic.org/
https://neumarecords.org/