WHOLE HEART | THE ARTS DESK
Claire Bryant: Whole Heart (Bright Shiny Things)
Saturday, 05 November 2022
Cellist Claire Bryant’s Whole Heart is a collection of seven new works for cello and string duo by contemporary American composers. Malcolm Arnold may seem an odd name to bring up when discussing this disc, but his much-quoted comment about music being “the social act of communication among people, a gesture of friendship, the strongest there is” feels apposite, the seven composers featured all close to Bryant. Andrea Casarrubios’ two-part Seven was written during New York’s Covid lockdown, inspired by residents banging pots and pans at 7pm each evening as a tribute to frontline workers. Bryant’s playing suggests a flood of pent-up conversation, the different voices winding down as the work proceeds.
Jessica Meyer’s Delta Sunrise is a brief, rhapsodic portrait of the South Carolina landscape, contrasting with Limestone and Felt by Caroline Shaw, an exuberant duet for cello and viola (Nadia Sirota) exploring different physical and musical textures. Varsha, by Reena Esmail, alludes to Hindustani ragas in a plea for rain, Bryant’s cello disquietingly vocal. Tanner Porter’s And Even These Small Wondersis more extrovert, the disc closing with Duo by Jessie Montgomery. A three-movement “ode to friendship”, the concluding “Presto” sounds at times like a pair of close acquaintances giggling.