BRIGHTWORK ENSEMBLE, My Dancing Sweetheart - Just Songs

Founded in 2013 by Grammy nominated pianist Aron Kallay, the non-profit Brightwork newmusic’s mission is to enliven and expand contemporary classical music with a focus on West Coast composers and performers. The members of its in-house band Brightwork Ensemble, including Kallay, percussionist Nick Terry, violinist Shalini Vajayan and most prominently soprano Stacey Fraser, are among the most treasured and impactful chamber musicians in the world.

The group’s full length debut My Dancing Sweetheart – Just Songs draws on their formidable, soaring and seriously surreal talents to bring life to world premiere recordings of two dynamic early 90s works by (“Calamity Jane to Her Daughter,” “Ma Mie qui danse”) by the late microtonal (extended just intonation) composer Ben Johnston, two offbeat yet engaging pieces by composer, writer and video artist Bill Alves (“Time Resonances,” “A Sonatina”) and the breathtakingly hypnotic closing piece “Die Stille stürzt,” sung a capella in perfect German by Fraser.

The nine-piece opening musical narrative "Calamity Jane" takes us back to the Old West for a sublime, sometimes playful and whimsical, often soulful and emotionally resonant folkloric rendering of a relationship between the frontierswoman and the daughter she supposedly had with the equally mythical/legendary Wild Bill Hickok.

A charming tall tale and musical flight of fancy best described as (quite infectious!) “cowboy opera,” it’s a showcase for both Johnston’s signature microtonality, the joyful mastery of the Brightwork Ensemble (particularly Vajayan’s violin, which creates a folksy vibe throughout) and the inimitable Fraser, whose expansive range, supreme versatility and emotional resonance serve her well as an operatic storyteller. The majority of the eight lightning quick pieces of Johnston’s “Ma Mie qui danse” feature the plucky chords of Aron Kallay behind Fraser’s quick-paced phrasing (sung in English), though the finale segment offers a darker, haunting balladry.

One quirky observation – the ensemble’s humble choice to subtitle this prodigious debut “Just Songs” ironically undersells the fascinating array of pieces and these majestic performances. Hopefully, it’s just the start of more “just songs” they will be recording and sharing in the future!