Just over a month ago, amidst a wave of upheaval that had disrupted (and continues to wreak small waves of havoc with) my life and work, I received a package containing a couple of CDs and a cover letter.
That’s nothing unusual; the urban treehouse is awash with CDs and DVDs that seem to be filling every available cubbyhole and occasionally straining Mrs. Synaphaï’s SAF¹. What was unusual was that this one contained a cover letter not from a label or management company but one of the artists, violinist Madalyn Parnas.
I recognized that name — and not just because the last name is instantly identifiable to anyone with a love of chamber music (yes, she is indeed the granddaughter of the great Leslie Parnas). She and her cellist sister Cicely have been creating quite a buzz both individually and together as a duo named, appropriately, duo parnas. Madalyn has just graduated college; Cicely is an undergrad.
Included with the letter were two CDs: the recently released Gare du Nord, and their debut disc, Parnas Double. The cover art for both features, as one has come to expect whenever young artists introduce themselves with their first recordings, photos of the duo — but which, to my great delight, eschew the tacky, over-glamorized (and often over-sexualized), air-brushed “fashion spread” atrocities that grace the front of all too many major label releases. duo parnas looks a lot more serious — and credible — than much of the young artist competition by virtue of the tasteful CD covers alone.
The next thing to grab my eye was on the reverse side of the discs: the Sheffield Lab logo. If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you know I have praised two of the label’s releases as must-have, sonically superior “unfair test discs.” Well, after a near-two-decade hiatus, Sheffield Lab is back, and that’s great news for audiophiles and music lovers alike. The label’s executive producer, Lincoln Mayorga, is a musician’s musician, a master of multiple genres, and a producer with a knack for showcasing talent that is not only worthy but individualistic.
The program of Gare du Nord (the name of one of the busiest train stations in France, on the northern side of Paris) brings together works that share a Parisian influence. It includes music by three composers I particularly like: Reinhold Glière, Bohuslav Martinů, and Brain Fennelly. Naturally, that was the first of the two recordings to find its into the ol’ CD player (okay, the new Oppo BDP-83).
The Martinů Duos for Violin and Cello act as bookends for the entire program, and the Parnas sisters dig into the rhythmic and metric quirkiness that are so characteristic of Martinů’s mature style — but also muster more cantabile than I’ve heard in these duos. Glière’s Eight Duos imitate a large number of styles — from the Russian art song to the pseudo-Baroque (that brought to mind Richard Strauss’s various reworkings of Couperin) to music of the Russian grand salon to the brief, energetic étude that concludes the set (and showcases the duo’s dazzling precision and unity). I don’t believe I’ve heard the duo sonatinas of Honegger and Milhaud before, works which distill the individual styles of these deux de Les Six down to the bare bones, and duo parnas produce unexpectedly probing renditions of these “light” works.
Brain Fennelly composed ‘Sigol’ for Two for duo parnas (Sigol is the composer’s granddaughter, who lives in Paris). Premiered just over a year ago, the work is the fifth based on Fennelly’s Sigol Musings, and unfolds in seven rhapsodic sections, brimming with a contained but assertive manic energy.
Madalyn and Cicely Parnas each have a sound that can at once evoke brilliance and warmth, and complement each other well; their intonation and ensemble are near-flawless, and they can pivot from a rich sound to powerfully incisive playing with startling ease. Best of all, their thought-provoking playing on this CD invites repeated listening. Dan Czernecki’s engineering is worthy of the Sheffield Lab name, using two Schoeps MK 5 microphones in what sounds like pseudo-ORTF configuration at the receiving end and carefully selected gear through the short recording chain to create “you are there” sound in CD format. Nevertheless, I’d love to see this recording come out in a high-definition format, disc or virtual.
This is the best new chamber music disc I’ve heard so far this year. Believe the hype: the kids are alright — okay, they’re stupendous. And they’re well-served with the outstanding sonics of this CD release.
Gare du Nord
Bohuslav Martinů: Duo No.2 for Violin and Cello
Reinhold Glière: 8 Duets, Op.39
Arthur Honegger: Sonatina for Violin and Cello
Brian Fennelly: ‘Sigol’ for Two
Darius Milhaud: Sonatina for Violin and Cello
Bohuslav Martinů: Duo [No.1] for Violin and Cello
duo parnas (Madalyn Parnas, violin / Cicely Parnas, cello)
Lincoln Mayorga, executive producer
Dan Czernecki, engineer
Artistic impact: 10
Sound quality: 10
Sheffield Lab 10088 (CD)
Availability: direct from the artists or Townhall Records
¹ SAF is the acronym for “Spousal Acceptance Factor,” a common quantifiable variable which will be familiar to any guy who has ever owned even moderately bulky domestic audio gear or computers. If you own both, the variable rises geometrically, not arithmetically. Just trust me on that one.