The "Rising Sun" in the title of this album has nothing to do with Japan and everything to do with the American (probably) folk song
House of the Rising Sun
, which serves as the basis for a
theme and 39 variations
by
Bruce Wolosoff
. It's a notable piece of work, not least because
Wolosoff
revives in spectacular fashion the Romantic tradition of the pianist-composer; he performs the work himself. In the booklet notes, consisting of an appealingly relaxed conversation between
and critic
Tim Page
,
Page
alludes to
Frederic Rzewski
's similarly sizable variations on
The People United Will Never Be Defeated
, another folk song known to many of its hearers in a classical context (
speaks of being encouraged by early listener reactions that were positive because people knew the source material). But
's work is a bit different. It took shape during the COVID-19 pandemic as the composer frequently wrote variations on the tune as a way of staying sane during that grim time. As they piled up, he began to think about making a whole piece out of them, but they retain their semi-impromptu origins.
describes how he would hear, for example, some music on television and ask himself how it could be turned into
. This is a unique compositional procedure, and the album is well worth hearing for this reason alone. Beyond that, the music features
's trademark mixture of genres; he has a fascinating way of writing music that includes blues and jazz elements without becoming a "fusion" or "crossover" as such. And he thinks effectively on a large canvas; he says that he ended up with some 175 variations but had to pick and choose the ones that would fit into a coherent narrative. The sound from the Oktaven Audio studio is another plus here, capturing the dimensions of
's music. He really doesn't sound much like any other composer, which ought to count for something; he's a rather underrated figure, and listeners would do well to start with him here. ~ James Manheim