The music of composer
Peter Scott Lewis
is for conventional instruments and hovers right on the edge of tonality. Its ultimate ancestor is
Stravinsky
, who inspired the
Duo Concertante for cello and piano
heard on the present release;
Lewis
' gestures are economical and carefully crafted. Yet the music is, in the main, lyrical and evocative of the scenes mentioned in the programmatic movement titles. He has written a good number of songs and quite a bit of chamber music. Perhaps this 2019 release, with
' instrumental resources boiled down to the minimum, makes a good place to sample his work. The opening
Petite Suite
, played with knife's-edge precision by contemporary music specialist
Miranda Cuckson
, is extraordinary, sketching its four movement names with a single violin (sample the final "Roadrunner"). The
Second Piano Trio
(the name is
' own, although some sources give it as
Piano Trio No. 2
) is no less descriptive; the second movement title, "Pastoral Settings, with Thunder," could have come out of
Beethoven
. The opening movement, "Urban Reflections," has an admirably subtle connection to vernacular rhythms. Intimate yet not noisy sound from Oktaven Studios in suburban New York is another attraction of this distinctive contemporary chamber music release. ~ James Manheim