Description
HAVEN (Lindsay Kesselman, soprano; Kimberly Cole Luevano, clarinet; Midori Koga, piano) deftly brings to light a collection of world premiere recordings. Established musicians and pedagogues, HAVEN is focused on commissioning people (not pieces) by establishing relationships with their composer collaborators. This is evident through the masterful selection of works by prolific composer Lee Kesselman.
The multiple movements of Ashes and Dreams are built upon two alternating poetic styles of haiku and waka. To begin, the harkening dexterity and connectedness of the clarinet are imitated in the piano before Kesselman’s vocal lines draw the listener into the poetic space. Perfectly placed disjunct intervals and rapid precision note control by Luevano dominate the middle movements, while the trio displays exceptional timbral balance and intonation in the latter movements. An impatient return to the opening, complete with the clarinetist embarking on exceptionally well-placed intervallic alternations, completes the intertwining intensity of the work.
—Michelle Kiec, The Clarinet
