David Chesky: The Agnostic
(Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra, Stephen Somary, cond;
Slovak Philharmonic Choir; Hana Štolfová-Bandová, alto soloist; Ján Durco,
baritone soloist; Andrej Mackovitch, boy soloist. Chesky CD 202. Norman Chesky, prod.;
Barry Wolifson, eng. DDD. TT: 70:19)
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 I can remember when the major classical labels considered it
a point of honor to find and promote contemporary music with merit. These days, however,
all they want to record are crossover hits and youngsters willing to pose for their covers
in wet tee-shirts.
So it is left to the small labels to record serious modern
music. David Chesky is fortunate that he and his brother own a record label, otherwise his
remarkable Three Psalms for Orchestra [Chesky CD 163 CD/Chesky CHDVD183 DAD] might
never have been recorded. And that would have been a shame for it was a marvelous work,
full of feeling and bursting with intensity. Nor, given the current climate would The
Agnostic have come from the majors -- it commits an even greater sin than Three
Psalms, for it dares to set troubling lyrics to darkly brooding music.
The Agnostic’s lyrics, also written by Chesky,
deal with one of the greatest riddles known to man: the nature of God himself. In two
early sections, Chesky assumes the voices of two innocents -- Todd, a child, and Sam, a
gay musician -- and asks God to justify their suffering: "My name is Todd and I am
dead / Stricken down by something too small to see / I died at the age of five / Too young
to have known sin / But young enough to know pain" "My name is Sam and I am dead
/ Stricken down in my prime by something too small to see … Was my sin to make music
for the world / Or was it to love another man?"
Chesky develops these questions and others through several
other sections before concluding, "God is what divides us from the Divine," and
asserting that God was created in man’s image, not the other way around. This outlook
strikes him as bleak -- in "Death of the Spirit," he writes, "God is dead /
The word is dead / … With no self / With no God / Man has lost his place in the
universe / We are not living in the world / But in a dream …"
And yet, he does not surrender to despair, he concludes The
Agnostic with "Resurrection," which thunders, "Go forth man, have the
strength to live our dreams," before concluding in a hushed whisper, "What we
think we can become / Become more than just a man / Let us live our dreams / Oh man /
Resurrection, resurrection, resurrection / MAN."
I haven’t seen the score and there are no other
performances of The Agnostic, so any comments I have on the accuracy of this
performance must be treated as conjecture. The Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir
turn in spectacular, if not definitive, performances. English is a tough language for
anyone to sing in, but the Slovak Philharmonic Choir rise to the occasion, even if they do
sound a tad ragged here and there. I’d love to hear what a well-rehearsed choir of
English speakers would make of this material -- the Westminster Choir, say.
The orchestral playing is hard to fault -- Chesky regular
Stephen Somary is in complete control and his dynamic shadings are masterful. In fact, for
audiophiles, one of the real pleasures of this disc is its phenomenal dynamic range. Be
careful how you set the volume during The Agnostic’s brooding orchestral
opening passages -- they’re supposed to be soft. Set the loudness too high and
you’ll be wearing your woofer cones in your lap during the fffff crescendo of
"Death of the Spirit."
The recording quality is without flaw. The disc captures
the power of the tuttis without sacrificing any of the delicate inner voicings of
chorus or orchestra. The soundstage is fabulously deep and wide. The instruments have tons
of airy sustain and the voices float upon a cushion of air as plush and supportive as a
velour sofa.
And don’t worry about the tonal language of
Chesky’s music. It’s modern, but his music owes far more to Mahler, Wagner, and
Bruckner than to the serialists or minimalists that are so much closer to his age. He
writes big, brawny, emotional music that isn’t afraid to venture into tender melodic
territory. It’s glorious stuff.
The Agnostic is a glorious work all around.
It’s a bold departure for David Chesky -- I’ve never heard any of his choral
music before, so I think this is a departure, but it is incontrovertibly bold.
It’s emotionally and intellectually successful. And above all, it is beautiful.
Thank you David -- may we have some more?
...Wes Phillips
wes@onhifi.com
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