The question surfaces periodically as to whether there is a "gay sensibility" in the arts, or in anything. The CRI issue of Gay American Composers poses the question in regard to contemporary classical music, but lets the composers, and their offerings, speak for themselves. (CRI later issued a second volume of music by gay American composers and two volumes of music by lesbian American composers, so there is a lot of evidence out there.)

The composers included on this disc represent a broad spectrum of American contemporary classical music. Some (Lou Harrison, David Del Tredici, Ned Rorem) are fairly well-known, others (Robert Helps, Lee Hoiby, Chester Biscardi, Robert Maggio, Conrad Cummings, William Hibbard, Jerry Hunt, Chris del Blasio) are not – at least, they weren't to me. What is apparent, from the music and from the artists' comments included with the CD, is that there are as many opinions on the relationship of "gay" to "sensibility" as there are people who might be expected to have any intelligent opinion to begin with.

There are almost too many highlights: Robert Helps' Homage à Rachmaninoff, which opens the collection, not only captures the essence of the great pianist/composer, but also incorporates a very real sense of how the world changed in his lifetime. It is followed by Lee Hoiby's I Was There, settings of texts by Walt Whitman sung by baritone Peter Stewart accompanied by the composer, which, although it gets off to a rocky start, soon reveals itself as a subtly powerful work. Lou Harrison's selections from the String Quartet Set: Variations and Estampe amply illustrate Harrison's range as a composer, ranging from a dense, hymnlike set of variations on instruments with his own idiosyncratic tuning to a lively, world-beat "estampe." Harrison's Serenade for Betty Freeman & Franco Assetto reveals the composer's strong attraction to the music of Southeast Asia, specifically gamelan. Robert Maggio's Desire Movement captures both the thrill (and frustrations) of the hunt and the peace that comes when success rewards the hunter with something more than simple desire; Maggio calls attention to the "outward/inward" contrast in the music reflecting the difference between desire and love. The late Jerry Hunt, in Transform (Stream) (mistakenly listed on the back as "Lattice"), electronically combines percussion, whistling, and synthesized speech in a spare, elliptical study in the "spaces between."

The performances almost all include the composers, making them about as authoritative as you can get. The other performers are at the very least intelligent and sensitive to the demands of the music, and in some case strikingly so.

This is a group of exceptional composers – even those works that are not my favorites, such as the selections from Ned Rorem's Nantucket Songs, have something to offer. What is worthy of note, as one realizes reading the extensive comments accompanying the disc, is that there is no evidence that any of these men bear anything other than honest pride for who they are and what they've accomplished. In several cases, they credit their homosexuality for the impetus of many of their works, although to be honest, I can find nothing in the music itself that says "gay." In the face of that fact, the question of whether there is a gay sensibility in art is still open for discussion. And while you're discussing it, I do recommend that you have this album playing.

(Yes, another Pride Write-Off offering. See Psychovant's profile page for the usual suspects.)


Recommended: Yes