American Threads | Balmer plays Wallace and more

Jamie Balmer’s American Threads features solo guitar music by Kevin Callahan, Phillip de Fremery, Frederic Hand, Thomas Schuttenhelm, and Frank Wallace alongside  Balmer’s arrangements for solo guitar of music by Elliott Smith, Edward MacDowell, and Leonard Bernstein (from West Side Story).

Listen and Purchase

Boston based guitarist Jamie Balmer has released a beautifully conceived and executed CD that I am proud to be a part of. The CD is clearly dedicated to American contemporary classical guitar music. While the music is not all written for Jamie, he clearly has a personal affinity for every piece on the recording. In a world dominated by conservative trends on most fronts, where classical artists are expected to only play what is familiar and “accessible,” it is a delight to hear a young artist take off on a personal adventure and share it with the public.

That said, this CD is entirely accessible to any listener willing to hear the unfamiliar. Jamie’s taste is not for the avante garde, but there is plenty of serious music here. I believe we are beyond the age that believes serious must be bizarre and for the elite only. I was immediately struck by the balance of song and fantasy (if I may be old fashioned and use the term to indicate purely instrumental in nature). The formal structure of alternation is very effective, beginning with the romantic song To a Wild Rose by Edward MacDowell, Jamie then launches into Undercurrents by Kevin Callahan, a tour de force of funk and joy, by both composer and player. Back to song in Balmer’s own arrangements of three pieces from West Side Story. Then one of two large three movement works, Trilogy by Fred Hand, an important contribution to the general repertoire, these three pieces show Hand’s unique grip on the jazz idiom, composed with heart and mind in perfect union. Jamie gives an energetic and powerful performance of Trilogy III here: take a listen as you read on!

Three more “fantasies” follow. Music After Lorca is composed by Segovia protege Phillip de Fremery. In a more or less Spanish popular idiom, it was composed for a staged production of A Poet in New York. Four songs follow in Balmer’s arrangements of works by Elliott Smith. Thomas Schuttenhelm’s Epyllion is back to original composition for guitar and a lovely one it is. A short homage to Eric Satie’s Gymnopedie, the piece alternates between textures taken from those pieces, but with freer textures. It works beautifully, and Balmer gets the mood right, though I find the chordal structures a little heavy at times, or not legato enough. It may be the most difficult guitar technique of all to achieve true legato in chorale type textures.

The Stubborn Oak is a combination of song and fantasy. This is a very demanding piece, as I should know having written it and recorded it on my first CD of original compositions: Frank Wallace his own new works. Balmer lithely works through the large stretches in the first movement maintaining an even pulsation of perpetual motion throughout while always giving the melodic lines their due. The second movement, a chorale and two-part fantasy on the Shaker tune of the same name is elegant and gracious, pure song. Jamie succeeds in hearing and shaping both independent lines. The following three-part fugue elevates the bass line from the previous movement to become the fugue subject in a jazz-like off beat rhythm. Jamie writes, “The Stubborn Oak is a rare masterpiece – it rewards every minute spent in it’s company. While the fugue often had my fingers feeling like little stubborn oaks, the “mercy” referenced in the Shaker song’s lyrics is embedded in the music.” Again, Jamie masterfully gives each line it’s proper attention in the complex polyphonic texture.

The CD ends with Three River Moments-The River God. Writes Balmer, “The music of Elliott Smith has been close to my heart since I first discovered it as a teenager. Most of Smith’s best songs are quiet explorations of darker themes: depression, alienation, addiction, hopeless love.” I was not immediately attracted to the finger-style arrangements of these songs or their very sentimental mood. But on subsequent listening I thought, ” Frank, you’re too damn serious all the time!” This is a lovely tune with wonderful harmonies and would be a great ending to any evening concert or recording. American Threads completes its weaving with a very appropriate nod to Americana. Bravo Jamie!