10/10
Rita Constanzi, harp, and Alex Klein, oboe.
Navona Records, 2023.
In their ravishing new recording Amoroso, harpist Rita Costanzi and Chicago Symphony Orchestra oboe emeritus Alex Klein set out to reflect how “music and life walk together” by mining some of the most delicate and fragile melodies ever written. They succeed in truly tender fashion, revealing music’s pull on all of us—performers as well as listeners—into a combination of longing and belonging, the ephemeral and that which is permanent, as well as eros and the divine.
Beginning with what might be the purest expression of this quest is a work written for the disc by Michael Cohen, Canção Pequena or “Short Song.” Subtle, slow and in a yearning minor key, the soundscape the duo creates is perfectly balanced, inviting us into a musicality as one. Fast technique is totally unnecessary right now as the storybook opens.
Following are works by Debussy and Fauré, Rêverie and Après Un Rêve, the natural response to the dreamscape quality created by Klein’s unique hushed and tender tone along with Costanzi’s ability to brush her articulations with pastel, impressionistic colors. Completing this step into the world of dreams is a jaw-dropping performance of Rachmaninoff’s Vocalise thatwill take your breath away. You can simply relax into a soft cloud of gorgeousness.
A favorite of mine is harpist Michael Amorosi’s Adagio. Suddenly we leave the world of dreams for a more grounded feeling. Costanzi emphasizes this earthliness with elongated arpeggios and a come-hither flirtatiousness in answering Klein’s more forthright line. No one can resist the elegance of his tone—or hers.
In Première Arabesque by Claude Debussy, Klein exhibits his skill as arranger leaving the bulk of the music to harp but lightly coloring the theme. His skill is most noticeable in the lamenting quality of Astor Piazzolla’s Oblivion. Both players approach with the improvisatory feel of tango dancers, hesitating as they come closer, then pulling back in the realization, as only an Argentine can express, that all of us are ultimately alone. When Klein reaches for his highest notes, I promise, you will swoon in amazement.
At last, we arrive at peace and a feeling of timelessness with another work by Piazzolla, Tanti Janni prima (So Many Years Ago) followed by a lilting lullaby by Manuel de Falla. There’s an indescribable quality to the sounds created by Alex Klein and Rita Costanzi. I would call it eternal, ancient, like an archetype of the sounds all humankind desire when hoping to be comforted on their life journey.
As a performer myself who also has focal dystonia which affects my left hand to the extent I am unable to play highly technical music with exacting precision, I am particularly taken with Klein’s ability to find a pathway through his limitations and not leave the music world. All of us need to hear the heart-stopping music that he, along with Constanzi, makes.
