"All three works on [this] disc are here receiving their world premiere recordings. In the above interview, Fuchs explains the compositional techniques he uses in these pieces, each of which is based on elements from Falling Man , an extended scena for baritone, voice, and orchestra composed in 2008–2010.


To expand a bit on his description, Falling Canons and Falling Trio are mirror images of each other. Both are made up of seven sections based on the same sequence of intervals, but canonically (in Falling Canons ) and variations-wise (in Falling Trio ) proceeding in contrary motion. Falling Canons is in seven movements for solo piano, and begins with a canon at the unison, starting on the note B. The second canon, at the second, begins a note lower on A; the third canon, at the third, starts on G, a note below the second canon, and so on.


Falling Trio in one movement for violin, cello, and piano is based on the same interval progression, and also begins on the note B. But this time its sections are variations rather than canons, and they proceed in ascending direction with Variation 1 on C, Variation 2 on D, and so on. The solo piano Canons is perhaps the most modern-sounding of three works on the disc. It has a strange, otherworldly, distant beauty to it, but one that feels cold and remote. Parts of it are reminiscent of the approach Copland adopted for his 1930 Piano Variations . I have to assume that pianist Christopher O’Riley meets all of the technical challenges of the piece and performs it to Fuchs’s complete satisfaction.


Falling Trio , though of similar style and largely made up of similar material, is immediately warmer due to the presence of the two string instruments and, for me, at least, an easier and more rewarding listening experience. In fact, I find the trio a melodically rich and emotionally expressive work. An extended passage beginning at 10:15, with its sustained violin and cello lines above sweeping arpeggios in the piano is something that might have been written by Fauré. Trio21—Kinga Augustyn, violin; Robert deMaine, cello; and Jeffrey Biegel, piano—bring out all of the score’s romantic ardor, as well as its strong rhythmic profile.


Of Fuchs’s “American” String Quartet, I think I can honestly say that the opening movement may be one of the most drop-dead gorgeous things I’ve ever heard, and that I can’t think of another composer since Shostakovich who has drawn such sonorities from a string quartet. This is a masterpiece and, in my opinion, makes Fuchs the greatest living American composer. The work was written for the Delray String Quartet whose members—Mei Mei Luo and Tomas Cotik, violins; Richard Fleischman, viola; and Claudio Jaffé, cello—play it magnificently on this disc.


Kenneth Fuchs’s contributions, especially in the genres of orchestral and chamber music, are considerable and significant. The CDs reviewed here represent but a small sampling of his work, but any one of them are likely to whet your appetite for more. Performances and recordings couldn’t be better. Recommended."

FANFARE: Jerry Dubins