Cellist
Inbal Segev's
20 for 2020 project consists of works commissioned by
Segev with the request that they respond to the events of that year in some way. Most address the COVID-19 pandemic, but the unrest surrounding the killing of George Floyd also appears. The contents of this album were originally issued in three volumes. That gave the valuable effect of a musical COVID-19 diary, but there is also much to be said for hearing the whole set on this double-album release. Here, it is the variety that strikes the listener. The themes range from evocation of the pandemic's empty spaces in works such as
Viet Cuong's
Room to Move to the "holding patterns" of
Timo Andres'
Agita for cello and piano. Nostalgia for a quieter time is demonstrated by
Angelica Negron'
Ruta panoramica for cello, bandoneon, and electronics, which, the composer says, "was inspired by the simple joy of road trips with my friends and my dog in Puerto Rico." However, to select a few pieces from
Segev's list of 21 (there is a bonus composition of her own in addition to the
20 for 2020) is to ignore the strongest feature of the album: its striking variety. The disastrous year of 2020 aside,
20 for 2020 is a demonstration like few others available of the variety of the contemporary composition scene, with solo pieces, chamber works, a concerto, and electronic compositions, all centered on
Segev's cello. There is traditional tonality, atonality, and systems derived from world traditions, as well as a good sampling of pieces that are more difficult to classify. The collection is somehow heartening in the sincerity and depth of composers' responses to adversity, in the new relevance shown for contemporary musical languages. The pieces were recorded at various places and times, beginning in late 2020, but all at New York's Oktaven Audio; the album in this extended form, sonically and artistically, is a coherent if multifarious whole and is highly recommended. ~ James Manheim
