CMP Review 2025-05-15

May 15, 2025

“How often do you have a new favorite composer?” asked my son-in-law in surprise.

“Every thirty years,” I calmly replied.

He asked because in a burst of emotion I had just exclaimed, “I think I have a new favorite composer!”

Not quite thirty years ago, I had fallen in love with the music of Maurice Ravel. Arbie Orenstein does a good job explaining why: “Ravel’s art strove neither for passion nor for truth, but rather for the ‘contemplation of the Beautiful.’” Listening to Ravel was an invitation to contemplate beauty.

Ravel lived at the time of the impressionists, when the classical forms were still remembered, but a newfound freedom allowed the heart to soar. I thought that such music would never be composed again.

Until I heard Ambarvalia, a piece composed for chamber orchestra in … 1988. The piece spoke to my heart and prompted me to seek out other works by this undersung modern composer from Great Britain named Ruth Gipps.

Is it too early to say I have a new favorite? Perhaps. I suppose I don’t have to make up my mind just yet. For now, I’ll just be content to accept an even more recent invitation — to contemplate beauty.

@artmiddlekauff