Judging from the works on this gorgeously engineered disc, Daniel Asia is a supreme master of compositional disguise. His First Symphony derives from an earlier piano sonata, which was later recast in more elaborate orchestral garb. The program notes draw attention to the work’s five-movement arch form, a structure favored by Bartók. I don’t hear traces of the Hungarian master, but detect a sizeable debt to Messiaen’s aqua-tinted orchestration and rather static modality. Asia’s Fourth Symphony begins with simple, sustained pitches that emerge like droplets of dew on a tarp. The ghost of Roy Harris enters, upping the ante with craggy interval leaps. Churning Shostakovich rhythmic cells dart in and out of the mix, managing not to trip on all the asymmetrical climactic signposts (courtesy of the Aaron Copland estate). An Adagio in memory of Stephen Albert evokes the far-away dissonance of Bernstein’s interior threnodies, or, more accurately, Lenny’s soul channeled through Mahler’s earthly body, but with no real harmonic tension or melodic sustenance. The disc closes with At the Far Edge, whose title aptly sums up the music’s evocative demeanor and masterful instrumentation. However one reacts to this music, the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra plays wonderfully for James Sedares, whose occasional moans and groans provide suggestive counterpoint.
