David Russell, For David

David Russel's For David: Music Written for David Russell, Guitar is a useful record. It is a snapshot of the state of contemporary composition for solo classical guitar. It is also excellent ammunition for those looking for evidence that modern "serious" music has become an emotionless, over-formalized, self-referential morass.

Of the composers represented here - all themselves guitarists, and all writing specifically for Russell - the American Phil Rosheger is probably the odd man out. His self-contained, single-movement pieces are very much in the tradition of 19th and early-20th century Spanish composers like Tarrega and are the only works on the record that feature themes that the listener recognizes as such. Frenchman Francis Kleynjans' Arabesque en forme de caprice also starts out promisingly enough with a theme that pulls off one of this listener's favorite tricks - evoking a melancholy mood in a major key - but has plenty of time to get bogged down over its nine-minute length, even if the overall effect is less grating than much of the rest of the music.

The next step down is Welsh composer Steve Goss, who contributes a work of three relatively short movements inspired by the poetry of Federico Garcia Lorca. The melodies, as a casual listener understands the term, are no longer there, and the development path of any given work is veiled at best, but Goss's saving grace is the same one employed by most other successful modern composers: space. He makes his point with a minimum of notes, and sounds honest as a result. The opening movement Cantiga, in particular, is effective - at less than two minutes in duration, it is essentially a miniature. By definition, it cannot say much, and that is precisely why it works. Too many people have a habit of saying too much in too many situations, and any work that bucks this trend is a welcome change. Listening does require some focus, but it's mental energy well spent.

The rest of the music - other composers represented are Sergio Assad and Ben Verdery - is fiendishly difficult, deeply chromatic and, to these ears, completely unappealing. Throughout the recording, Russell himself is, of course, flawless... and irrelevant. His prodigious technique is more than adequate, but on music with so little emotional content, the interpreter's personality is completely lost. The formal construction of many of these works is, no doubt, impressive, and a few hours spent with the scores would probably be very illuminating. But that is not what we have here. Performed, this music sounds like little more than aimless noodling.