Page 190 - Alison Balsom Quiet City FULL BOOK

The same is true of the other quieter piece on the album, Ives’s The Unanswered Question.
The trumpet’s simple role here as a recurring motivic representation of the Ultimate Question
of Life, the Universe and Everything is the least technically demanding on the album, but
drawing together the intentionally disparate elements of this unique work is a tricky task that
could spell disaster for an inexperienced conductor. No such problems for Stroman, of course
– the hypnotic “silence” of the strings’ slow-moving textures is perfectly offset by Balsom’s
persistent questioning and the woodwinds’ scattergun attempts to respond.

Although it looks and feels like a concept album constructed around a theme, this recording
doesn’t seem to have been conceived from the outset as a celebration of Americana. Balsom
gives the impression in the notes that it almost fell together by accident – but if that’s so then
the cohesion she achieves throughout this programme is a minor miracle. From her innate
mastery of Copland’s unique language of spacious melancholy to her blend of extroversion
and lyricism in the Gershwin and her adept shift into the language of jazz for the Rodrigo,
Balsom’s musicianship itself – rather than any reference to a historical moment – is the real
unifying thread.