Metamorphosis

Perceptions of time and place are challenged in this imaginative program of shapeshifting works from 12 Ensemble. At its heart is Richard Strauss’ Metamorphosen, completed in 1945 towards the end of his illustrious life, partly as a memorial to the war-ravaged Munich. It’s a work that sees Strauss retreat back into Romanticism, but, as the players show here in their transparent performance, there are untold details to savor and enjoy anew. The album begins with Edmund Finnis’ fragmented homage to William Byrd, a piece that in its modern framing of a Tudor soundworld calls to mind Vaughan Williams’ Thomas Tallis Fantasia. Next, Claude Vivier’s Zipangu explores melody and texture, weaving in and out of a tonal world, its theme splintering and morphing throughout its 16 minutes. Oliver Leith’s pastiche aria “Non Voglio, Mai Vedere Il Sole Tramontare” was composed as a plot device for his 2022 opera on the last days of Kurt Cobain. While it’s overtly contemporary, it’s instilled with the faint echoes of 19th-century grand opera as if caught in the middle of its own metamorphosis.