Shop Now

MusicWeb International

Doug Lofstrom is an American composer and bassist, whose music spans a number of genres: jazz, folk, theatre, dance and symphonic music. His output is considerable, and his work frequently performed in the US, but relatively little of his more ‘classical’ works seem to have been recorded. This new disc is devoted to his vocal music: three short song cycles and three scenes from his opera Two Soldiers, with which the recital begins.

Two Soldiers was first performed in 1990, with a libretto by Al Day. It’s set against the backdrop of World War 2 and follows two very different soldiers, one Russian, and one German, through their wartime experiences. According to the online catalogue of Lofstrom’s orchestral music, the opera employs a ‘sweeping historical perspective in a grand opera style’. On the evidence of the scenes on this disc however, perspective aside, its style is very much not grand opera, but much more in the genre of music theatre. The three scenes here are necessarily small scale and intimate, a passionate dialogue between the Russian soldier Ivan and his lover Marina, a soliloquy by the German soldier, Hans, on a train on the way to the front, and a dream sequence from later in the opera featuring all three characters. The orchestration is capable of being played by 12 instrumentalists, as here (the players are pictured and named in the booklet but not given a collective title) and is very skilfully done. Combined with the excellent singing of Ryan De Ryke, Ryan Townsend Strand and Kimberly Jones, the three well-chosen extracts are a fine introduction to the individual and accessible style of Lofstrom. An experienced musical director, Lofstrom conducts deftly, with good control of pacing, and he calibrates the delicate dynamics which are a distinctive feature of this music with great care.

The song cycles which follow, featuring De Ryke and pianist Daniel Schlosberg, again show Lofstrom’s invention and his facility for word setting. Myths and Accidents, consists of two poems by Al Day, ‘Prologue’ and ‘looking to euridice’, surrounding Edna St. Vincent Millay’s ‘Ballad of the Harp-Weaver’, from a different era altogether. From a literary perspective, it’s a bit of a stretch to draw many shared themes. If I had to summarise, I’d say it’s about escalation of feelings and extremeties. The protagonist of ‘Prologue’ reflects on the ennui of the quotidian, whilst Millay’s surprisingly unsentimental poem sets out the desolate consequences of poverty, and the monumental despair of Orpheus is brilliantly rendered by Day in a contemporary, colloquial vein. Lofstrom’s setting of all three songs shows a real sympathy and understanding of the poets he is working with. Day is a longtime collaborator so perhaps that’s not so surprising, but it’s striking what he makes of the Millay. It’s a setting of great dynamism for singer and pianist, with plenty of momentum when conventionally one might expect stasis. And where one might expect an extended lament in ‘looking for euridice’, there is again real drama. The six minutes of the song carry not just the narrative but also the emotional punch of a much longer work, with a brilliant piano part, at times lyrical, at others projecting a thrilling, doomed relentlessness, superbly played by Schlosberg. De Ryke’s baritone is noticeably affectless here, as if playing detachment off against loss and grief.

All Must End is a sequence of four songs from 2023, written Lofstrom tells us, with De Ryke’s voice in mind. There’s an interesting choice of texts, ranging from Lofstrom’s own words in ‘Birth’, to Thomas Traherne’s ‘Eden’, followed by a traditional Mayan poem, ‘The Wind and the Rain’ and finally Herman Melville’s ‘Pontoocuce’.  All four are concerned with broad themes of life, death and the passage of time and Lofstrom again shows great variety and ingenuity in his settings. ‘Birth’ has a portentous opening, but when De Ryke joins Schlosberg, we’re overcome with a beautiful sense of simplicity and awe. ‘Eden’ carries on where ‘Birth’ finishes, starting with a quite lyricism, but suddenly and excitingly becomes something much fierier on the words ‘Joy, pleasure, beauty, life… They all were brisk and living souls to me’. De Ryke maintains admirable self-possession throughout, eschewing melodrama. ‘The Wind and the Rain’ is lovely miniature, again simply and affectingly set. ‘Pontoocuce’ is a thoughtful poem masquerading as something commonplace. Lofstrom absolutely gets this, and in his shortened version of Melville, the playful complexity of the piano part is a perfect foil for De Ryke’s noble stoicism.

Three Sandburg Songs are a selection from Carl Sandburg’s influential collection Chicago Poems of 1916. Sandburg pioneered a biting social realism in his vivid portraits of the time and certainly was seeking impact over refined poetics. So, while a literature student of 2025 could find fault aplenty in Sandburg’s often rather clumsy writing, that makes him a good candidate for the sort of transformation Lofstrom effects in these settings. ‘Killers’ disarmingly starts with speech not music, with sound effects and quiet piano. It’s not until the fourth stanza that De Ryke sings and the poignancy of the music contrasts powerfully with the violence of the earlier spoken section. ‘Bones’, which starts ‘Sling me under the sea./Pack me down in the salt and wet’ is turned into a sea shanty, which surprised me at first, but it transpires that Lofstrom’s carefully judged musical jollity fits the words like a glove. ‘Rim of a Hat’ is a lovely, reflective ballad, with a rippling piano part helping to colour the picture painted by De Ryke’s words, proving that different shades of grey can be varied and prepossessing.

I haven’t commented on the considerable technical demands that Lofstrom’s songs make of the performers in all three of these cycles. It’s a tribute to De Ryke and Schlosberg how these are brushed aside to present the words and music to full effect. The recorded sound throughout the recital is excellent and engineer Steve Yates has seen to it that one isn’t really conscious of any acoustical difference in the three different venues used. I was aware of a few rustles when pages were turned in the Myths and Accidents sequence, but it wasn’t intrusive enough to affect my enjoyment. Overall, this is a very attractive introduction to Doug Lofstrom’s vocal music.