VA - Ross Crean: The Great God Pan (2017)

Chicago-based composer Ross Crean’s opera The Great God Pan soars in this new release, the first collaboration between the composer and PARMA recordings. The Great God Pan takes its story from an eponymous 1890 novella by Welsh author Arthur Machen, which explores themes of scientific hubris, transcendental medicine, and unexplainable supernatural behavior. Impressively, Crean adapted Machen’s narrative into the work’s libretto himself, an ambitious and rare undertaking for a composer. Crean’s familiarity with the story shows through in the emotional resonance of his music, which matches and communicates the character’s concerns and feelings with unflinching precision. The key to Crean’s musical portrayal of the story is twofold. First, beginning with the overture, much of the opera’s accompanimental music is defined by pulsing ostinato ideas. This characteristic is inviting to the listener and draws us into the musical world of Crean’s opera. More importantly, the relentless quality of these rhythms wordlessly establishes the ominous mixture of tension and mystery at the heart of The Great God Pan’s narrative. Second, Crean’s text setting is extremely clear, so the story is conveyed with crystal clarity in this recording. Without giving too much away, the tale at the heart of The Great God Pan begins with a surgery gone wrong. The first character we meet, Dr. Raymond, has invited the opera’s protagonist, Clarke, to witness an important experiment based in elements of non-traditional, ancient rituals. Dr. Raymond sacrifices his wife Mary as the subject of his attempt to access a higher spiritual plane – referred to as, “seeing the Great God Pan” – and unwittingly initiates a serious of mysterious supernatural occurrences that Clarke encounters over the next few decades. This recording represents a chamber version of Crean’s opera that includes a full cast of ten superb vocalists and a pair accompanying pianos. The piano parts yearn to be orchestrated, and, in many moments, the listener can easily imagine the lush mixture of brass, strings, woodwinds, and percussion Crean will employ once he has the opportunity to fully orchestrate the piece. With this said, the performance on this album never neither feels incomplete, nor does it ever lack any intensity it might enjoy in a full production. This owes to the excellent quality of the album’s vocal performances, and to Crean’s ingenuity in composing the accompanying piano parts with the sounds of strumming and plucking, which combine to make the music that much more vibrant. Ross Crean is a multifaceted artist, composing and active in many genres of music. As a vocalist, he has studied rock, opera, and many disparate vocal styles. He received his degree from Illinois State University in Music Theory/Composition and has worked with or received commissions from Oberlin College, Opera on Tap Chicago, and Loyola University Museum of Art. Crean’s song cycle, A Passive-Aggressive’s Guide to Mother Goose, was a 2016 winner of One Ounce Opera’s inaugural Fresh Squeezed Ounce of Art Song competition.

TRACKLIST

CD1
01. The Great God Pan: Intro - John Cockerill
02. The Great God Pan, Act I: The Discovery - Matthan Ring Black
03. The Great God Pan, Act I: The Reveal - Matthan Ring Black
04. The Great God Pan, Act I: The Dream, the Call, and the Lullaby - Maureen Smith
05. The Great God Pan, Act I: Interlude - John Cockerill
06. The Great God Pan, Act I: Twenty Years - Tobias Wright
07. The Great God Pan, Act I: A Story to Add to the Memoir - Matthan Ring Black
08. The Great God Pan, Act I: In the Garden - Jessica Hiltabidle
09. The Great God Pan, Act I: The Story Continues - Tobias Wright
10. The Great God Pan, Act I: Villiers' Parlor - John Cockerill
11. The Great God Pan, Act I: Advice in Investments? - Erin Moll
12. The Great God Pan, Act I: An Old Friend in Shambles - Vince Wallace
13. The Great God Pan, Act I: The Plot Thickens - Tobias Wright

CD2
01. The Great God Pan, Act II: A Stroll in London Fog - Erin Moll
02. The Great God Pan, Act II: An Artist Meets His Maker - Andrew Fisher
03. The Great God Pan, Act II: City of Nightmares - Erin Moll
04. The Great God Pan, Act II: It Is Helen Vaughan! - Erin Moll
05. The Great God Pan, Act II: Gethsemane - Sarah Thompson Johansen
06. The Great God Pan, Act II: Silent Too Long - Tobias Wright
07. The Great God Pan, Act II: The Confrontation and Ultimatum - Sarah Thompson Johansen
08. The Great God Pan, Act II: Helen's Prophecy Before the Fall - Erin Moll
09. The Great God Pan, Act II: The First Fragment - Tobias Wright
10. The Great God Pan, Act II: The Second Fragment - Erin Moll
11. The Great God Pan, Act II: The Third Fragment - Matthan Ring Black