William Toutant

Inspired by a trip to Southeast Asia in 2019, William Toutant’s Remembrance is inspired by a visit to the Genocide Museum in Phnom Penh (where the Khmer Rouge imprisoned and tortured as many as 20,000 Cambodians; the victims were then sent to the Choeung Ek “killing field” for execution, and burial in mass graves). This was followed by a visit to the Memorial Stupa, where one can see, behind glass, the skulls of thousands of Khmer Rouge victims, all nameless but organized by name and gender. The 10-minute piece is Toutant’s reaction to these experiences. The work is incredibly varied emotionally for its time span, with the crushing dissonances coming in late in the piece. Dropping, descending lines seem to imply mourning, the bowing of a head. The sheer control of the players of the Pedroia String Quartet is amazing. When they are required to move as one, it really is like hearing one perfectly balanced instrument. But it is Toutant’s piece that speaks so eloquently and so powerfully. It is, surely, one of the great threnodies in music. This is the second of Toutant’s pieces I have reviewed in the present issue of Fanfare: the other, ‘Ludes and Fugues, appears on a disc entitled Old Meets New on the North/South label. These two are very different pieces, but clearly from the same pen. I very much look forward to meeting more of William Toutant’s music in due course.

The composer William Toutant (b. 1948 in Worcester, MA) has enjoyed a distinguished career in academia, teaching at California State University, Northridge (Los Angeles). Here we have his ‘Ludes & Fugues, two three-voiced fugues preceded by a prelude and separated by an interlude (and followed by a postlude). They are carefully organized: The composer takes a four-note cell from the opening and working with that throughout. There’s no missing when the fugues begin. The whole owes much to Bach, yet Toutant has his own voice, offering the listener challenges without any jarring dissonance. The way Toutant can spin the atmosphere within a measure shows incredible skill and a great ear, and it is clear that Lifchitz understands exactly what is going on at any given point. The second fugue is nicely differentiated from the first (some of it is reminiscent of Hindemith).

We have met William Toutant a number of times before. I have reviewed two discs containing his music: his ‘Ludes and Fugues was part of a disc called Old Meets New on the North/South label, and his Remembrance on another Navona release, Fleeting Realms, Volume Two (both reviewed in Fanfare 47:1). They left me wanting more, and here we are. Trolls was inspired by a trip to Scandinavia in the Fall of 2019, in particular Norway and its “Trollstignem” (Troll’s Highway). There are three parts to Toutant’s piece, although they may be extricated as separate pieces, or combined in twos. The first is “A Tipsy Troll,” with the inebriation brilliantly conveyed by Toutant and the players here. It is scored for clarinet and marimba, an inspired combination which should get out more. Rana Moore and Mike Williams are our guides to the world of these earthy elementals. The central “A Pensive Troll” is exactly that, the clarinet spinning enthralling melody, the marimba its sometime shadow. The exactitude of performance is what really enables the music to work. Finally, “A Capricious Troll” is based on that Paganini Caprice, with the theme slightly curtailed in keeping with the cheeky nature of trolls. Toutant’s way with the theme is ingenious, and smoother than most in places. The marimba gets its much-deserved moment in the spotlight. Both Moore and Williams play with oodles of character.