AMERICAN RECORD GUIDE:
Thomas Fortmann was born in Switzerland (1951) and has a musical career that began in rock and pop music. He quit in 1976 to devote his time to classical music. The works here are mostly tonal, but he also employs horizontal serial techniques that are vertically connected to interval structures. He does this in Tango Catolico , which really only hints at the tango. The rhythms are all shot to pieces, which makes the work all the more interesting.

Requiem for an Unborn Child crosses a horizontal serial technique with a vertical hierarchy found in Hindemith. The lyrics (libretto) are by Fortmann himself, and they read like Mahler's Kindertotenlieder writ small. The soprano is Danielle Jungblut, and her voice is not quite as clear as the work requires – an engineering indiscretion, perhaps. And it kept reminding me of Mahler – and I don't think that was Fortmann's intention. (But how can a song sung in German about unborn children not remind you of Mahler?) Ladyboy (no date given) is, according to the composer, a manifest for “A new understanding of partnership and sexuality”. Whatever that means. Ladyboy is for string trio and is a sharply atonal work of cogent phrasing and distinct sonic colors, none of them predictable, all of them interesting. Forget the new sexuality stuff in the booklet. That kind of pseudointellectual claptrap serves no one.

Fortmann for all of his apparent skill really hasn't found his voice yet. These pieces, while competent, remind me of graduate student works that are passable but seem unwilling to delve into anything truly original (or inspirational). True, chamber works are often seen as intensely personal (and intentionally obfuscating) when they come out (note early reactions to Bartok, Prokofieff and Shostakovich). Taken together, this music is a decent foot forward, but I would prefer works that were a bit more fired up with creative vision rather than mere accomplishment and an understanding of one's forebears.
Cook

ALL-MUSIC:
Beginning his career as a songwriter/rock musician, Swiss composer Thomas Fortmann has, since the age of 26, devoted his career to the composition of art music. His compositional style is rather complex; he draws on techniques established by the likes of Schoenberg and Hindemith, but does not imitate them directly, thus making a language that is truly all his own.

The foundations of serialism are strong, although Fortmann serializes not only the 12 tones of the octave, but rhythms and even intervals as well. Although this may give listeners the impression that his compositions are more technical and academic than musical, this is not the case. The Tango Catolico (for string quartet) is fascinating work that amazingly morphs an almost liturgical sound into a vibrant tango. The centerpiece of the album is Fortmann's "Requiem for an Unborn Child," a rather ominous-sounding subject matter to be sure. Scored for clarinet, violin, cello, piano, and soprano, the sparse texture and effective text-painting allow listeners to focus on the meaning Fortmann is trying to get across.

The performance itself, however, is only adequate. Only soprano Danielle Jungblut appears to be invested in her part. The instrumentalists seem at times to only be going through the motions of playing the notes; as a result, intonation and sound quality frequently suffer. Still, the compositions and subject matter are sufficiently interesting to warrant giving this album a try.
Performance ××××  Sound ××××
Mike Brownell