Irving Fine's music defies easy categorization because he was never firmly attached to one ideology or style. Although he has been grouped with the American "school" of the 1950s, Fine's varied works reflect the cosmopolitan influence of
Stravinsky more than that of his teachers and peers. The Notturno for strings and harp flows in a lyrical yet austere manner, similar to
Stravinsky's Apollon musagète. The New York Chamber Symphony, led by
Gerard Schwarz, plays it with sufficient conviction, but its sound is a little icy and remote. The neo-Classical Partita shares traits with
Stravinsky's Octet, particularly in its dry humor and emphasis on distinctive timbres, and the
New York Woodwind Quintet gives it an ebullient rendition. The twelve-tone String Quartet, Fine's unqualified masterpiece, receives a compelling performance from the
Lydian String Quartet, with especially good separation of the parts and well-sculpted sections within the two tension-filled movements. The Hour Glass is a setting of six poems by Ben Jonson, and the
Cantata Singers give these a cappella madrigals clarity through crisp articulation and fluid lines. The
Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, conducted by
Schwarz, delivers the elegiac Serious Song with ardor and great depth of tone, making it the most immediately accessible track of the disc.