Review: Canzone XXXI

David Felder's Canzone XXXI stood in marked contrast even though from common roots (3 previous Venetian canzoni). Based on Dante's grief-laden Canzone on the death of Beatrice, Felder's piece is tightly written, muted at first and passing from snarling to more open as the mutes came off. Episodic in form, and with multiple peaks of intensity, the music is uncompromisingly modern and complex. It is not so much flagrantly dissonant as simply not consonant and needs several hearings in order to become accustomed to its language.