Reactions: Songs and Chamber Music
Critical Acclaim
“Brouwer’s gift for melody, and her ability to weave together contemporary idioms with lines that allow the instruments to sing, make her a composer for whom chamber musicians (and listeners) should be grateful.”
“a compelling collection of works composed between 2005 and 2020 that could hardly be more timely”
“The emotional range of the music is remarkable, spanning passion, despair, and humor; the musical language is modern yet tonal enough to (literally) strike a chord with contemporary listeners.”
“Brouwer adroitly scores [the songs in Declaration], introducing musical lines that gradually wrap around each other.” - Melinda Bargreen, EarRelevant
“The American composer has the expressive skills to evoke the passions she sets out to describe – love, ecology, racism, even being trapped in telephone hell.”
“Brouwer’s musical language – tonal with deft sprinklings of harmonic spice – draws the instruments into ardent and wistful conversations.” – Gramophone
“an exploration of shared humanity, connection, love, and responses to universal life experiences…
Brouwer offers a study of the range of human emotion.” - Nicolette Cheauré, ClevelandClassical
"It is music that occupies its own space, neither retrograde nor highly, overtly modernistic. It is music of some care and quality, some fine invention, responding to the musical world we occupy today without being enslaved to anything referentially. Ms. Brouwer goes her own way and we do not miss what she choses to leave out. We appreciate conversely what she gives to us in each instance"
"All goes by and you feel the presence of musical eloquence that sounds thoroughly contemporary yet self-contained in its alternate dialogic invention. The performances are all one might hope for and help us to feel the music enter our listening selves." - Gapplegate Classical-Modern Music Review
“Reactions - Songs and Chamber Music presents a rewarding glimpse into Brouwer's rich compositional world and the broad tonal range it encompasses…[Brouwer] draws on her vast knowledge of classical music to create personalized expressions that render into compositional form the essence of a particular subject matter or emotional state.” - Textura
Naxos presents a portrait CD of American Margaret Brouwer, born in 1940, featuring chamber music & songs. The program opens with an impassioned performance of the Rhapsodic Sonata for viola and piano by Eliesha Nelson and Shuai Wang. This pianist also acts expressively in the song cycle Declaration, sung very eloquently and sensitively by mezzo-soprano Sarah Beaty. The shorter pieces ‘I Cry – Summer 2020’ for violin & piano and The Lake for tenor & piano are also heard in very appealing interpretations. (Naxos 8.559904) – ♪♪♪♪ - Remy Franck, pizzicato
“ this disc contains very accessible music from the 21st century, music with a message moreover, and it is performed with great commitment.” - Göran Forsling, MusicWeb International
“well-balanced, well-crafted music that stands up well on repeated hearings”
- TransCentury Communications
“[Brouwer] brings a deep well of soul to her new works but finds space to plug in joys as well as sorrows…An emotionally engaging set of pieces…Well done throughout” – Midwest Record
“A highly engaging contemporary chamber affair, Brouwer’s company make the most of the timeless melodies, comedic moments and more topical social issues that are fleshed out with strong attention to detail and much appreciated precision.” - Take Effect