MOUNTAIN INTERVAL: SONGS AND CHAMBER MUSIC OF RUSSELL PLATT
BRIDGE 9575

Ah, here’s something to sink one’s teeth into. The works on this CD require neither a degree in engineering nor a subscription to all the modern-day -isms to be enjoyed, both emotionally and intellectually. Although Platt does not imitate Britten, the vocal works that open this CD really do suggest Britten’s skill at amplifying good poetry through music. Similarly, tenor Paul Appleby and pianist Myra Huang score similar bullseyes with their concentration and their ability to make nuances count. [Platt’s setting of] After Apple-Picking, composed as recently as 2021, also exists in a version for orchestra. Either version could be a strong, worthwhile addition to the American song repertoire. It is a wonderful way to open this new CD.

Frost returns in a more abstract form—that is to say, as a source of inspiration in the string quartet Mountain Interval. Although Platt does not invoke the name of Charles Ives in his booklet notes, it is Ives’s brave take-it-or-leave-it sincerity and toughness that I often hear in Mountain Interval. The second movement (“The Pasture”) is an eloquent and homespun “song without words” whose qualities and juxtaposition with the other movements is especially Ivesian. The Borromeo String Quartet plays this music with total commitment and with stylistic knowhow. New American classical music is a hit-or-miss proposition. The works on this CD make me relax, telling me that there is life in it yet. Strongly recommended, unless you cannot tear yourself away from an exclusive diet of warhorses. 

—Raymond Tuttle, “Fanfare,” May/June 2026

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Platt’s setting of [Frost’s] “After Apple Picking” has a timeless beauty all its own. The tenor line is spun in honeyed fashion by Paul Appleby; along with pianist Myra Huang, Appleby absolutely lives the poem. Just as Frost’s poem is fairly free-flow, so is Platt’s response, the melodic line reflecting the ladder’s sway, for example. It is clear that deep thought has gone into this music; I can do Platt and Appleby no higher compliment than to say that they do Frost justice.

“Memoir” [is] a transposed arrangement of the slow movement of Platt’s Violin Sonata for flute (Molly Barth) and piano (Amy Dorfman). Longer and more spacious, there is a sense of unfolding and merging, all couched in a memory; the piano’s deeply resonant final measures add depth to the experience.

Mountain Interval (2014–16), Platt’s string quartet in seven movements, [is] performed by the excellent Borromeo String Quartet. (The overall work title refers to Frost’s third printed collection of poems.) Platt’s writing is rigorous; even the “Fantastico” that opens [the piece] is carefully calibrated. Textures are ever highly imaginative. The performance is absolutely superb: the piece is fascinating, enhanced by all the music before it on the disc. A major introduction to the music of Russell Platt. Production values, including recording quality, are top notch.

—Colin Clarke, “Fanfare,” May/June 2026

A group of distinguished American artists well-versed in contemporary classical music—including Paul Appleby, Molly Barth, and the Borromeo String Quartet—offer superlative performances of works from four decades by Russell Platt, a composer and writer who has reinterpreted the heritage of Romantic, modern, and minimalist music as his own. A student of Ned Rorem and Dominick Argento who also enjoyed a substantial career as a music editor and critic at The New Yorker, Platt has long been admired for his art songs, which showcase not only his love for the English language but also an impressive gift for melody and a craftsman’s regard for form. The album, which begins with an epic setting of Robert Frost’s classic poem “After Apple-Picking” (as well as settings of texts by Paul Muldoon and Elizabeth Bishop), closes with “Mountain Interval,” a seven-movement string quartet which pays tribute to late Beethoven as well as to Frost’s poetic legacy.

BRIDGE 9575