Robert Trevino has put together a cleverly varied programme of little-known American orchestral works. Indeed, this is the premiere recording of Howard Hanson’s Before the Dawn (1920), a youthful, curiously compact tone poem full of heaving emotion. A sad, rather lovely passage starting at 3’13” seems to me to be not just at the work’s centre but also its heart, and it’s beautifully played here by the Basque National Orchestra’s woodwinds.
Americascapes (Trevino)
Robert Trevino has put together a cleverly varied programme of little-known American orchestral works. Indeed, this is the premiere recording of Howard Hanson’s Before the Dawn (1920), a youthful, curiously compact tone poem full of heaving emotion. A sad, rather lovely passage starting at 3’13” seems to me to be not just at the work’s centre but also its heart, and it’s beautifully played here by the Basque National Orchestra’s woodwinds.
Carl Ruggles also crams quite a lot into his four miniature Evocations (1943) – better known in their original version for solo piano – though individually and as a set they sound satisfyingly complete. He was a famously cantankerous character and his music is both painstakingly written and uncompromising. Trevino emphasises lyricism over cragginess, and if his interpretation is less finely detailed than Tilson Thomas’s with the Rochester Symphony (originally on CBS, 1/81), it still packs a punch.
Charles Martin Loeffler was born near Berlin but emigrated in 1881 to the US, where he became a violinist in the Boston Symphony. Loeffler’s musical response to Maeterlinck’s La mort de Tintagiles is not nearly as macabre as the puppet play itself but is nonetheless exquisitely crafted and often ingeniously colourful. Listen, say, at 14’20” and you might think that he was cribbing from Debussy’s La mer, though actually Loeffler’s tone poem came first, having been premiered in 1898 (though it’s played here in its 1901 revision). Loeffler’s melodies may not always be the most striking or memorable but I find something to entrance my ears in nearly every bar – note, for example, the prominent part for the fragile-sounding viola d’amore (first heard at 8’00”). Trevino’s reading is slightly broader than John Nelson’s with the Indianapolis Symphony (New World, 9/88) but still conveys the composer’s keen sense of dramatic pacing.
Henry Cowell is best remembered as the radical who first employed tone clusters (Bartók asked his permission to use them), but the Variations for Orchestra (1956) comes from his more conservative later years. There are a few tone clusters here (the high-lying cloud of violins at 4’31”, say) along with other modernist techniques carried over from his iconoclastic youth, although these exist in the context of a more traditional language. What’s remarkable, I find, is the sense of unity he creates given such diversity. Each of the seven or so sections has a distinct character, for example – the glittering dance of keyboards and percussion starting at 7’48” is worlds apart from the pastoral song of the woodwinds that follows (at 9’56”) – yet in the end, all are facets of an indissoluble whole. If there’s a masterpiece among the four works on this disc, I’d argue it’s this. William Strickland’s 1963 CRI recording has held up remarkably well but Trevino’s is equally authoritative, played with greater polish, and the recorded sound is first-rate. Urgently recommended.
From the cover art adorning this terrific release, you would think that America (or the United States bit of it) was a land characterized by construction cranes, graffiti, and brown leather jackets, none of which has much to do with the music on the disc itself. Sorry, I just had to make that point. Nationalistic stereotypes are generally loathsome, especially when the four works featured here form a study in diversity and variety. Let’s take them in the order of appearance.
Trevino’s Evocative Americasapes (from Basque Country)
From the cover art adorning this terrific release, you would think that America (or the United States bit of it) was a land characterized by construction cranes, graffiti, and brown leather jackets, none of which has much to do with the music on the disc itself. Sorry, I just had to make that point. Nationalistic stereotypes are generally loathsome, especially when the four works featured here form a study in diversity and variety. Let’s take them in the order of appearance.
Loeffler: La Mort de Tintagiles (1897). The earliest work here, this is a big, juicy, Straussian tone poem–except that Strauss was still in the midst of writing his own big, juicy tone poems (Ein Heldenleben would appear a year later), so give Loeffler some credit for finding his own voice with some degree of independence. The story comes from a weird marionette play by Maurice Maeterlinck (of Pelléas et Melisande fame) about an evil queen who wants to murder Tintagiles, as she has the rest of his family, so she does. That’s it. There’s also a character named Aglovane, which sounds like something you spread on your lawn to keep down weeds. The music is gorgeous: dark and fuzzy, aided in no small degree by the dusky tone of a solo viola d’amore.
Ruggles: Evocations (1943). Carl Ruggles lived forever (1876-1971) wrote a tiny handful of pieces, and embodied the very notion of a “cantankerous old coot.” Evocations exists in both piano and orchestral versions. Like all of his music, it’s basically an essay it extended chromaticism, which is the same thing as saying it’s atonal. Cast in four brief movements, all of them slow-ish, and lasting some ten minutes, it’s a curiously intense, powerful, craggy experience. Why it works is anyone’s guess, but it does, and it’s not supposed to be endearing. It just exists, and you deal with it.
Hanson: Before the Dawn (1920). Hanson neglected this early tone poem, which won him the Prix-de-Rome, and which receives its world premiere recording here. It’s the weakest work on the disc, being rather tepidly melodic and just plain bland. It does what you expect it to, rising to a theoretically impassioned climax, before arriving at a perfunctory and most unsatisfying ending. It’s good to have it documented, but I can’t imagine anyone wanting to hear it as often as the rest of this program. Happily, it’s only a bit shy of seven minutes long, and it does make for a pleasant little interlude between the Ruggles and Cowell works if you take in the entire disc at a sitting.
Cowell: Variations for Orchestra (1956). Vastly prolific, often experimental, and nearly always fascinating, Henry Cowell’s music is shamefully neglected. His orchestral variation feature a typically eclectic range of usual and unusual sounds, including some very intriguing percussion sonorities. The theme is a bit of declamatory melody that you may or may not hear in the ensuing variations, and it doesn’t matter a bit. The music keeps you listening as it takes you on a colorful, twenty-minute journey through a universe of titillating timbres and evocative episodes. We badly need a Cowell revival.
The performances here are all splendid. As you may have surmised from their excellent previous Ravel CD, Robert Trevino and the Basque National Orchestra seem to have a great thing going: an enterprising conductor leading a talented and enthusiastic ensemble with both swagger and sensitivity to burn. Ondine’s fine sonics let you hear everything that you should, in a warm, well-balanced acoustic frame. You’ll love this.
Recording Details:
Album Title: AMERICASCAPES
Reference Recording: None
Loeffler: La Mort de Tintagiles
Ruggles: Evocations
Hanson: Before the Dawn
Cowell: Variations for Orchestra
With the 2021 season having come to a close, we are looking back at the year that was for members of the Texas Rangers.
2021 Year in Review: Jose Trevino
With the 2021 season having come to a close, we are looking back at the year that was for members of the Texas Rangers.
Today we are looking at catcher Jose Trevino.
Everyone loves Jose Trevino. Texas native, great guy, high character, hard worker, gives back to the community. Drafted in the sixth round in 2014 out of Oral Roberts — where he caught a few games as a junior but mostly played shortstop — the Rangers had him split time between the infield and catcher in Spokane before having him move exclusively behind the plate in 2015 with Hickory.
Trevino moved up the ladder steadily, going from low-A Hickory in 2015 to high-A High Desert in 2016, spending some time in the Arizona Fall League both years, then Frisco in 2017. The reviews on Trevino were consistent throughout this time. high makeup guy, excellent defender and game caller, terrific with the pitchers, questions about the bat.
2017 saw Trevino hit his first major bump as a professional. He hadn’t been great with the bat in A ball, but he was okay, posting an OPS above 700 with Spokane, Hickory and High Desert. In his first taste of AA ball, Trevino struggled mightily offensively, slashing .241/.275/.323 in 423 plate appearances. His defense still earned rave reviews, but a sub-600 OPS from a 24 year old in AA is a problem, even if he’s a great defensive catcher. Nevertheless, he showed enough to be added to the 40 man roster that offseason.
2018 and 2019 were both difficult years for Trevino, who had issues both with hitting and staying healthy. He slashed .234/.284/.332 in 201 plate appearances with Frisco, as well as making his major league debut that year (appearing in three games for the Rangers in June). Right after Trevino was sent back down to Frisco after his brief stint in the bigs, he had shoulder surgery, which cost him the remainder of 2018.
2019 saw Trevino start the season at AAA Nashville, land on the injured list in mid-May with a strained quad, spend a couple of weeks rehabbing in late June and early July with the AZL squad, then return to Nashville in mid-July. Texas called him up at the beginning of August, and he was up for the remainder of the year. Trevino slashed just .226/.263/.336 in AAA, but put up a .258/.272/.383 line in the big leagues in 126 plate appearances, and there was some hope that he the bat was coming around. Trevino’s 83 plate appearances in the majors in 2020 bolstered those hopes, as he slashed .250/.280/.434 — a line that, with his defense, was acceptable, though his season was cut short in early September due to a wrist injury.
Trevino came into the 2021 season as the starting catcher, and more or less held onto that role until he landed on the injured list at the end of June after a fall in his bathroom. Trevino missed a month with that injury, and shared catching duties with Jonah Heim the rest of the way, save for when Heim was on the COVID-19 injured list.
And 2021 for Jose Trevino was, well, pretty much in line with his track record. He earned raves for his defense, his leadership, his pitcher handling. He missed some time with an injury. And he didn’t really hit — he slashed .239/.267/.340 for the year, good for a 64 wRC+. He was above replacement level according to both Fangraphs and B-R due to his defense — his +15.0 defense on Fangraphs placed him 8th in the majors among catchers, even though he had less playing time than everyone ahead of him except his teammate, Jonah Heim, who was at +15.6 — and the only two catchers at +16.5 or higher were Sean Murphy at +19.1 and Max Stassi at +17.1. But he was only a shade above replacement level, coming in at 0.6 fWAR and 0.1 bWAR.
If we look at Statcast, we see Trevino graded as elite in framing (96th percentile), with a sprint speed like a catcher (12th percentile) and a .285 xwOBA. That xwOBA suggests that he was better with the bat in 2021 than the results indicate, which is encouraging, but it still isn’t good — he’s 268th out of 309 major league hitters with at least 250 PAs in 2021 in xwOBA. Oh, and one of the guys he’s ahead of is Jonah Heim at .284, so.
The book on Trevino has always been he will end up making the majors because of his defense, and his role and how long he sticks around will be dependent on his bat. Trevino just turned 29 years old, and while there is still the possibility of growth, its likely that at this point he is what he is — a glove first backup catcher at the major league level.
That being said, the Rangers are one of the teams that put a premium on catcher defense and pitcher handling, and Trevino (as well as Heim) apparently graded out very well in that regard in 2021, which is likely one reason why you haven’t heard a lot of talk about finding a new starting catcher this offseason. Catcher defense — particularly the “softer” elements of it, like working with pitchers and game preparation — is something I’m not going to pretend I have any idea how to evaluate, and so it may be that the Rangers feel that the overall value Trevino and Heim bring make them satisfactory options, at least for now.
2022 likely will have Jose Trevino catching a lot of games for Texas, probably not hitting a lot, and earning raves for his defense. And that will probably provide him with a long major league career.
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In the Summer of 2020, the Colorado Court of Appeals was faced with an issue of first impression: whether a Payable on Death (POD) account that is subject to a pledge agreement can also be subject to the authority of the Personal Representative of a decedent’s estate. The answer? It depends.
Case Review: Treviño V. Treviño (In Re Estate Of Treviño)
In the Summer of 2020, the Colorado Court of Appeals was faced with an issue of first impression: whether a Payable on Death (POD) account that is subject to a pledge agreement can also be subject to the authority of the Personal Representative of a decedent’s estate. The answer? It depends.
Ordinarily, POD accounts are not subject to probate and have been considered, until now, strictly a “non-probate asset.” This means that that the asset passes automatically to the named beneficiary and is not considered part of the decedent’s estate, thereby taking the asset out of the purview of the Personal Representative’s authority. However, the court in Trevino ultimately held that, when a POD account that is owned by a decedent at his or her death is subject to a pledge agreement, the Personal Representative of the Decedent’s estate maintains authority over the POD account only as to the amount secured by the pledge agreement. The Court further held that, where there are available estate assets in addition to the funds held in the pledged POD account, the Personal Representative must use such estate funds first before using any of the POD account funds or otherwise face potential liability for breach of his or her fiduciary duty to the beneficiary of the POD account.
In Trevino, the decedent, during life, was the sole owner of a financial account that named his son as the pay-on-death beneficiary—otherwise known as a POD account. Prior to Decedent’s passing, the POD account in question had been pledged as collateral to a loan, in which Decedent and his Wife Victoria were jointly and severally liable. Upon Decedent’s death, Victoria was appointed as Personal Representative. Victoria, in her capacity as Personal Representative, and through her attorney, sent a letter to the bank permitting it to release the funds held in the POD account to satisfy the remaining loan debt. Importantly, the value of the POD account was in excess of the remaining loan balance. Further, there was approximately $2,415.61 available in the estate to satisfy at least a portion of the remaining balance of the loan.
The named-beneficiary-son on the POD account filed a petition in which, among other things, he asserted that Victoria lacked authority over the POD account because it was a non-probate asset, and Victoria’s use of the funds in the account to satisfy the estate’s obligation under the pledge agreement was a breach of her fiduciary duty.
In coming to a determination on this issue, the court looked to other states’ statutory and case law, as well as the Amicus Brief filed by the Colorado Bar Association. The Court overruled the lower court and found that where a POD account is pledged as collateral pursuant to a pledge agreement, the Personal Representative has authority only over those funds necessary to satisfy amount secured by the pledge agreement, but he or she must first utilize any available estate funds, no matter how nominal, to pay down such amount prior to applying the pledged loan funds. Failure to do so, the Court opined, is a breach of the Personal Representative’s fiduciary duty to the beneficiary of the POD account. The Court reasoned that Victoria benefited from her use of the POD account funds to satisfy the debt, as she was both the only beneficiary of the remaining estate assets and as the remaining co-obligor under the pledge agreement. The Court remanded the case back down to the lower court to consider a surcharge judgment in the amount of the $2,415.61 in liquid estate assets.
In simpler terms, both Heim and Trevino were better than any other duo in baseball in stealing strikes.
Due to the ongoing MLB lockout, more spring training games have been scrubbed from the original schedule.
Baseball’s lockout derails Opening Day, Mavs lopsided trade, Cowboys sudden shift at key position, Ukraine’s best athletes and peering both six million years into the past and 51 million miles into the sky, all in this week’s DFW sports notebook
2022 Outlook
Projected Starter: Jose Trevino
Internal Options: Jonah Heim, Sam Huff
Offseason Priority: LOW
While Trevino and Heim provide plenty of upside, manager Chris Woodward has been very clear that the Rangers need more from the position in terms of offense. Catcher may not an offense-first position, but after finishing 23rd in OPS and 28th in on-base percentage among catchers, the Rangers would like to see an uptick in production.
That offense could come from within. Rangers No. 5 prospect Sam Huff is on the cusp of a return to the big leagues after a short 10-game stint in the truncated 2020 season. In all honesty, that big league call-up likely would not have happened if the minor league season hadn’t been canceled that year.
Huff is an offense-first catcher, with potentially more raw power than former Ranger Joey Gallo and a cannon for an arm. Huff hit two homers in excess of 500 feet in the minors this season, and even the homers that don’t eclipse that mark are not cheap. Due to a knee injury from spring training that required surgery, Huff did not catch during the minor league season, giving him more time to focus on his offensive game.
However, the Rangers were a bit disappointed with Huff’s overall output. In 46 games with Double-A Frisco, Huff slashed .237/.309/.439 with 10 home runs, 23 RBI and an alarming 77 strikeouts to only 16 walks. Huff fared much better in seven games with Triple-A Round Rock after the Double A season concluded (.273/.320/.727/1.047, three home runs, seven RBI), but his chances of making the big league roster out of camp next spring are very slim. Simply, the Rangers need to see more before throwing him into the big league fire.
This winter’s free agent class is deep in several positions, but catcher is not one of them. Also, it really doesn’t match up with the Rangers’ timeline. Buster Posey, Mike Zunino, Tucker Barnhart, Christian Vázquez and Roberto Pérez could all make the free agent class more interesting, but all have club options and stand a good chance of remaining with their respective teams.
Outside of that, the free agent class is highlighted by Manny Piña (34 years old), Yan Gomes (34), Alex Avila (35) and Stephen Vogt (37). If the Rangers seek to upgrade externally, the trade market might be a better place to look.
With the many other holes on the roster, and with 2022 not quite being the year the Rangers will be ready to compete, expect the duo of Trevino and Heim to return. Both are capable of hitting more consistently and already have the trust of the pitching and coaching staff with what they can do defensively.
Huff will likely start 2022 at Triple-A Round Rock, and will be returning to his catching duties. If he gets off to a good start offensively, Huff could make his way to Arlington in June or July.
The Ondine recording, engineered by Fabian Frank, is fantastic. The sound, warm and resonant, clear and transparent, allows us to hear every detail of Ravel’s ravishing orchestration. Those seeking the voluptuous richness of Boulez in Berlin (DG) or Karajan in Paris (Warner Classics) may find the Basque sound too lean, but the detail and finesse of their playing is ample compensation.
Review: Ravel – Orchestral Music – Basque National Orchestra, Robert Trevino
Ondine’s initial Robert Trevino recording, a Beethoven symphony cycle with the Malmö Symphony Orchestra, was released in June 2020. It was an audacious choice for the orchestra and its new music director but met with mostly favorable reviews. This latest Ravel release, again entering a crowded and competitive field, features Trevino leading the other orchestra of which he is music director, the Basque National Orchestra.
The Ondine recording, engineered by Fabian Frank, is fantastic. The sound, warm and resonant, clear and transparent, allows us to hear every detail of Ravel’s ravishing orchestration. Those seeking the voluptuous richness of Boulez in Berlin (DG) or Karajan in Paris (Warner Classics) may find the Basque sound too lean, but the detail and finesse of their playing is ample compensation.
La Valse clearly shows a symbiotic connection between conductor and orchestra, similar to the 1980s recordings (Stravinsky, Berlioz, and Ravel) by Charles Dutoit and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. While both Karajan and Boulez establish a darker sense of foreboding in the opening strings murmurings, Trevino’s reading soon develops a true sense of dance. String playing is eloquent, beautifully shaped, and especially ravishing at 2’01”. Trevino guides his players towards the music’s cataclysmic ending with a sure hand, pushing the tempo ever faster. While it is very exciting and destructive, the formidable menace of Karajan’s weigher orchestral sound might evoke Ravel’s machinelike brutality even more fully.
Related Classical Music Reviews
Alborada del gracioso and (most of) Rhapsodie espagnole are completely successful, colors rendered with astonishing clarity, as if we are peering over the shoulder of the painter as he puts brush to canvas. Wind solos are consistently alluring, individually shaped, and fully characterful.
The Rhapsodies’ final movement, Feria (track 6), begins with crackling energy, but at 2’15” Trevino yanks the tempo back, and the substantially slower tempo results in a significant sag in energy and muddling any sense of the overall structure. The return of the opening tempo at 4’48” is jarring, and the performances never quite recoups the initial levels of energy and excitement. John Wilson and his magnificent Sinfonia of London is far more convincing in this music, and the playing is perhaps even better than their Basque colleagues.
Ravel’s Une barque sur l’océan is vividly evocative, the play of the ocean’s waves palpable. Boulez in Cleveland is more clinical, but is one sweeping symphonic thought, whereas Trevino’s is more episodic. Both interpretations work. Trevino’s Pavane feels a bit superficial (and slow) next to more forlorn readings of Boulez (Cleveland again), Dutoit/Montreal and Abbado/London Symphony Orchestra, which has a touching chamber music-like intimacy.
The considerable gifts of this orchestra are one full display in Bolero. Woodwind solos, shaped with subtle individuality, are once again uniformly excellent, but Trevino seems reticent to permit his brass any hint of vulgarity, and the arrival of the E major section lacks the power heard in the Philadelphia Orchestra recording led by Riccardo Muti. The Philadelphians were very much in the honeymoon stage with their new conductor, and their playing has tremendous ardor and power, though the EMI recording admittedly a bit brash and glassy. Interestingly, Muti is one of few conductors to follow Ravel’s note that Bolero should last 17 minutes in performance: Muti takes 17’03”.
The liner notes by Ravel scholar Manuel Cornejo are exceptionally informative and lengthy – Ondine are to be commended for offering ancillary materials that equal the excellence of the music making. I look forward to hearing other recordings from this partnership.
Ravel – Orchestral Works:
La Valse, Alborada Del Gracioso, Rapsodie espagnole, Une barque sur l’océan, Pavane pour une infante défunte, Bolero
Basque National Orchestra
Robert Trevino – Conductor
Ondine, CD ODE 1385-2