Posted by Aaron Holloway-Nahum »
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The BBC Symphony Orchestra Total Immersion series gives London audiences the opportunity to spend a day engaging with the music of a specific composer or part of the world. The double-feature concerts are supplemented with films and education projects in the Barbican Centre, and are an innovative approach to developing a wider audience with a deeper appreciation for the full breadth of contemporary music. The second of this year’s immersion days, Sounds from Japan, took place on Saturday 2nd February, 2013. The 1:00 PM concert at LSO St. Luke’s featured the Guildhall Chamber Ensemble and conductor Sian Edwards performing music of Toru Takemitsu, Jō Kondō, and Dai Fujikura.
Conductor Sian Edwards (photo credit: Katie Vandyck)
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Posted by Paul Kilbey »
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Somewhere in the world of contemporary music, in among all the solo bassoon CDs and Tom Waits arrangements, there is occasionally the odd ‘traditional’ recital featuring new orchestral pieces: symphonies, concertos, that sort of thing. This past Friday’s concert at London’s Barbican Hall was one such occasion, featuring symphonies by Myaskovsky and Schoenberg, framed around a world première by Alexander Goehr and a UK première by Niccolò Castiglioni.
Played by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and conducted by longtime Goehr associate Oliver Knussen, Goehr’s When Adam Fell is a further addition to his considerable catalogue of works which engage fascinatedly and constructively with mainstream musical heritage. The remarkable chromatic bass of Bach’s chorale prelude Durch Adams Fall ist ganz verderbt served as a compositional basis. Goehr’s piece is committedly abstract and finely wrought, a delicate, pensive study on and around the Bach bass line, whose harsh sixths and sevenths echo gracefully through the orchestra. Goehr’s orchestration here is generally light, with a very Second-Viennese scrupulousness of timbre, and in the hands of Knussen and the BBCSO it filled the Barbican acoustic beautifully.
Alexander Goehr – Photograph by Maurice Foxall
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Posted by Steven Berryman »
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Brian Elias (b. 1948) spent his early life in Bombay before moving to London. Three of his later orchestral works – all performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra under three different conductors – are presented on a recently released disc on the British based NMC label. NMC Recordings ‘is devoted to the promotion and preservation of Britian’s musical heritage through acclaimed recordings of music by the best of today’s composers, performed and recorded to the highest standards.’ This recording fulfils that aim with confidence. ‘The House that Jack Built’ (2001) – conducted by Sir Andrew Davis – displays Elias’ sense of drama in realizing the playground that is the scene for this work and skilful orchestration; there are references to nursery rhymes through brief melodic fragments yet these are darkened through evocative timbres and orchestral colourings. This is an engaging recorded performance that highlights Elias’ control of structure and orchestral sound. Elias’ sound is distinctively modernist and British yet remains unique among others of his generation such as Anthony Payne and David Blake.
‘A Talisman’ (2004) – conducted by Martyn Brabbins with the bass Tim Mirfin – was a Cheltenham Festival commission. The text comes from an amulet inscribed with Hebraic text – a gift given to the composer’s mother. The text, as the composer writes in the beautifully presented liner notes, is not all translatable but for him ‘the amulet was, above all, an object of devotion and a heartfelt, passionate and most moving appeal for help.’ The work is certainly passionate and the vocal line is never obscured in the delicately scored opening; the long fluid vocal lines and declamatory moments are powerfully sung by Mirfin. The trumpet is prominent in this work and as Elias writes in the notes ‘as the text is so dominated by angel names, I have given the trumpet, an instrument very strongly associated with Gabriel and other angels, a prominent part’. The work is structured to reflect the amulet and as such is in two sections. This is a colourful performance which shows Elias’ characteristic skill at capturing real drama in his orchestral writing.
The CD has a more recent orchestral work ‘Doubles’ (2006) as the final work on the recording. This six-movement work – conducted by Jiri Belohlávek shows much more of a darker and vibrant approach to orchestration and its writing is as virtuosic as the performance. The title refers not only to the doubling of the first three movements by the last but refers also to the French term ‘double’ which referred to a variation in 18th century keyboard works. There are some beautiful sonorities in this work that demonstrates a penchant for solo brass and brass-ensemble timbres. The consistency of the orchestral writing shows Elias has a soundworld that is unique and worthy of exploration. NMC’s release is worth exploring, as is other works by the composer.
Brian Elias/BBC Symphony Orchestra/ Jiri Belohlavek, Martyn Brabbins, Sir Andrew Davis, conductors /Tim Mirfin, bass / The House That Jack Built (NMC) – Buy on Amazon
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Steven Berryman is a composer and teacher working and living in London. He is currently completing his PhD in Composition at Cardiff University (2011). Follow him on Twitter: @Steven_Berryman
