The programme commenced with ‘The Nevermoor Suite’ by O. Wallace. The suite consisted of five movements and was based upon a series of Young Adult fantasy novels by Jessica Townsend referred to as ‘The Nevermoor Series’. The five movements demonstrated that Wallace has a keen grasp of the dramatic within music, using changes in tempos and rhythms from movement to movement and within the same movement. The second movement (‘Wundersmith’), in particular, incorporated a time signature which was more akin to jazz than classical music. Movement three (‘How To Answer’) adopted a more sombre tone throughout, allowing the string instruments the chance to dominate the musical mix. B. Wang’s percussion skills were given plenty of exposure in the fourth movement (‘Chasing A Ticket’), providing a militaristic rhythm throughout the piece. The string section, however, were not to be outdone and all players demonstrated considerable aptitude with their playing of discordant lines which combined with the martial percussion to create a striking sense of drama. It will be interesting to see how Wallace continues this suite, particularly as the series is still ongoing.
R. Vasey-Saunders’s string quartet composition, ‘Sequential Crossings’ was an interesting exercise in Stravinsky-esque rising string tones and the minimalist works of Terry Riley as shifts in the piece's melody crossed from one player to another throughout the piece.
The third work to be presented was D. Nutter’s ‘Oboe Sonata’, which featured Nutter herself on piano playing alongside E. Clynes on the oboe. This composition contained two movements – the first one focused closely on the interplay between the two instruments and featured a melody line on the oboe which recalled the music from the perennial festive children’s classic ‘The Snowman’. The second movement introduced a more pastoral quality to the music but also gave Nutter the chance to perform some incredibly delightful runs along the piano up and down the scale.
J. Zhu’s ‘Piano Sonata - 2nd Movement’ continued the evening’s entertainment with a clash and mixing of high and low tones (representing the sun and the clouds) and the eventual coming together and interplay of them at the climax of the movement in a pleasant choral section.
The string quartet ‘Serene Strings’ by Z. Zhang was a short but very sweet piece exploring pleasant, joyful string sounds akin to the works of Vivaldi before presenting a more melancholic mood prior to a return to the pleasing sounds of the opening. Zhang himself played violin on this piece which gave all members of the quartet a chance to explore the high and low registers of their instruments.
Providing a sharp contrast to Zhang’s piece was the solo oboe work ‘440’ by K. Farn. This composition was arguably the most avant-garde work of the whole evening’s programme and pushed oboe player I. Oldham into some very atonal, repetitive, jazz-esque phrases. The opening motif, repeated at the end of the piece, feature sharp blasts which were strongly reminiscent of the stabbing, wailing blasts of alto saxophone which conclude David Bowie’s 1977 instrumental ‘Neuköln’ from his album “Heroes”.
The penultimate piece of the first half of the concert was called ‘Mutations’ and was by E. Harris-Brown. Harris-Brown also played piano on this work. This piece, perhaps unsurprisingly given its title, explored mutations within themes and motifs through the sections of the piece – the strings, clarinet, and bassoon opening with a building up of rhythms before the piece developed to introduce piano and short, sharp stabs of strings into the music. Towards the end of the piece, plucked cello strings introduced a turbulent wave of sounds before returning to the calmer feeling of the opening of the work.
The final work before a brief interval was A. Tanfield’s frankly breathtaking ‘The Final Hour.’ Conducted by S. Steveson, this composition was for a large orchestra (four violins, two violas, two cellos, acoustic bass, and harp) and opened with a fantastic arrangement as the harp gently wove its way into the work of the other stringed instruments. A piece full of drama, and melodic highs and lows, this provided a fantastic note (if you’ll excuse the pun) on which to draw the first part of the concert to a close.
The evening recommenced with a rather unusual piece – in that there was no orchestra, instead the music was electronic and accompanied a film which had been edited together by the music’s composer and performer, B. Morrison. The film (and accompanying soundtrack) was called ‘The Lost Village Of Romania’ and told the story of Geamăna in north-west Romania which was flooded to provide somewhere for the nearby copper mine to dump its toxic waste. The soundtrack completed the video footage well, although the story of the village and the promises made and broken to the residents who were forced to move, took centre stage over the music.
I. Oldham’s ‘Octet’ was an extended piece made up of four movements and was superbly conducted by I. Chan, who was very animated throughout this piece which moved fluidly from an opening which featured just the clarinet and bassoon and recalled the famous soundtracks of Henry Mancini. This lightly toned piece gave way to a more sombre mood as the movement progressed which was then picked up by the opening of the second movement. The mood was stretched and remade into a lighter feeling as the movement progressed, adopting a feeling of an old-time style dance music as the tempo quickened. The third movement opened with the acoustic bass and the horns interlocking and interplaying before the fourth movement drew all the musical moods and themes together.
Pianist D. Downs presented two short songs as part of his compositional presentation: ‘Lines Written In Early Spring for voice and piano’ which was based on a poem by William Wordsworth and ‘Psalm 133’. The Wordsworth piece featured some fantastic baritone vocal work from J. Fradley, and Downs’ playing didn’t overpower the vocals. ‘Psalm 133’ featured a delightful singer called Lianneke who brought a sense of holy devotion to her singing.
D. Pengelly wrote and performed the following work called ‘Archaeoacoustic’ which demonstrated his considerable skill and dexterity on the flute. Pengelly performed runs up and down the range of the flute and produced some highly interested and unusual sounds within the piece. A fascinating demonstration of the capabilities of the flute as an instrument.
The final work of the whole evening was ‘Théma Iroa (Theme and Variations for Brass Quintet)’ by F. Courtney. Built around a loud, bold, suitably brassy theme, the piece proceeded to rework and deconstruct this theme throughout by offering variations on it – muted trumpet and trombone, for instance, replaced the brashness of the original version. This was an interesting exercise in the art of repetition and variation.
It is safe to say that the evening revealed the wealth of
talent currently at the school – and while the focus was on the composers (all
of whom show considerable skill), it is important to praise the performers of
the works too. All the students featured in the evening deserve to give
themselves a well-earned pat on the back. Who knows, maybe one day they will
either compose, conduct, or play on one of the seminal works of 21st century classical music? They were very strong signs these students have the
potential to do so in the years to come.
Reviewer - Andrew Marsden
on - 24.11.21
No comments:
Post a Comment