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PORTSMOUTH DISTRICT COMPOSERS' ALLIANCE |
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PORTSMOUTH DISTRICT COMPOSERS' ALLIANCE |
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For a more complete history of PDCA events and concerts, go to HISTORY
Review of concert by the
Monington Ensemble, Saturday, 8th March, 2003, Portsmouth Grammar
School
[The] annual PDCA concert for the Portsmouth Music Club was given
by the Monington Ensemble (Robert Blanken - clarinet, Kirstie
Robertson - violin, Sue Anne Emerson - cello and Karen Kingsley -
piano).
They started their programme with Milhaud's Suite
for violin, clarinet and piano - from the Ouverture with
its spiky rhythms through the Divertissement of
more reflective and conversational ideas to Jeu,
a kind of driving 'sleigh bells' theme (minus the bells) and
finally Introduction et Final with
dramatic piano chords and dance-like motifs subsiding to a quiet
ending, this demanding work from a less well known member of Les
Six was delivered with style and panache by the three players.
Geoffrey Dale's Spellbound - A Mantra for clarinet,
violin and cello formed of motif's based around the
composers initials GCD in a kind of ABA structure with a
turbulent middle section, this piece, receiving its first
performance, demanded precise rhythmic control by the ensemble.
This was followed by David Stoll's Portia from
The Shakespeare Suite for violin and
piano. Having met David Stoll in his role as adjudicator of the
recent Portsmouth Music Festival Composition classes, it was
interesting to listen to this piece which is in a pleasing
diatonic style with romantic sweeping melodic lines, well
portrayed with some lovely light touches, by both players.
Karen Kingsley then played the solo piano piece Brown
Studies by David Penri-Evans. Composed twenty years
ago for a friend (Curtis Brown), the five short movements reflect
some aspects of the subject's personality. The music swings in
mood from reflective to quirky to angry to unpredictable to
tender, and the poignant ending held the audience in a prolonged
silence before delivering Karen's well-deserved applause.
Peter Thompson's Ballet for clarinet,
cello and piano was first performed at the Petersfield Festival.
This challenging piece received an assured performance from the
Moninton Ensemble. The Allegro began with
a piano and cello introduction and then a clarinet solo full of
rhythmic interest. The Moderato flessibile
followed in a more reflective mood, exploring in particular the
rich resonance of the lower cello register. The Andante
featured an intense middle section with repeated notes and a
quiet ending. The concluding Presto with
its exacting rhythmic material, received due precision and energy
from the ensemble, and the abrupt ending was particularly
effective.
The opening Adagio of Philip Drew's Two Ritual Dances featured
a wistful clarinet solo and pizzicato violin, while the busy Allegro
had a humorous theme with playful rhythmic content in
which the material is distributed between the players in a
distancing technique called phasing before reuniting in a jolly
final sequence which brought smiles to the players and the
audience alike.
Daniel Knott's Romance for clarinet and
piano began with a characteristically tuneful solo for the
clarinet and sweeping piano accompaniment before the piano took
the theme, leading to a tense middle section and a restrained
ending, this piece allowed the performers to display their
excellent mutual understanding
Paul Hindemith's Quartett (1938) was a
fitting end to this fine recital. Hindemith's terse harmonic
language and angular melodic lines were sympathetically addressed
from the opening Massig bewegt with its
distinctive piano octaves before the other players join in turn
as the material is developed in a conversational style, through Sehr
Langsam featuring quietly held notes, percussive
insertions by the piano and an intense solo passage for the
cello, to Massig bewegt-Lebhaft-Ruhig bewegt-Sehr
Lebhaft with pianistic effects reminiscent of
Rachmaninov, alternating brisk and slower passages, before
turbulent piano figures lead into a final flourish for all the
players.
PDCA is indeed fortunate that such sympathetic musicians are
willing to prepare and perform their works, the only blemish
being the tuning of the piano, which does seem to be an ongoing
difficulty at this venue.
Paul Pilott
Review of Wyndcliffe Voices Concert, Alverstoke, 23rd November 2002
23rd November 2002 saw a good turn out at St Mary's Church,
Alverstoke for the concert by Wyndcliffe Voices. The evening was
designed as a celebration of the English choral
tradition-although one Welshman did manage to sneak into the
programme. The concert opened with the triumphant sound of Gerald
Finzi's God is gone up. Under the able
directorship of Philip Drew the choir had a well-balanced sound,
and were confidently supported all evening by Philip Bailey on
the organ. After the Finzi Philip Drew took over the organ bench
and played Kenneth Leighton's Fanfare, a
piece built up of parallel chords and interesting twists in the
melodic line.
Mr Drew stayed at the organ while Mr Bailey conducted Michael
Dawney's Christmas Morn. A gentle, lilting
carol that worked well for the choir. The two Philips swapped
places again for Herbert Howells' Magnificat from
Collegium Regale. A difficult piece deftly
performed. The women produced a beautifully clear tone at the
opening and the Gloria was wonderful. Oh to write such music.
Mr Drew returned to the organ to play his own Communion,
No 2 of Two Meditations on the Blessed Sacrament.
This meditative piece transports the listener to another plain.
It is reminiscent of Messiaen, even down to the birdsong.
Before the interval the choir put together a sort of missa brevis
(minus the credo). This was a practice common in medieval times.
The pieces worked well together, even though they were all quite
different. Edmund Rubbra's Kyrie (from
Communion Service in A) has lots of fifths and shifts in tonal
centre. David A'Bear's Gloria in excelsis Deo
has a jubilant fanfare quality. The middle section with
unaccompanied soloists worked well as a contrast. David
Penri-Evans' minimalist Holy is the Lord Almighty
for unaccompanied double choir gradually emerges out of simple
repeated notes. Its build to the final section is particularly
effective. Alun Grafton's unaccompanied Agnus Dei
was quite chromatic at times. Its polyphonic build up brought the
set to a satisfying conclusion.
After a wine break Wyndcliffe Voices continued with the first
performances of two pieces, both using Gregorian chant. Pauline
Skinner's psalm is for women's voices and
mainly unison but every so often delicately divides. It has a
cool flow to it. Leo Boucher's Audi benigne conditor
starts off with the men singing plainsong and blossoms into
four-part. There are some quite tricky chromatic sections, which
the choir handled well. William Walton's Drop, drop,
slow tears is anguish through chromaticism. The fp at
the end was most effective.
Philip Bailey gave the first performance Cedric Peachey's Adagio
lamentoso-in memoriam September 11th 2001 for organ.
The piece is a little like Ives with some heavy ideas. It
carefully contrasts some dark, dense textures with lighter,
uplifting moments. The work ends with hope - a major chord. This
was followed by our dear friend Danny Knott's setting of Et
incarnatus est which is wonderfully warm.
Phillip Pennington Harris' Ave verum corpus was
a little different, in that the choir were scattered around the
edge of the church. This gave a real sense of space and time. The
choir repeated the same phrases, creating a sonic backdrop for
the three soloists at the front of the church adding material
over the top. Benjamin Britten's Prelude and Fugue on
a theme of Vittoria, very well played by Philip
Bailey, proved an excellent contrast to the Pennington Harris.
The prelude is loud and bombastic while the fugue is thinner and
lighter.
The choir ended with a confident and well-controlled performance
of John Ireland's Greater Love. The
evening had indeed been a true celebration of the English Choral
Tradition, showing it is still alive and well, both in
composition and performance. Wyndcliffe Voices and Philips Drew
and Bailey are to be congratulated on preparing such a wide range
of twentieth century repertoire to such a high standard of
performance.
David Penri-Evans
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Review of COMA South event, New Theatre Royal,
Portsmouth, 13th July 2002
The day of rehearsals, workshops and performances at the New
Theatre Royal, Portsmouth, turned out to be interesting,
enjoyable and generally good fun. The COMA South ensemble for the
day consisted of two accordions, violin, cello, double bass and
keyboard, which resulted in a range of interesting timbres. The
day was enthusiastically led by Martin Read.
In the workshop performance there were only three new pieces.
Malcolm Atkins’ Antiphonal used a
minimum number of staves and as its name suggests passed ideas
from side to side. This was followed by Philip Drew’s Jacta
illia est which is organised into six section the
order of which is decided by the throwing of dice. The piece is
rhythmically complex and this created some problems in
performance. Alun Grafton’s piece Praeludium 4
is based on a note row and ostinati. Written out in a more
traditional way the piece still presented challenges for the
performers. The workshop was rounded off with a performance of
Michael Nyman’s First Waltz in D.
This is a party piece for the ensemble and example of what works
best for a flexible ensemble of this kind.
The afternoon proved to be a good class in writing for flexible
ensemble. Each of the pieces had strengths, but each had problems
that were brought to light by the reality of the ensemble in
rehearsal. Martin extended an invitation to any composer who
would like to attend rehearsals of the ensemble and send in
scores. They are more than happy to try things out.
The day was brought to a close with a performance of Martin
Read’s one-act opera dance to the end of time.
An excellent blend of the two soloist, ensemble, chorus and
dancers, combining material at times jazzy, traditional and
contemporary. The libretto combined philosophical concepts of
time, flashbacks and the topical idea of delayed trains.
David Penri-Evans
Review of
Catherine Nicholson, flute and Karen Kingsley, piano in Concert
23rd February, 2002 - Portsmouth Grammar School
[This] Portsmouth District Composers' Alliance concert was given
by flautist Catherine Nicholson and pianist Karen Kingsley, at
the Michael Nott Rotunda at Portsmouth Grammar School, and
included six works by PDCA members, as well as works by
Schoenberg, Robert Muczynski, Dominic Floyd and Ruth Cox. The
concert was well attended, for members of Portsmouth Music
Society were also present.
The concert began with Geoffrey Dale's Sonata.
This work dates from the early 1960's when he much influenced by
Stravinsky and Hindemith, especially their neoclassical style.
Certainly the texture of the opening movement was very clean and
spare, without any Romantic connotations, and reminded the
reviewer of Stravinsky's Violin Concerto
and Hindemith's Kammermusik, especially
with the patchwork-like alternations of themes and textures. The
slow movement began in Bach-like calm, but soon began to
incorporate subtle alterations of sonority, enhanced by the
Tippetian "wrong-notes", that invaded the dreaming
music. The last movement returns to the driving motion of the
opening, but with an edge that came close to Shostakovich in
places.
The Six Little Piano Pieces, Op.19 by
Schoenberg were written in 1911, and represent a distillation of
the Expressionist style he was exploring at the time. Each tiny
movement lasts only about a minute and every one conveys a
different emotion, sometimes wistful, sometimes menacing; and in
the last, written after attending Mahler's funeral, distance and
loneliness. Karen Kingsley caught the atmosphere of these
evanescent works beautifully.
The programme note tells us that Anthony Turner's Upon
a fallen leaf I wrote was inspired both by watching
the red leaves of a maple tree fall to the ground in Autumn and
by Schoenberg's Sechs Kleine Klavierstücke.
The six very short pieces, which could be described as snapshots
in sound, have a simplicity of style and floating quality
appropriate to the title. Each piece has a finely balanced three
section arch structure except the fourth, the fastest, which
presents a toccata - like piano part with right hand figuration
and a descending bass motive which is suddenly cut short by a
flute flourish. Apart from the use of the interval of a third for
the piano ostinato of the third piece and the short, fragmentary
nature of all the pieces there is no obvious link to the
Schoenberg, however. The pervading atmosphere of the work is one
of serenity and graceful elegance. (Philip Drew)
Fourth in the concert came Michael Downey's Claustrophobia,
for flute solo. This short work is taken from the music written
for a student film, Confinement, depicting the emotional and
mental states of a prisoner in a cell. The music breathed
coldness and futility, right for the scene it was meant to
accompany, and the stark downward movements at its end indicated
resignation and despair. Certainly it put the reviewer in mind of
some forgotten dungeon.
Karen joined Catherine again for Philip A'Bear's Fantaisie,
a single-movement work with strong programmatic overtones, of
unrequited love and unfulfilled life. This work was cast in the
Romantic mould, tonal, with rich harmony and complex writing,
shaped into long paragraphs with large, dramatic gestures. Often
this very richness threatened to burst the form of the work, and
in lesser hands could easily have sounded melodramatic.
Originally it was composed for piano solo, but I wonder if this
piece would suit even fuller arrangement than flute and piano.
By contrast, came the intense, almost Crumb-like sounds conjured
by Philip Drew in his Refractions and Diffusions.
This work calls for flute glissandi, piano resonance, and the
mightily difficult act of striking and scraping the piano's
strings directly to create a haunting sound that is not easily
forgotten. However, none of these avant-garde effects were used
lightly, each individually colouring the eight variations based
on the plainchant O Sapienta. The work is
a study of light passing through the pendants of a chandelier as
they sway and rotate, how it reflects and refracts into tiny
points of colour that skim and swing across the walls. Catherine
and Karen displayed eminent virtuosity in their performance of
these variations, fully conveying the night-music sound-world,
shot through with reminiscences of the plainchant, organ sounds,
and Messaien stained-glass chords. Certainly, Refractions
and Diffusions will repay repeated listening.
After the interval, Karen and Catherine resumed with a
performance of Flute Song by Daniel Knott.
This tuneful piece combined flute and piano with no pretensions
to complexity, and aptly acted as a foil to the midnight sounds
of the work that preceded it. After rising to a brief climax,
this short movement ended on ascending figures and a long
cadence.
Following on came the Sonata by Ruth Cox
and is dedicated to Karen and Catherine, both having been
instrument teachers to Ruth in the past. This three-movement work
displayed all the hallmarks of a composer confident in technique
and style, and made several nods in the direction of French
neoclassical music, especially putting the reviewer in mind of
Jean Françaix. The opening movement has a simple formal outline,
with many recurrences of the main theme, and made no attempt at
dramatic gesture. After a calm and untroubled slow movement, the
finale bounced along in compound time, exploiting fourths and
fifths, sharing the themes and episodes between flute and piano.
Next, came a work for solo piano, Out of the deep I
will call upon thee by Dominic Floyd. The opening
repeating piano chordal texture conveyed a dark and stormy sea,
which soon blew itself into a mass of crashing waves, with
rolling piano arpeggios. Suddenly we are returned to the initial
brooding sonority, which again becomes a towering mass of piano
sound, which is cut off abruptly, leading to a quiet, mournful
passage that ends the work. The unusual form and abrupt changes
of motion that informed this mysterious and strongly
representational work suggests that there is a story behind the
notes, which left the reviewer wondering.
The concert ended with Robert Muczynski's Sonata Op.14.
This work was new to the reviewer, but accords well with other
works by the same composer, typically pungent and rhythmical, but
within a neo-romantic style. This work is challenging for both
players, who are kept busy throughout the outer movements and the
Scherzo, which is placed second, yet it is
without dazzle or showy writing. The slow movement is, by
contrast, almost motionless, and to the reviewer, felt that the
music was robbed of the momentum that had been built up in the
first two movements. It came as a welcome relief when the driving
energy returned in the final movement, and concluded the concert
with a decisive and powerful coda.
Throughout, Karen and Catherine gave thoughtful and committed
performances, and left the impression of having given the new
works as much preparation and attention as the classics. As with
all new works performed, it is a difficult task to assess them on
a single hearing, and it is hoped that we shall hear them all
again in the near future.
Anthony Turner
Review of the Farr Ensemble in Concert at the BMIC, London, 13th November, 2001
[This] Portsmouth District Composers' Alliance concert was given
by the Farr Ensemble (Alison Farr - piano, Thomas Rodda -
clarinet, Clare Duckworth - violin and Bryony Rump - cello) at
the British Music Information Centre, London. The programme
consisted of music by six Alliance members and two contemporary
classics.
The evening began with Judith Bailey's Microminiature.
This is an amazingly compressed piano trio that explores
well-characterised material and contrasting textures ranging from
the spareness of the opening to the lush flowering of the slow
"movement" to a scherzo-like finale - all in under
three minutes!
Meandering is the second movement of Martin Read's The
Numbers Game, which he describes as "three
imaginary journeys through a magic square." Thomas Rodda
gave a beautifully poised performance of this sinuous musical
line that dispelled all thoughts of the peculiar numerical
properties of magic squares and left one wishing to hear more.
Trio for clarinet, piano and cello by
Andrew McBirnie begins with bold, imperious gestures and despite
the setting up of tensions, always seems to be seeking lyrical
expression which is frequently curtailed. The second, faster
section, has agitated music which also moves towards the lyrical.
This cheekily turns into a jazz pastiche, which is great fun,
especially on first hearing, before merging back into the
imposing opening material. The writing for the instruments is
always idiomatic and the composer's control and transformation of
his material is assured whilst feeling spontaneous.
in camera 9 by Alun D. Grafton is a
comparatively lengthy trio for clarinet, violin and cello. It
inhabits a soundworld that is always referring back to tonality
whilst constantly pushing out into more adventurous regions. This
gives the piece an interesting ebb and flow, which although never
predictable, begins to assume a certain inevitability. I am not
sure whether I most liked the spare, winding duets or the
Copland-esque feeling to some of the harmonies but the members of
the Farr Ensemble gave this a convincing performance.
this?, Catseyes and Under the
Water were originally conceived as songs by Jo
Treasure but have been arranged very successfully for clarinet,
violin, cello and piano. this? communicates
a great sense of nostalgia and, with or without the words, is a
fitting setting of the composer's own words, "Will I
remember this?/Will I know you are there?..." Catseyes
creates a wonderful feeling of travel, of weaving
around, in and out, and inhabits a glowing harmonic soundscape.
The third transcription, Under the Water,
is built on an ostinato and offers an excellent sound-picture of
the muted voices one hears under water. Although I have not heard
all the originals, I suspect that these songs lost nothing and
gained much in the transcription process.
After the interval, we heard David Penri-Evan's Rain
Journal. This piano trio in six brief movements was
inspired by a poem by Lee Harwood and "a love
remembered". The introspective first movement is almost
hypnotic in its effect with a spread piano chord and melodic
fragments over. The second movement has the violin and cello
pairing in octaves. The rhythmic, perpetuum mobile third movement
is Bartok-like in effect and again uses some doubling. The slow
fourth movement gives the violin and cello lyrical writing
against translucent piano whilst the fifth movement is an
energetic piece, again pairing the violin and cello, this time
leading back to a reprise of the hypnotic soundworld of the
opening in the final movement.
Darius Milhaud's Trio for violin, clarinet
and piano opens with a jaunty D major Ouverture with
much imitation and the harmonic twists one expects from this
composer. The second movement, Divertissement,
plays at pairing the instruments so we get to hear violin and
clarinet, clarinet and piano, violin and piano before all three
re-combine. Jeu is, of course, a
scherzo-like movement which is great fun, but displays the
composer's keen ear for instrumental colour. The Introduction
et Final has great gravitas before turning to genial,
often tongue-in-cheek music.
The Farr Ensemble ended the evening with a stunning performance
of a 20th Century classic, Contrasts by
Bela Bartok, for clarinet, violin and piano. Composed as long ago
as 1938 for Benny Goodman, this is quintessential Bartok,
immediately accessible and often folk-inspired but always with
rhythmic drive, and leading the listener into new harmonic
worlds. The writing for the violin and piano is demanding and not
surprisingly, the clarinet part frequently errs into the virtuoso
realm, but Thomas Rodda, Alison Farr and Clare Duckworth
displayed consummate ease and great style in this exciting finale
to an excellent evening's music.
Phillip Pennington Harris
Review of Organ Recital by Nigel Stark, 30th June, St Mary’s Church, Portsea
Nigel Stark, Director of Music at St Mary’s opened his
recital with Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in c,
BWV 546, an excellent opener that set the tone for the programme.
As one member of the audience commented “at least the first
piece is real music”. While some contemporary music can be
difficult to take, this turned out to be an unfair remark as the
rest of the programme turned out to be not only “real”
music, but also good music expertly played.
The first of the Portsmouth pieces was Alun Grafton’s Chorale Prelude in which a light tune emerges out of a deep rumble. This was followed by the first performance of Phillip Pennington Harris’ Fantasia: Pange lingua, which opens with a Messiaenic flourish. The Passiontide hymn Sing my tongue the glorious battle, on which it is based, is discernable most of the time, albeit at a subconscious level at some times. Many of us are familiar with Philip Drew’s cello and piano piece based on the same plainsong and it was interesting to note the very different treatment of the tune. It was also interesting to note that most of the evening’s composers are organists. In the Fantasia it is clear that Phillip Pennington Harris knows exactly what the instrument can do and exploits its capabilities.
The next piece up
was Paul Pilott’s Chorale Prelude on Maccabeus.
A soft, almost lyrical opening gradually develops. The piece is
based on the chorus of Maccabeus and this material is used in
various guises, such as inversion and retrogrades, with the tune
forming a sort of ground in different registers and the other
material threading around it. The piece is dedicated to the
memory of Andrew Newberry and was given its first performance
last February. The first half ended with Stanford’s Fantasia
and Toccata. The inclusion of this work and the Bach
and Widor shows the range of repertoire of both Nigel Stark and
the organ and gave a well-balanced programme. The Victorian
splendour of this piece matched that of the church, at times
grand and impressive and at others trite
and sentimental.
After a short interval the concert resumed with the first performance of Daniel Knott’s Elegiette; a short, personal elegy that opens with gentle counterpoint and blossoms into a warm sense of hope. Geoffrey Dale’s Toccata is one of the composer’s earliest pieces, written when he was a boy of 18, some 52 years ago, yet tonight received its first performance. A simple, lively piece, it proved to be a good contrast to Danny’s piece. This was followed by another first performance, that of Michael Dawney’s Hymn Fantasia and Fugue. The main hymn tune used is "God moves in a mysterious way", which seemed apt for the piece. Not only has Michael used this tune, but also has incorporated snippets from several other hymns, often humorously, reminiscent of Charles Ives – it was fun just to play “Name that Tune”.
Philip
Drew’s Fanfare Toccata Orientis Partibus is
based on a tune that was known at one time as The Song of the
Ass. It can be found written in duple and triple time so Philip
in his piece plays around with twos and threes and fives. But
despite its rhythmic intricacies it has a jolly feel to it. The
programme was rounded off with Widor’s Allegro
Vivace from the Symphony No. 5;
the less often heard first movement. It is an almost banal set of
variations varying in tone from grand Wagner march to The
Nutcracker Suite. Nevertheless, it required great technical
mastery by Nigel Stark, which he has in abundance. He had given
us a wonderful evening of organ wizardry that we rounded off with
a deserved pint down at The Florist.
David Penri-Evans
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Review of the Portsmouth New Music Orchestra in
concert
New Theatre Royal, Portsmouth, Tuesday 21st November 2000
This concert was presented in association with PDCA and expertly
conducted by Steve Tanner. They were joined by Wykeham House
School Senior Choir conducted by their Director of Music Richard
Garrard-Abrahams.
The programme opened with The Theatre Represents a
Garden: Night by John Woolrich which weaves various
quotations from Mozart into an atmospheric, mainly slow musical
collage. The effect is of discontinuous Mozart - melodious and
euphonious with the occasional twist. Recognisable fragments of
themes come and go with no obvious beginning or end. The
orchestration is colourful and witty. The idea is good and the
piece well crafted but it was a little too long.
Martin Read's The Mythical Bugler which
followed, combines urbane wit with interesting musical ideas. The
legend of the Mythical Bugler sounding 'return stores' to bring
stolen items marching back to the Dockyard conjures up a picture
like a sort of macabre March of the Kitchen Utensils (c.f. RVW).
The piece starts mysteriously with motivic fragments sounding
from the woodwind. Longer melodic lines emerge leading to a
faster section with woodwind arabesques in a contrapuntal
texture. The Horns play the part of the eponymous bugler and then
a jazzy section leads to a 'winding down' to a quiet ending with
Flute and strings. The use of the opening melody of William
Mundy's anthem O Lord the maker and a
couple of other quotations ties this piece firmly to Portsmouth's
naval history.
Judith Bailey's Theme and Variations for
wind ensemble was originally the final movement of a wind octet.
It is quite short, the theme is only 11 bars and is treated to 7
variations with a coda. The theme can be described as 'perky' and
the harmonic idiom is dissonant and in the full sections dense
but sharply focused. The variations explore many varied
sonorities and instrumental combinations. Whereas the first piece
over-stayed its welcome, this sparkling little character left us
wanting more.
One movement, the Scherzo, of Alun
Grafton's Symphony No. 4 was played. An
impressive work in the Prokofiev/Shostakovich tradition, the
movement is in ternary form but its gentle dance-like character
does not quite have the sardonic air or titanic energy often
associated with the epithet Scherzo though some more violent
material erupts in parts of the middle section. A satisfying
piece nonetheless and I hope that before long, we can be treated
to a performance of the entire symphony.
The first half ended with Millennium Song
composed collaboratively by senior pupils of Wykeham House
School. An entertaining piece in a light melodic idiom, it had
been brilliantly arranged for the orchestra by Mick Davis. The
school choir performed it with conviction and good enunciation.
We returned from a drink and a chat in the Interval to the dark
world of Night Music by David Penri-Evans
It is for strings only and is in 'arch' form with five sections.
The brooding opening features semi-tonal clashes and clusters
building up a note at a time. The second section has a
fragmentary violin solo over a still background chord. The middle
section is more flowing with an angular but long-phrased theme
over a contrapuntal accompaniment. The first two sections are
recapitulated in reverse order and the piece ends on an ambiguous
chord which combines major and minor. This is a well written,
evocative piece, chillingly tense and at times bleak. The strings
of the PNMO gave it a highly charged and effective performance.
One of the features of the Bassoon is its ability to sound
comical, Daniel Knott exploited this in his Solo
Buffoon, a title which I hope did not offend the
soloist, Patrick Milne. The light-hearted main theme has the
nature of a folk dance. It is first presented by the Bassoon
alone then pizzicato strings join in. The theme is developed and
varied and the differing orchestral textures occasionally allow
the soloist a rest! This is a beautifully constructed piece using
a wealth of orchestral colour and with well-judged use of its
melodic material. It is also amusing and very enjoyable and was
positioned well in the programme.
Wykeham House School Senior Choir returned to the stage to
perform John Julius Norwich's realization for narrator, voices
and orchestra of the carol The Twelve Days of
Christmas in contemporary context. This cleverly
funny musical scena received a well projected performance. The
twelve readers who shared the narrator's part all spoke out
clearly, enabling the audience to enjoy every one of the jokes.
Malcolm Arnold's Sinfonietta No 3, Op 81
concluded the concert. This piece dates from 1964 and is firmly
in the idiom of English neo-classicism. There are four short
movements - a tense angular sonata form allegro in 3/4, a
rhythmical scherzo in 6/8 with a jagged string theme, a lyrical
gentle slow movement and a boisterous finale which grows out of a
four note ostinato and suggests rondo form before coming to an
abrupt conclusion.
This excellent concert shows that there is plenty of life in PNMO
despite John Webber's departure. Congratulations to Steve Tanner
and the orchestra for a delightful, stimulating and varied
evening. The involvement of the school choir brought many new
people into the audience. Let us hope that they were inspired to
return and even try other contemporary music events. If they were
not so inspired, it will not have been the fault of the PNMO
neither their performance nor the programming. After the concert
came the opportunity to return to the bar. We drank the health of
New Music in Portsmouth - "Here's to the next concert!"
Philip Drew
A Century of
Composers
Concert by Jane Sherriff, soprano and Christopher Seed, piano
Milner Hall, Winchester, 3rd November 2000
As you entered the city of Winchester fireworks flashed overhead
giving a foretaste of what was to come vocally in this concert.
The choice of pieces was very well made as a fitting end to the
twentieth century, featuring very British music from the century
and poetry from the whole millennium.
Jane Sherriff has a wonderfully pure tone and immaculate control.
Her bright, clear voice lent itself well to the three Peter
Warlock songs, The Lover's Maze, And wilt thou leave
me thus? And Sigh on more, Ladies that opened the
programme. Christopher Seed, who is not only an excellent
accompanist but also a brilliant soloist in his own right, then
played Saudade by Philip Cannon. The piece
plays around with major and minor, a little bluesy and
occasionally whole-tone.
The next group of songs began with Daniel Knott's Tell
me not here. It has long vocal lines with a slightly
busy piano part. The dark first section gives way to a more
positive, major second section. Jane held the long last note
absolutely beautifully. Vaughan Williams' From far,
from eve and morning has a wonderful opening chord
progression and a simple, straight vocal line. Andrew McBirnie's
lyrical setting of Loveliest of Trees has
a swaying feel to it and shows a good understanding of the text.
Christopher then played another piano solo, this time two of
Richard Rodney Bennett's Piano Studies. These
have much denser harmonies than what had gone before. The first
is rather Schoenbergian while the second, for right hand only, is
reminiscent of Messiaen's birdcalls.
The first half ended with two of Paul Pilott's Love
Lyrics, Nos. 10 & 11. No. 10 is decidedly
whole-tone while No. 11 is a perpetual motion with the right hand
of the piano and the voice following each other, gradually
climbing higher and higher. These are difficult pieces to sing
but Jane handled them with seeming ease.
After a little wine the small audience settled down to listen to
a group of four "lightly serious" songs. Alun Grafton's
bright and breezy Now Welcome Summer
contains a number of interesting false relations, while Elizabeth
Poston's Sweet Suffolk Owl is a very
"English" sounding musical bird. Andrew McBirnie's Hares
at Play has a hint of the blues and uses a very
rhythmic setting of "dance and play", Jane obviously
enjoying the syncopation. Bax's I heard a Piper Piping
rounded off this group.
Christopher then treated us to another piano solo, Kaikhosru
Sorabji's impressionistic In the Hothouse which
has a quite soporific ending (especially after a couple of
glasses of wine at the interval).
The last set of "seriously light" songs began with
Michael Dawney's Catalogue (from his cycle
The Cattery). This song is great fun and
the mood of the music perfectly fits with the words. Martin
Read's modal setting of On the steps of the Butter
Cross clearly and easily tells the story, delightful
and moving. Andrew McBirnie's Mulier se dicit
is a lively setting with a touch of West Side Story. The concert
ended with Alun Grafton's elegant setting of the nonsense rhyme The
Owl and The Pussycat.
The concert as a whole was a well-paced collection of music,
beautifully performed. It was interesting to note how
identifiable this music was as British or even English; with only
a few exceptions there was a consistency of harmony, melodic
shape and texture. Jane and Christopher had delighted us to a
wonderful evening of song.
David Penri-Evans
Review of
Concert, The English Fancie - Revisited,
Camarada, Conway Hall, London, 14th June 2000
June 14th saw one
of the most exciting audiences in some time. We thought we would
not need to worry about being in the smallest room (no euphemism
intended - but it was chamber music) at Conway Hall, but we were
bursting at the seams. Composers, performers, members of the
Rawsthorne Society and representatives from OUP all crammed into
one tiny, hot little room, but it was worth it.
The concert opened with Alan Rawsthorne's unpublished Oboe
Quartet, written in 1935. It begins in an unsettled
mood, passing angular melodies between the instruments.
Regardless of their angularity they were beautifully phrased by
the ensemble. The second movements built up complex harmonies
which were followed by recitatives for the oboe, building to a
climax then returning to the opening idea of the movement. The
third movement opens with the fugal treatment of a militaristic
theme. A second faster fugal theme comes in and after much
fragmentation the two themes are combined. The viola brings back
the second theme in compound time. The speed increases and the
work ends with unison statements of the second theme.
PDCA composers had been invited to submit works no longer than
three minutes. It was interesting to hear how the composers had
coped with this restriction. Some coped very well creating pieces
that were complete and satisfying statements, while other pieces
seemed more like good beginnings for bigger pieces. One
satisfying statement was Phillip Pennington Harris' Shorts
that is built up of evocative moments of music. Each of the 14
miniatures exist in its own world, often using different
instrumental effects, yet despite their individuality, they hang
together to make a coherent whole floating in space and time.
Another issue that surfaced in the concert was that of musical
content over programmatic content. Some pieces had imaginative,
descriptive titles or programme notes. As a listener one had to
ask if the piece needed the title or could it stand on its music
alone. Sometimes titles get in the way-does a piece of music have
to be "about" something?
One piece that worked both musically and programmatically was pencils/lines
of inebriation by John Alexander. The piece is built
up of one instrument drunkenly trying to follow the line of
another, strings sliding from note to note and interrupting each
other. The piece still works without title or comic programme
notes.
Judith Bailey's Microminature 2 is a
string trio in three movements. The first is a linear progress
developed from one cell to a climax. The second is more subdued,
starting quietly, building slightly then receding. The third
movement is a fast, relentless drive to the end. An example of
good string writing, as was Howard Skempton's Winter
Sunrise. This evokes its title in a long elegiac
song, but not a dirge. A hocket section that gives a feel of
frost and water dripping from melting icicles occupies the centre
span of the work. A similar mood was captured by Enid Luff in her
Shallow Sea with Dancing. This piece opens
with a haunting oboe solo building to multiphonics. One can
easily imagine terns soaring over a grey shoreline.
David Penri-Evans' Four Ways of Having Sex in Zero
Gravity is another of those pieces where once you've
read the title its hard to listen to the music without
preconceptions. The angular, aggressive start develops into a
long-phrased melody. Suddenly we are suspended in space with high
harmonics from the strings punctuated by melodic cells from the
oboe. This develops into a lonely oboe solo. After the return of
the harmonics we are thrust back into the opening idea that ends
with loud stabbing chords.
The first half ended with Richard Rodney Bennett's Oboe
Quartet. It opens with dancy rhythms in short
snippets, laying down much of the melodic material for the rest
of the piece. This develops into a more placid section out of
which grows oboe and violin solos. After a faster section we
again get violin and oboe solos and the piece ends with an oboe
solo.
The second half opened with the first performance of Alan
Rawsthorne's Studies on a Theme by Bach.
The work builds up slowly from the BACH motif. The contrapuntal
textures gradually fragment leading to a prestissimo section.
There is a middle section in 2/4 that then returns to a
recapitulation of the prestissimo. The piece ends with an andante
that balances the slow introduction.
No. 2 from Andrew McBirnies's Lyrae 1 is a
driving, rhythmic duo for violin and cello. The two instruments
exchange repeated, pulsating semiquavers while the other plays
asymmetric motifs, bouncing off the repeated notes. All very
exciting.
Philip Drew's Felix caeli porta is based
on a plainsong tune. It starts very slowly with the violin and
cello unfolding the plainchant while the cor anglais weaves a
free melodic line around it, the last notes sliding up into the
ether.
Missing Pieces by Peter McGarr is a set of
eight miniatures, each with its own title but flowing seamlessly
into the next to create a piece with the feel of a Celtic lament.
This was followed by Richard Rodney Bennett's In
Memory of Howard Ferguson. This piece, we are told,
is built from notes derived from the name of Howard Ferguson, who
taught Richard Rodney Bennett. It produces a very lyrical piece
that builds to the climax of an oboe cadenza. The strings join in
as the piece ends with some of Bennett's lush, jazzy chords.
Howard Skempton's Garland is typical of
his simple and direct language. As the title suggests, the
material weaves round and around. Although the piece is only
three minutes long one would have been happy for it to have been
repeated on an infinite loop. It gave the feeling of a serene
eternity. Almost as a contrast, Martin Read's The
Angel of History opens with busy phrases, sul
ponticello from the strings. This buzz forms a background for the
oboe d'amore to clmly draw out a long-phrased melody, quoting
from Bach's cantata Vergnugte Ruh. This is
joined by the strings in the unfolding of the material. The piece
moves in and out, from calm to turbulent seas, with the Bach
quotation gradually sinking beneath the waves (sorry for all the
nautical allusions, you can tell I've been reading the programme
notes again). The end is especially effective, gradually fading
out with pauses and shorter and shorter phrases.
Camarada gave expert performances to all the pieces, at all times
displaying their passion and commitment to the music and their
high standard of musicianship. This was a concert that will be
remembered for a long time.
Sebastian Lakes
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Review of the Concerts Portsmouth & Rouen,
Spring 2000
Marc Sieffert (saxophone) and Christine Marchais (piano) gave two
excellent concerts, the first at Portsmouth Grammar School,
February 26th and then at the Conservatiore National de Region de
Rouen, February 29th. It is a difficult task to give this review
as the previous PDCA concert (4th October) was also for saxophone
and piano and included four of the same pieces. Both Marc
Sieffert and Griffin Campbell are excellent saxophonists, but
very different in style and tone. Marc very correct and focused,
while Griff was freer and more influenced by his jazz playing. Of
the two of Marc's concert, Rouen was the better. Perhaps because
it was their home crowd or because it was the second time through
the complete programme, but in any case, both were thoroughly
enjoyable evenings.
Marc and Christine opened the evenings with the first movement of
Daniel Knott's Sonata for sax and piano.
The main theme of this movement is a modal bucolic,
folkish tune, reminiscent of Vaughan Williams. The piece works
well as an opener, warming the player up and and preparing the
audience with an approachable style.
Mysticism pervaded the next work, Invocations
by Phillip Pennington Harris. A third movement having been added
since its premiere in October. These short pieces take hymn tunes
as starting points, though these tunes are not now discernible.
As with much of Phillip's music, this work is very atmospheric.
One feels there is never a note out of place.
Martin Read's by now familiar The Numbers Game,
was played perhaps a little too slow, lacking some of its
rhythmic lilt. It works well as a piece, with a good sense of
narrative structure. Eloge de la folie by
Anthony Girard was a major piece, built on a five-note motive.
Rhythmic ostinati ebb and flow, with the perhaps over-used motive
never far away. This piece was moved to the end of the programme
at Rouen.
At Rouen George Crumb's Five Pieces for
solo piano were added. These were a great revelation for some
members of the PDCA with its use of extended techniques inside
the piano. They were also a wonderful opportunity to hear
Christine Marchais as a soloist in her own right. She was
excellent and displayed a deep understanding of these pieces.
The first half was brought to a close with Bayou Blues
by David Penri-Evans. It begins with a high saxophone wail which
gives way to improvisatory flourishes before settling down to an
angular atonal blues. Birds and insects can be heard in the haze
by the lazy bayou. This piece is, as the title suggests as much a
piece of jazz as a "classical" piece and so needs the
freer jazz style. A strong performance but perhaps too correct.
Have you ever heard of a composer complaining about too many
right notes before! The Rouen performance was far less inhibited.
After much page sorting the second half opened with the first
performance of a new piece by Philip Drew, Amphitrite.
Amphitrite is an ancient name for Venice and in this
piece Venice gradually emerges out of the mist across the laguna
and eventually sinks again. The language is pure Drew, with many
of his signature devices such as the use of open fifths and
chords floating in from Messiaen.
Dominique Lamaitre's De la nuit evokes the
night with long held notes on the saxophone echoing in side the
piano. It is like reflections in a pool. Tension builds up with
emphasised notes but calm sonorities soon return. Dominique
inhabits a different sound world where time does not exist. In
this crazy world he creates a moment where you can just float.
Paul Pilott's Fragments in Camera requires
a great deal of input from the performer. No expression markings
are given, just instructions of mood at the beginning of sections
such as "With Lustful Tenderness". It is therefore more
dependant on the performer for its emotional and even musical
content than the composer. This worked well for Marc Sieffert and
he produced a well-shaped piece.
The concert at Portsmouth ended with Sève
by Jean-Pierre Leguay. A very tense piece with only occasional
relief. Sève means sap, the life force of a tree - in this case
a pretty wild and rugged tree. Fist-fulls of notes for both
saxophone and piano, chromatic scales in contrary motion and the
sax resonating inside the piano all made a virtuosic impression
of a fight for life.
All in all, two excellent performances which were greatly
appreciated by both audiences. It is only a pity that we are not
able to drum up more support in Britain for new music as they are
in France.
David Penri-Evans (& Philip Drew)
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Review of Recital by David Baker
(trumpet) and Henry Macey (organ & piano), St. Mary's,
Alverstoke, Gosport, 31st July 1999
St. Mary's, Alverstoke was the venue for the recent PDCA concert,
given by David Baker (Trumpet) & Henry Macey (Organ &
Piano), on Saturday 31st July, 1999.
The first half of the programme consisted entirely of works by
PDCA members. The evening began with the first performance of Sonore
by David Penri-Evans. The title reflected the
interests, character and sound-world of this piece which explored
the sonorous qualities of trumpet & organ. Beginning with an
atmospheric slow section, a brief faster section with more drama
followed before returning to the slow music to end.
Tango by Jo Treasure followed. Also for
trumpet and organ, this piece was inspired by a poem written by
the composer's father, recalling his youth. The music begins with
a free-rhythm, quasi improvisatory passage before settling into g
minor and the tango of the title. This is music that has charm
and a direct appeal - I think it is also the first time I have
ever heard a tango played on the organ!
Paul Pilott's Prelude and Fanfare for
organ, takes a theme by David Sanger as its inspiration, having
been composed recently to show off the new reeds of the rebuilt
organ in St. Mary's. It is a confident piece of writing, taking
its time to explore and add to registrations but still having a
tightly knit construction which leads to a tense and dramatic
climax.
Philip Drew's Four Studies, also for
organ, explore tone colours and compositional technique. The
first presents a single melodic line which gradually expands
outwards with a semitone idea, moving into thicker textures,
before retreating back to a single and, eventually, fragmented
line. The second has a lively, rhythmically charged idea for solo
reed and accompaniment, reaching a dramatic conclusion with full,
decisive chords. The third begins, almost magically, with two
solo flutes, then one against strings & pedal before
returning to the opening idea, this time with pedals. The fourth
returns to very rhythmical writing with the pedals playing a more
thematic role. A middle section has sustained Swell chords over a
moving pedal part. The third section returns to the rhythmic
manual figuration set against the pedals, building to a powerful
final climax. This was well crafted music which suited the
instrument very well and was confidently realised by Henry Macey.
Revasserie for trumpet and piano by Paul
Pilott explores organic growth. A chordal idea for piano opens
the piece and the trumpet soon joins in, building melodic phrases
from and around it. As the ideas grow and develop, the music
becomes more energetic. There was a certain inevitability about
the reversal of this process towards the end, as the opening idea
returns and continues to contract, but was no less convincing for
all that.
Danny Knott's Soldiers Dream Sleep for
trumpet & organ was a moving tribute to those who died in the
First World War. Far from being sentimental, the music has a real
poignancy, enhanced by a good structure and not without its
moments of drama. My only gripe would be the sudden and somewhat
incongruous move to C major for the end - maybe my nature is too
melancholy but I would have preferred a close in the minor!
Nevertheless, this was well written and deeply felt music with an
immediate impact.
After the interval and a refreshing glass of wine there was a
distinct "change of gear" as we moved back in time to
hear David and Henry give an assured performance of F. D. Weber's
technically demanding Variations in F.
(The F. D., by the way stands for Friedrich Dionyssus.
1766-1842.) This is entertaining, if lightweight music. Likewise,
Alfred Hollin's (1865-1942) Song of Sunshine
for organ is guaranteed to bring a smile (if not a smirk) to
anyone's face. You just cannot take this music seriously! By way
of contrast, the far more serious and solid Postlude
in C for organ by Henry Smart (1813-1879) is a good
reminder of English victoriana - it's not a bad piece, but one
cannot help compare it to such masters of the organ as Cesar
Franck to see how impoverished musical creativity had become in
this country in the 1800's. The Concertino
for trumpet and strings by the Swedish composer, Lars-Erik
Larsson (- the strings played in a piano reduction with great
dexterity) was given a spirited performance by David and Henry
and brought us back into the 20th Century. It is by turns
rhythmical, Shostakovitch-like, lyrical, neoclassical but above
all, joyful music and provided a fitting conclusion to an
excellent and memorable evening.
Phillip Pennington Harris
Review of PDCA Showcase Concert, 13th November 2004, St Mary’s Alverstoke
The concert opened with Michael Dawney's seasonal Good King Wenceslas lets his hair down - a study of considerable fugal complexity incorporating themes from many well know carols woven into a intriguing texture which suggested that King Wenceslas was indulging in something stronger than the odd glass of mulled wine. This was followed with Bolton Browne's Sans Souci for solo oboe performed by Andrew Knights. Its buoyant, melodic line conveyed a charmingly pastoral optimism, before finally sinking to a contemplative calm. This was followed by his The Soldiers Return for clarinet and electronic clavichord performed by Lesley Potts and Mina Kim. Soloist and accompanist did not always share the same melodic or rhythmic meter that created many interesting dissonances and some of the latter variations seemed to make a nod in the direction of Stravinsky's The Soldiers Tale which was intriguing from such a young composer.
Next followed
Paul Pilott's Chorale Prelude on Maccabaeus
opening with sombre undercurrents with a buoyant solo above.
Gradually the shadowy feeling is dispersed with bright chord
clusters underpinned by florid bass runs creating a massive,
monumental effect. Finally a more optimistic version of the
opening mood returns ending in a solitary high note.
Philip Drew's Vistas for flute solo
presented a long melodic line, which seemed to create a nostalgic
impression for a way of life fading in the mists of time and
neglect. This lament-like passage gave way to a faster passage
only to sink back to the opening stillness.
The next piece by Rathe Hollingum Four Inventions for piano and cor anglais, performed by David Hollingum and Antonio Cascelli, gave rise to many stylistic variations. The first movement was an engaging mixture of lyrical and more angular writing in which contrasts between soloists and accompanist created elements of tension and surprise. The second movement presented a lively and frequently independent line in which soloist and accompanist only occasionally shared the same centre stage.
The third movement was dramatic and declamatory and frequently developed into a contest in instrumental agility before a sinister march-like section builds back to the opening declamatory trills. In the final movement shifting harmonies lead the soloist into a cool, slightly sinister Debussy-esque passage that leads to an enigmatic end.
Leo Boucher's Festive Tocatta produced a contrasting shower or organ fireworks with mind boggling chromatic gestures coruscating in all directions. A calm centre section followed, which was overtaken by a return to the turbulent, exciting opening style that brought the piece to a triumphant conclusion.
Inventions for piano by Terence Allbright
takes Bach as its inspiration and from a liquid introductory
passage there emerges a study in contrapuntal textures which
eventually takes the form of a transparent web of sound which
reflects its origins.
This was followed by Amada Fox's Infinity
for flute and piano. Occasionally reminiscent of Fauré and
Chaminade at their most lyrical, this delightful piece was
endlessly stimulating to the ear as technical difficulty
facilitated lively melodic and rhythmic invention, demonstrating
an impressive rapport between soloist and accompanist.
The final item in this wide-ranging programme was Philip Drew’s Fanfare Toccata for organ. As its name suggests the opening fanfare motifs give way to calmer mutations of the 12th century tune Orientis Partibus. This is then gradually infiltrated by the opening fanfare motifs that, after a brief coda, brought the whole evening to an enjoyable and impressive conclusion.
Rex Stapleton
Review of Portsmouth Music Club Concert, 26th February 2005, Christopher Phipps, violin and Karen Kingsley, piano
Another delightful recital involving PDCA ‘champion’ pianist Karen Kingsley, on this occasion with Christopher Phipps on violin. The mixed programme of established repertoire and PDCA works opened with the Sonata in E Major, Op 5, No. 11 by Arcangelo Corelli whose five contrasting movements require clear articulation, lyricism and rhythmic precision, all of which were amply present.
The first PDCA pieces of the evening then followed: Geoffrey Dale’s Prelude No. 4 – Cancer – Blues for a Moody Moon Maiden and Fugue No. 4 – Cancer the Crab for piano solo. The Prelude takes the form of a slow blues, moody by nature, with broken chords at the end gradually dying away. The Fugue has two counter subjects and ends with a dramatic tango flourish. Karen sailed through these technically demanding offerings with her customary panache.
Christopher then rejoined Karen for the next item: David Penri-Evans – Song of Ajax.This piece was written in Portsmouth in 1988 and first performed later that year in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The work shows the composer’s interest in repeated chords and how both the melodic and harmonic material for a whole piece can grow out of a single sonority – in this case the opening piano chord. The mood swings, the raising of tension including some passages at the extreme upper range of the violin, and the lament-like conclusion were well realised in this performance.
By way of complete contrast, this was followed by the Sonata in B Flat Major, K454 by Mozart with both players enjoying the technical challenges, virtuoso moments and sheer elegance of the writing.
After an interval, we then resumed with: Leo Boucher – Air and Rondo. Composed originally for a Czech friend of the composer to play with his granddaughter, the piece includes a ghostly reference to the St. Wenceslas chorale in the second part. There was added poignancy when Leo told the audience that his Czech friend’s daughter, for whose wedding he (Leo) had played an organ piece based upon the St. Wenceslas chorale, had died tragically young.
Niccolo Paganini – Cantabile then followed and as Christopher’s violin soared and plunged over its extensive compass, Karen’s discrete, sensitive accompanying added to the enjoyment.
The next PDCA work was: Elia Marios Joannou – Impromptu (piano solo). The spontaneity and improvisatory elements of this work were convincingly conveyed by Karen. The flourishes, pauses, and ever-changing moods held the interest of the audience throughout. Amanda Jane Fox – Inquietude featuring both players was next. This work is like a journey, composed in distinctive sections that cleverly grow from the eerie opening statement into romantic melodies that lead to an exciting fast section with its rapid passages and rhythmic energy. The piece builds up to a triumphant close but ends dramatically with a return to the opening eerie statement. This piece was clearly enjoyed by audience and performers alike.
Next was Andrew McBirnie – Variation for Malcolm (piano solo) (former David Penri-Evans protégé). This is a short, reflective piece based on a sequence of pitches derived from a cypher of the name of Malcolm Singer, the piece's dedicatee: (E)-A-(A)-C-(A-E)-Eb-G-E-(D). Malcolm Singer is Director of Music at the Yehudi Menuhin School, and a noted composer who studied with Ligeti. Karen played thoughtfully and communicated clearly, the regard in which the dedicatee of the piece is held by its composer.
An interesting and varied programme was then brought a dramatic conclusion with a thunderous rendition of Johannes Brahms – Scherzo in C minor. Well-deserved applause greeted the performers and a good sized, appreciative audience departed content into a wintry night.
Paul Pilott
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Review of PDCA Showcase Concert, 25th June
2005 St Mark’s Church, North End, Portsmouth
This was our first visit to St. Mark’s as a concert venue
and the programme began with Leo Boucher’s organ piece Anima
Christe based on the hymn tune to which the words Soul
of My Saviour are usually sung. This was played by
Philip Drew who introduced the piece by saying that the harmonic
language was reminiscent of Brahms but with some
characteristically individual ‘Leo’ ideas woven into
the texture.
David Penri-Evans then performed his Five Haiku for
Peace – his first public performance for some
years! These typically thoughtful pieces reflecting as they do,
the spirit and brevity of the Haiku without attempting to follow
the formal structure of Japanese Haiku poems were well received
and carefully listened to by an appreciative audience.
Next came an accomplished performance by Jane Hoskins of Philip
Drew’s Two John Donne Songs, with the
composer at the piano. These are early works and although Philip
explained that he feels he has moved on as a composer over the
intervening years since writing them, he likes these pieces for
their own sake and still enjoys performing them.
Rathe Hollingum’s Variations for Cor Anglais followed
and was given a stylish reading by Lucinda Willits, accompanied
on the piano by Steven Berryman. Rathe says his music is often a
personal statement or a response to some event in world affairs.
This reflective and meditative work was composed after the
tsunami disaster in December 04.
Philip Drew’s Two Thomas Hardy Songs came
next and were convincingly performed by Marlene Purdy, with
Philip providing his usual sensitive piano accompaniment. The
subject matter of these poems is potentially depressing but the
performance captured the vitality and drama of the musical
settings very well.
Two Locations by Nick Ray followed and was
performed with virtuoso relish by the composer himself. The first
piece, a quiet nocturne inspired by views of a quiet estuary in
Kent, is in stark contrast to the crashing and cascading style of
the second, which depicts a spectacular waterfall in Cornwall.
The programme ended with Is It Me by
Ignacio Agrimbau and performed by several players who are members
of the COMA South Ensemble, for whom the piece was written. The
ensemble was conducted by the composer. Each individual player
had before him or her a number of different musical fragments
which were called into play at the behest of the conductor by a
pre-arranged system of signs. One’s guess is that the
structure and duration of the piece can therefore be endlessly
variable. There were some striking individual contributions
including wordless solos for baritone voice which were delivered
in an exciting and compelling manner. The whole experience was
thought provoking. An unanswered question in my mind was how
important or otherwise it may be to balance the equation, in such
a lengthy piece, of consistently engaging the audience, with the
obvious relish of the participants.
There had been much to enjoy and much to reflect upon as our
Summer Concert ended with our customary glass of wine and
socialising.
Paul Pilott
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Review of Recital 17th September,
2005,
London, Karen Kingsley, piano.
In Shoreditch, London's notorious East End the Alliance gathered
for a concert with the Forum
London Composer Group. The setting may have been less than
salubrious, but the music was anything but. We even, despite the
location had an audience - some we had not brought ourselves!
The piano is an instrument that allows great experimentation with sound. Percussive in its playing, yet capable of long sustained passages. The pianist as orchestra with multiple melodic lines at the same time. Individual struck notes, often against long notes creating their own church-like echo, and structuring multiple levels of dissonance, then a break to loud, rapid runs the speed of which is only restrained by the fingers playing them. It was interesting then, that overall there was a cohesion of, if not style, at least use of the instrument. The same techniques and yet different moods.To tackle this complexity we were lucky to have Karen Kingsley. A superb Royal Academy trained pianist and teacher she approached the pieces with a skill that allowed for both stabbing attacks on the keyboard and delicate, wistful contemplation. We must not forget as well to thank David Penri-Evans for the normally thankless and, in this case, demanding task of page turning. The work the audience put in to following these pieces was matched by that he had to spend to turn in the right places!
The first half began with Suite Op.7 by Alun Grafton which introduced the techniques that would be seen across the concert. With its intriguing sudden injection to the dissonance of "natural" chords, the chords seemed more strange than that which had gone before. Philip Drew's Arabesque followed, creating tension through keys depressed without actually striking, the sound waited to unfold into the acoustic of the building. This dance felt one of aching loss, although it seems strange to produce 'joy' in assonance and long high chords. They sit on top of a scene and tease the nerves. Again in Inventions Op.11 by Terence Allbright, urgency was felt as constant motion gave way to a more studied movement the decrease in speed heightening the urgency through it's deliberation. The next piece was more of a celebration.Two Piano Pieces by Jo Treasure was one of a couple of pieces performed written as a birthday present for Malcom Singer - deriving their keys from the letters of his name. 1. Dissent and 2. Reflecting on Accord experimented with the strengths of the piano working from the dissent to investigate more traditional key progressions and chord structure The final piece this half was Echos des Cinq Elements. Dominique Lemaitre anchored this by repeating notes at the high end of the keyboard. The bass drifted in and out, occasionally beset by rumbling chords, all returning to the sonar-like echo motif acting like an off-time clock; continuing the onward motion; suggesting how the next section would develop. Acoustic/harmonic vibration altered the chords without altering the notes played. Step by step the piece moved to new positions without losing its connection to the other sections.
After the break Karen cut through the slight fog of wine and relaxation with a stirring rendition of Zodiak Prelude and Fugue No5 (Leo) by Geoffrey Dale. With a rousing atmosphere of Jeeves and Worcster it was very different in style and feel to the pieces that had gone before. Fiendishly difficult in the fugue section it seemed threatening to fall over itself but, avoiding lasting stability, it always bounced back up again. Re-awakened after the interval we moved onto Brown Studies by David Penri-Evans. An often simple line travelled between the two hands essaying intimacy. The chords that came in - some hesitant, some final - altered the feel of each part, whilst leaving the same basic line running across the whole. Next was Nick Ray's piece Two Localities. In these two localities the image of water was uppermost as the sound almost smeared across the church with different themes - for the estuary - handing one to the other and then - for the drama of the falls - battling for supremacy; the different moving structures skimming and rushing together like the water that inspired them. Then we had another piece for Malcom Singer, this one Variations for Malcom by Andrew McBirnie, again based on his name. This piece took the basic pattern in a different direction to Jo Treasure's, highlighted by the fact they used the same chord structure. The two pieces being so closely linked and yet noticeably different showed the versatility of the piano, and the possibilities for composers. Suggestions...were just that. Written to be played almost as the pianist wants they suggest and the pianist interprets. They could have been in any order and the next time they are heard they will probably be in a different one. They had mutating patterns anchored by the bass line which allowed the pieces to move in any direction whilst still being part of what went before. Finally we had Phillip Pennington Harris' Six Little Piano Pieces, these involved an interplay of melodic ideas and themes, altered across different tempos and playing styles which built towards the last piece until a hurtling end that brought the concert to a dynamic close.
The concert
was a fascinating look at the possibilities of the piano,
featuring a wide display of themes, melodic lines, assonance,
tempos and other musical devices. That almost everyone drew
on the same techniques gave the concert an over-arching
unity; that they all used them in their own styles broke that
from uniformity.
Michael
Drew
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Review of Recital by Nicholas Watts
(Tenor) and James Longford (Piano)
25th February, 2006, Portsmouth Grammar School Rotunda
This
concert, devoted as it was to songs by English composers,
revealed a great diversity of styles and idioms, but also a
convincing overall unity with its well-chosen programme, which
opened with Purcell’s Music for a While.
This song, with its winding bass line creating spare but
sufficient support for the long intricate phrases, provided the
ideal opening. It reminded us of Purcell’s important
influence on the renaissance of English music in the 20th
century, and his inspiration to composers such as Vaughan
Williams, Britten and Tippett.
The first and third songs from Philip Drew’s Rimes
Vexation transported the audience forward
some three hundred years. The first (The Dream) was particularly
striking with its use of interwoven whole-tone scales, and its
evocative melody seemed repeatedly to drift and dissolve and then
gather strength from its accompaniment. The relentless forward
movement of the harmony was admirable and, considering the almost
fatal ease with which whole-tone material can become wishy-washy
and directionless in a less skilled composer’s hands,
revealed the remarkable inventive capacity and resourcefulness of
the composer.
Geoffrey Dale’s Come Sleep
followed and proved to be an effective setting of the Elizabethan
poet John Fletcher’s words, with its languorous chordal
accompaniment providing a simple yet persuasive alternative to
Peter Warlock’s handling of the same text.
The three Ivor Gurney songs Black Stitchel,
Down by the Sally Gardens and In
Flanders involve the pianist as something
approaching an equal, rather than a merely supporting role. The
first, with its florid piano figuration and exuberant climaxes
had an irresistible forward momentum, contrasting with the bleak
and sombre In Flanders.
Paul Pilott’s two songs (Ex Libris
Wilfred Owen – Nocturne and On
a Dream) returned us to the stark reality
of warfare and what the composer described as “the temporary
escape from this horror through dreams”. These proved to be
distinctive and skilful settings.
Britten’s Winter Words
finished the first half of the programme. This work revealed
Britten’s unrivalled technical mastery in its treatment of
the vocal lines and the piano accompaniments, both of which are
highly original and fascinatingly varied.
After a short interval, the concert reopened with three songs by
Finzi (Till Earth Outwears).
These songs were very much in the English pastoral tradition with
their modal melodies and active though not overbearing
accompaniments.
Cedric Peachey’s setting of Housman’s Into
my heart an air that kills did full justice
to this very short but highly charged poem, whose sense of loss
in the last two lines “The happy highways wher I went, and
cannot come again” is overwhelming.
Michael Dawney’s two songs from The
Cattery lightened the mood slightly. The
first, Cat Song told
the story of these noble creatures through the ages, and was full
of whimsical humour, reinforced by the piano’s scattered
gestures and sudden comments. The second, Lick
and Purr was a meditative song in a
barcarolle rhythm, and had the same luxuriant ease as a sleeping
cat, bringing to mind Mark Twain’s observation: “A home
without a cat – a properly revered and well-fed cat –
may be a perfect home, but how can it prove title?”
The final item was the substantial song cycle On
Wenlock Edge. Vaughan Williams was still
studying with Ravel in 1909 when he composed this work and the
early 20th century French harmonic influence is discernible.
There are distinctly Debussyan aspects to the first song, whose
vigorous accompaniment evokes the gale that “plies the
saplings double”. Vaughan Williams combined the harmonic
characteristics of his training with the distinctive modal
contours of English folk music, and echoes of his Pastoral
Symphony are heard at the start of Is my team ploughing?
Overall, this was a highly enjoyable concert, and our thanks go
to the performers and those who organised the event.
Nick Ray
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Review of Monington Duo Concert
Saturday 16th September 2006, St Cyprian’s Church, London
All Ears Contemporary Music Festival
This was the second year PDCA had given a concert as part of the
All Ears Festival and it proved to be another memorable evening.
Robert Blanken, clarinet and Karen Kingsley, piano were on good
form. The programme had a lively start with Spring
Bandusia by Alun Grafton. After a brisk
start the piece slows to a more languid and reminiscent pace. It
is a well crafted piece that ends on a positive note. Next was
the first performance of Paul Pilott’s Impromptu
composed especially for Karen and Rob. There is a confident start
with a more challenging harmonic language than Alun
Grafton’s piece. Often using whole-tome and octatonic the
augmented 4th is predominant. The improvisatory piece alternates
strident sections with more reflective parts, ending in the
reflective mood.
It was lovely that Karen and Rob included a piece by Danny Knott.
His Break-Through is
in a conventional style with quirky moments and glimpses of 1940s
romance, perhaps on the Orient Express. The piece quickly moves
from one idea to another and keeps the listener entertained all
the time.
Next on the menu was an early piece by John Cage, his Sonata
for solo clarinet. This was a virtuosic display which Rob handled
with aplomb. This was followed by Three Short Pieces by Anthony
Green. The set were in a similar vein to the Cage and made a good
partnership. The moods were well judged, especially the dramatic
gestures of the last movement.
The solo opening of Judith Bailey’s Mordryg
led into a pleasant and smooth piece that
gently carried you into another country. The first half of the
concert was brought to a close with the first performance of
Geoffrey Dale’s Sonatina.
The piece has a quirky opening in 5/8 alternating with passages
in 6/8. The stately middle section is a slow, majestic march,
which leads straight into a bright fugue, again using syncopated
6/8 rhythms. This last section was very catchy and everybody was
singing it during the interval.
The second half opened with A la Santé
by Michael Lawlor. This was the most extensive piece of the
evening. The work was originally written as a vocal piece, but in
this version the vocal line has been replaced by the clarinet.
Stylistically the compositional language combines traditional
tonality and avant garde atonality. I suspect that it would be
very difficult to sing, but it worked really well on the clarinet
with a wide range of textures and techniques. One section had big
arpeggios up and down the piano—ably carried out by Karen,
while another section had pure melodic lines in the clarinet
accompanied by just single notes on the piano.
After the longest piece of the evening came the shortest—my
own Five Haiku for Peace.
I probably shouldn’t review my own music, but what the
heck—it was brilliant—the performance that is. These
little pieces were written in 1995 to commemorate the 50th
anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bombs on Japan and the
end of the Second World War. Karen’s exquisite performance
of the atmospheric miniatures, for me, really captured their
essence.
Ed de Boer’s Nocturne
was a good follow on in mood and, as its title suggests, it
captured the mood of the night. Philip Drew’s Amphitrite was
another substantial piece of the evening. The music emerges from
the lagoona and becomes a celebration of the glories of Venice
using flourishes and pseudo medieval harmonies. It then returns
to the mists from whence it came – a most effective piece.
The concert came to a fun end with Cedric Peachey’s Buffie’s
Waltz. A light piece quoting from the TV
series Buffy the Vampire Slayer mixes dark, ironic humour with a
waltz rhythm which varies from relentless mania to dream-like
melancholia. The balance of the programme was so well-judged and
was typical of so many PDCA concerts, a good mix of styles and
moods, from tonal pastoral harmonies to complex contemporary
languages of the past 60 years, from serious contemplations to
light-hearted lollipops—and with excellent performers. Karen
and Rob are to be congratulated and thanked for such a wonderful
evening.
David Penri-Evans
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Review
of Nero String Quartet Recital
St Mary’s Parish Church, Alverstoke
Saturday 2nd December 2006 Review
...The concert began with the second of Brian Wilshere’s Three
Munch Pieces which were inspired by the
three paintings of Edward Munch. The Dance
of Life opened with vigorous alternation
between the pizzicato arching phrases and energetic chordal
interruptions. There was a dramatic switch from vertical to
horizontal textures in the contrasting middle section, with its
intricate polyphony, which was altogether extremely persuasive.
Mark Gould’s Quartettsatz 13 developed
from its unison opening to a kind of perpetuum mobile scherzo,
which maintained its unity through its distinctive textural
continuity. The slow movement with variations accumulated over a
pizzicato motif to reach an effective climax, involving skilful
and varied treatment of the basic material.
Paul Pilott’s Sculpture in Sound created
a distinctive atmosphere with its dissonantly expressive chorale
introduction and vanishing tremolandi. The ‘restless melodic
shapes’ described by the composer gradually coalesced into
an intricate contrapuntal web before the restatement of the
chorale-like material provided the appropriate sense of finality.
The second movement from Anthony Green’s String
Quartet No. 3 revealed this composer’s
remarkable skill and economy to its full, with expressive lines
and fluid rhythmic combinations. It is much to be regretted that
we did not have the opportunity to hear the rest of this work,
which was highly commended in the University of Aberdeen Music
Prize Competition in April 2005.
David Penri-Evans composed his Elegy in
1978, and there is a strong autobiographical, programmatic
element to this work. The slow and dark-hued first section
introduced two distinctive themes, making use of the poignant
major-minor clash in tonality as a unifying device overshadowing
all the three sections despite their contrasts of tempo and mood.
The final item before the interval was Alun Grafton’s In
Camera 6 Op. 37. This work, less obviously
atonal than some of the others, created an atmosphere entirely
its own, and the ternary structure seemed the ideal form to
support its vigorous forward motion.
The second half of the concert was taken up with Mozart’s
19th Quartet [The Dissonance]
(the last of the series dedicated to Haydn). This work remains as
astonishing to a modern ear as it must have seemed to the
audiences of 1785, and Mozart’s fecundity of invention and
spontaneity of melody have seldom been surpassed.
The Mozart quartet was an altogether ideal work to end what had
been an extremely enjoyable concert. Our thanks go to the
performers, whom we hope to hear again soon.
Nick Ray
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Review of Lawson Trio Recital
Portsmouth Grammar School
Saturday, 14th April 2007
This concert was our annual event for the Portsmouth Music Club
and we always try to ensure that we put on a good show for them.
This was certainly true on this evening.
The Lawson Trio is a very talented group and presented a
challenging programme with great finesse. The first pieces of the
evening were Paul Pilott’s Carpet Music
and Balloon Music, two
short pieces written for November’s Sixty Second Film
Festival. These entertaining pieces do what happens in the
films—ascending scales as the pile of carpet squares build
up and the descending scales as the go down. With the balloon
piece the piece builds to a climax with a forearm smash to the
keyboard as the balloon bursts.
Judith Bailey’s Microminiature No 1
is a well-written piece. The first section is intense with good
ensemble writing. It gives the feeling that you are looking at a
broad landscape. The second section has a light start with an
almost 1920s feel and develops into a lilting section giving the
feeling of a horse riding.
Haydn’s Piano Trio in E was
delightful, with a more serious Allegretto second movement. The
Trio were able to show off their ensemble playing and the piece
worked the pianist very hard. The finale had some of the cross
rhythms found in some of Haydn’s piano sonatas.
The Trio gave a convincing performance of David Penri-Evans’
Rain Journal to close
the first half of the programme. This piece takes the attentive
listener on a roller-coaster of an emotional trip – the
musical language chosen shows the influence of serialism with
uncompromising harmony and dynamic rhythmic drive depicting the
urgent passions of the former relationship, after the reflective
opening. The palindrome structure leads inexorably to a sense of
resignation in the quiet closing movement, but resignation of the
‘Je ne regrette rien’ variety one would suspect? (Paul
Pilott)
The second half began with Geoffrey Dale’s A
Little Water Music. It opens with trickling
passages in the piano and pizzicato in the strings suggesting
water droplets. The music builds to a stormy climax. As the
tempest calms, snippets return us to the opening ideas and the
piece ends as a polite stream.
The remainder of the programme was given over to Ravel’s Trio.
This was in every way the best piece of the evening and brought
the best out of the performers. It was worth the ticket price
just for this. The first movement is intense and emotional,
building to total ecstasy. The second movement is a light
scherzo, almost coquettish and very “oh la la”. The
Passacaille is like a sombre prayer that builds and reaches the
heights of passion. It gradually subsides back to the lower
register of the piano setting the scene for the finale. The brief
last movement starts with flashing lights and references to
themes from the other movements. It again becomes impassioned and
the virtuosic coda brings the work to an exhilarating close. For
this fine performance the Trio got long and well deserved
applause.
David Penri-Evans
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Review of PDCA Autumn Showcase Concert
St Mary’s Church, Alverstoke
Saturday, 20th October 2007
A friendly audience gathered in St Mary’s for this
self-performed concert. Paul Pilott opened proceedings playing
his Chorale Prelude on Maccabeus. Based on
the familiar hymn “Thine be the Glory” it opened slowly
with a meditative single line. Gradually the pace picked up with
extracts from the tune in the right hand. The piece worked up to
fanfare-like chords sounding a little like Kenneth Leighton. The
piece returned to its meditative mood to finish.
Nick Ray and Anthony Green had agreed to play some of each others
music as well as their own so next up were two piano pieces by
Anthony Green—Beinn Spionnaidh and Sgaoth
Aird. Both titles come from names of mountains. The
first opened with quite chords then the right hand introduced
free ideas. There were hints of Messiaen the harmonies and bird
calls. Counterpoint developed between the hands before the mists
descended again. The second piece was much louder with dramatic
leaps suggesting rugged crags, steep slopes and deep chasms.
As a good contrast Amanda Jane Fox gave the premier of her piano
pieces, Revelation and Tranquility.
Revelation was very much in the French
style of a Debussy Arabesque. It started in a reflective mood,
became more active and ended in a positive frame. Tranquillity
was a clear well structured piece, tranquil yet very emotive
music. Both pieces were very pianistic.
Next we had Nick Ray playing his own Three
Transcriptions from Songs of Collision. These were
piano transcriptions of songs Nick had written for tenor and
chamber ensemble based on poems by Stephen Crane. Nick’s
harmonic language is quite complex and it would have been
interesting to hear these pieces in their original
instrumentation as I felt the vocal line particularly got lost in
the middle of the piano texture. The first piece started with a
simple texture of a line played quietly in octaves. The texture
thickened and led into the second song which had a quite dense
texture. The third song was a nocturne with distant sound of the
night fluttering around the central vocal line—very
effective.
Louise Helyer played her piano piece Untitled.
In the style of John Cage this had originally been for
performance on prepared piano but has been developed further now
for performance on an ordinary piano (and prepared performer).
The piece had lots of space and was built of repeated cells; a
left hand ostinato in 7 becomes very rhythmic. The piece ends
enigmatically with a few quiet notes.
A new (old) instrument was the centre of attention in the next
piece. Michael Lawlor played his Capriccio
on a renaissance cornett, expertly accompanied by Karen Kingsley
on the piano. The piece was written especially for the concert
and cleverly showed off the capabilities of this unusual
instrument. The piece opened brightly, playing with cross-rhythms
of 3 and 4. Michael used what he referred to as
“polyoctave” modes—modes that are different in the
second octave from the first, making it sound vaguely diatonic.
The second section was slower and more contrapuntal and the third
section returned to the cross-rhythms of the opening and ended
with a flourish. The instrument has a wonderful mellow tone and
sounds as though it is covered in leather—which it is. This
piece showed off its range and agility really well.
The next piece was Egypt Bay by Nick Ray
played on the piano by Anthony Green. The piece forms the middle
movement of Nick’s Mirror Variations.
The opening of repeated cluster chords suggests a calm, bleak
landscape. The piece builds in intensity with big chords.
Each piece seems in the concert gave a good contrast with those
next to it. So it was with Snow by Paul Pilott. This song to
words by Edward Thomas was performed on the PDCA’s first
concert at Steep. Repeated cluster chords in the piano provide a
static background for the recitative-like vocal line. The
performance was beautifully judged by soprano Sylvia Lock with a
good clear tone.
The concert ended with Anthony Green playing his own Parergon.
This scherzando has fast ideas and fists-fulls of notes. A harsh
chordal section led to a slower section. This started low and
built up, using themes from earlier. The coda ends with a
whimsical flourish.
The concert was just the right length and showed off the talents
of the members, both as composers and performers. Our special
thanks go to the guest performers, Karen Kingsley and Sylvia
Lock.
David Penri-Evans
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Review of recital by Jane Sherriff and
Gilly Slot
Portsmouth Grammar School
Saturday, 12th April 2008
After a day of torrential downpours, an evening with some
sunshine and soprano, Jane Sherriff, with pianist, Gilly Slot,
gave a concert of PDCA composers’ works and some interlopers
(Bach, Mozart and Vaughan Williams) in association with
Portsmouth Music Club, who provided most of the audience.
English pastoral music is not just music on rural life, but looks
back to an Arcadian time and also relies heavily on Shakespeare,
madrigals, folk-song and modal music. Such ideas have a peculiar
manifestation in the English musical renaissance, being used to
describe works of composers from a century ago: Vaughan Williams,
Finzi, Gurney, Butterworth … and much of it an alternative
response to the Great War. But such ideas have survived the hard
edge of modernism and can still be heard today. Most of the songs
from this evening’s concert have subject matter akin with
the English pastoral tradition and music to match.
The concert opened with two songs by Alun Grafton, Colours
& Summer Days. There were shades of
Tudor England to be heard in Colours, a
work that responded very well to the text, by Alun’s
mother-in-law, Marjorie Wheeler. The voice was carefully
supported by the piano, but when the piano was let loose, I
detected hints of Einaudi. Alun describes his second song, Summer
Days, as being ‘very different’ in musical
language. The serial elements certainly make this obvious from
the start, but the vocal line is in keeping with Colours
and the two songs really do belong together. The serial elements
of Summer Days are not treated in the style of Webern and his
followers, but sound more like the ‘wrong notes’ in a
‘conventional’, tonal work, with hints of Bartók this
time.
Michael Lawlor’s Old Dreams uses
modes that are different in each octave that lend themselves to
subtle harmonies over the two verses. The setting has a quiet
political message about how society treats its soldiers returning
from war. The song is calm throughout but with moving
undercurrents and dissonance in the piano. In the second verse
the dissonance becomes more prominent as the soldier’s
disillusionment sets in, with the voice often sounding like it is
in a different realm to that of the piano.
Pauline Skinner provided us with the only work of the evening for
unaccompanied voice. She chose the pentatonic scale to give a
feeling of place to the Japanese poem set, Ikeda
Interlude: the unanswered question, dwelling on the
characteristic intervals of the pentatonic mode. This could sound
like orientalist pastiche, but the sound was not so much
oriental, as Celtic, and another manifestation of the English
pastoral.
Yet again, Nick Ray’s I have a pact
was very much in keeping with the English pastoral tradition, but
a much more modern, brittle sound-world, not unlike Roger
Steptoe, Justin Connolly or Nicholas Maw, with its soaring vocal
line over an ebullient accompaniment. Nick’s second song, Today
was the drear song, was much calmer,
starting with a simple decorated line in the piano. These two
songs made a satisfying and unified pair of songs which could be
listened to again and again.
There was a diversion in the programme at this point, with a
single movement from a piano sonata by Mozart (Allegro from
Sonata in F K547a). Part of a two movement work assembled from
other sources by Mozart himself. Mozart piano sonatas usually do
“what it says on the tin” with ‘expected
surprises’ and this movement was no exception. Mozart can
teach us all how to compose, even when running on auto-pilot. The
performance by Gilly Slot showed that she was at home with this
repertoire and it was given a very modern performance.
Martin Read’s Scenes from Shakespeare
presented us with a continuous sequence of four songs taken from
diverse plays (As You Like It, The Tempest, Macbeth and Henry
VIII). Recitative played a significant part in these songs and
the opening one, from As You Like It, was particularly striking.
The motifs from the piano part underpin and fit the words very
well, while all four songs are very restrained in their emotional
level, with a similar range of textures and tempi throughout,
counteracted by subtle rhythms.
More Shakespeare completed the first half with Vaughan
Williams’ Three Songs from Shakespeare.
What was most remarkable about these songs was how ‘at
home’ they felt amongst the contemporary works being
performed this evening. The three songs are short and
to-the-point: Vaughan Williams shows us all how succinct and
direct composing should be done. The first song, Take,
O take has very sparse accompaniment which puts the
voice centre-stage and uses the absolute minimum required to get
the mood across. The second, When Icicles Hang by the
Wall, is much livelier and the final one, Orpheus
with his Lute, shows the typical, lyrical qualities
of this great composer, presented as a miniature in this case.
The second half started almost where it left of, with a second
setting of Orpheus with his Lute by
Vaughan Williams. Although this setting predates the other by
more than twenty years, this is the original of which the version
from Three Songs is a reworking. This is a
lovely song on its own, but I think Vaughan Williams did improve
on it in the later setting. Another Vaughan Williams song, Silent
Noon, followed. Characteristic chord sequences tell us almost
immediately that this is Vaughan Williams, although there were
times when Schumann seemed to exert an influence. This is a
beautifully paced work.
The contemporary works of the second half did not wrench us too
violently away from Vaughan Williams’ world. Geoffrey
Dale’s Come Sleep starts with a
sustained opening and sets just a single mood, supported by a
return to the same group of chords and a very light
accompaniment, with continually falling lines in the voice.
Paul Pilott’s The Stricken Dear
focuses our attention on the voice by giving the piano very
little to do: merely a repeated falling motif. The musical
material grows out of this initial idea, but never really strays
too far. It doesn’t do much, but it does it very well!
Perhaps The Stricken Dear comes closest to
the conciseness of the Vaughan Williams songs.
One might expect Brian Wilshire’s Fire and Ice to
be full of fuoco e gelato but the title of the song is
misleading: the nature of the words is reflective and refers to
escaping from the cold into warmth, so no fireworks in the piano
part, but simple harmonies and alternating chords. The vocal
writing is particularly skilled and seemed as if it was perhaps
one of the easier songs in the programme to sing.
Anthony Green’s Two Songs from Blake’s Songs
of Experience presents us with a couple of very short
songs with piano writing hinting at Schoenberg in The Sick Rose.
Having said that, the vocal lines are still typically English
pastoral, as are the choice of words, especially in The Lilly,
which is stylistically much more straight-forward, albeit
extremely short.
To pick a well-known text set by a famous composer could be seen
as foolhardy or courageous. This is what David Penri-Evans chose
to do by setting Klingsor’s L’Indifférent,
used by Ravel in Shéhérazade. For those
familiar with David’s work, this may be quite a surprise,
having a rather minimalist piano accompaniment, sometimes almost
reduced to pentatonic doodling, to a Ravelian vocal line. It
sounds as if the musical influence might come not from Shéhérazade
itself, but Soupir, one of the Trois
Poèmes de Stéphane Mallarmé, a much more forward
looking work of Ravel’s, perhaps influenced by
Schoeberg’s Pierrot Lunaire (it had
been planned to be premiered in the same concert in 1913 along
with Stravinsky’s Three Japanese Lyrics).
This makes it more directly relevant to David’s other works.
The music, perhaps helped by the French language, does not have
the strong English pastoral feel.
Another detour was provided with three dances from Bach’s French
Suite No. 6 in E. There are two main
‘camps’ today on performing Bach on the piano. Some
players and listeners like it the way it used to be, before the
Early Music revival, Glenn Gould being an extreme example. Others
prefer a performance that attempts to make the piano sound a
little more like a harpsichord. Gilly Slot gave us a bit of both,
refraining from using the pedal in the Allemande and Gigue, so we
could hear the clarity of the texture, and adding pedal in the
Sarabande, which for a slow dance is extremely busy. One can
easily imagine that the distinct strains of the Gigue being
accompanied by changes of registration on a harpsichord; this is
something the modern piano cannot do beyond using stepped
dynamics.
We now go back to Shakespeare again with Three
Shakespeare Songs by Adam Swayne. First impressions
of The Woosell Cock were of a cabaret
song, with very nice interplay between the lines of the voice and
piano. I loathe that I did love provides
contrast with a slow melody above simple chords. This has a
menacing middle section leading to a melancholic ending, suiting
the words perfectly. Where the bee sucks
starts with a cadenza-like piano part, at times comical with
jazzy harmonies and dramatic flourishes. There is then
surprisingly a complete change of mood, with the singer humming
and again jazz-like harmonies in the piano (hints of
Gershwin’s Summertime) with a dynamic
final flourish from both voice and piano. These make a very
effective set of songs with plenty of variety.
Finally in the programme was another song by Geoffrey Dale, The
Owl and the Pussycat. This went down very well with
the audience and is an example of a well-written, comic song,
with no pretensions beyond trying to entertain.
I feel mention must be made of the quality of sound. The Rotunda
of Portsmouth Grammar School is an ideal venue for an intimate
recital such as this, but the piano was too insipid in tone and
really needs to be treated more robustly to provide the full
emotional range that many of these songs demand, perhaps the lid
of the piano should have been opened a little. Jane
Sherriff’s voice is certainly strong enough to take a more
forthright approach; it was particularly suited to the
evening’s repertoire and Gilly Slot’s sensitive
accompaniment supported the voice well. I hope they will be able
to support similar events in future.
Michael Lawlor
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Catherine Nicholson, Karen Kingsley &
the Portsmouth Grammar School Contemporary Music Group Recital
Portsmouth Grammar School
Saturday, 22nd November 2008
This concert included Catherine Nicholson, flute, Karen Kingsley,
piano and the Portsmouth Grammar School Contemporary Music Group,
directed by Adam Swayne. The programme included a wide range of
recent music, ranging from traditional compositions to the more
experimental and was a fitting way to celebrate St Cecilia’s
day.
The concert began before it started—that is to say that the
first piece began with members of the Contemporary Music Group
wandering in and seeming to tune, thus the piece being some time
before it became apparent that this is fact was the first piece.
This innovative idea has been around for 40 or so years, yet some
people still found it surprising. The piece, A’
by Michael Lawlor, gradually builds as more and more instruments
join in using aleatoric material. As all the material was based
on the harmonic series of A it produced a very calm opening to
the concert, that is until they jumped straight into
Michael’s second piece, 3’25” of Noise
which climaxed with music stands being knocked over.
Sanity was restored by Catherine Nicholson and Karen Kingsley
performing Phillip Pennington Harris’ Le campane
della Toscana. The piece captures the idea of bells
in distant Italian villages with spacious sonorities in the piano
contrasted with lyrical lines in the flute. Activity builds and
then fades back into the tapestry of sonorities with wisps of
plainsong.
Amanda Fox’s In the Clouds was
greatly enjoyed by many of members of the audience as it was a
more traditional, romantic piece. It showed great mastery of
melody, harmony and structure and cleansed the palate.
Terence Allbright’s Partita starts
with a prelude with a single chromatic theme using duplet and
triplet quavers. A restful Chaconne
follows without a break. It has an improvisatory melody over a
short chord progression. A flute cadenza takes us into the Toccata
with continuous semiquavers in the piano giving the feel of a
perpetual mobile. After building to a climax the piece dies away
to nothing.
The PGS Contemporary Music Group returned with Alan
Grafton’s Preludium 4, written for
flexible quartet, played this evening by violin, oboe, trumpet
and cello. The piece builds up sonorities and uses various
ostinatos eventually dying away. The first half was brought to a
close by Philip Drew’s theatrical Jacta alea est. The piece
consists of various musical cells (many in graphic notation) that
the players perform according to the throw of dice, which they
did live during the performance. The piece has a steady pulse and
the rest is the consequence of the roll of the die—it all
seemed to make sense at the time.
The second half opened as the first with a Michael Lawlor piece, Sonata
Temere on ’A la Santé’. This was another
aleatoric piece with ideas coming from Michael’s piece A
la Santé with sections determined by the conductor.
We returned to the more traditional with Prelude and
Fugue Gemini by Geoffrey Dale for piano and flute. A
quirky little piece with a jazzy fugue that made me think of cats
climbing a ladder. Karen then showed her brilliance playing
Benjamin Britten’s Nocturne. The
master showed us all how to do it.
Philip Drew’s Fantasy-Sonatina opens
dramatically with Messiaen-like chords in the piano and a
flourish in the flute which returns throughout the as a sort of
ritornello. The work unfolds over four sections with many French
influences coming through—that could just be because
it’s for flute. It takes through many moods including a
delightful (three-legged) waltz and long, fluid flute lines. The
piece ends with a quiet coda based on the ritornello material.
The concert ended with the Contemporary Music Group performing
Adam Swayne’s Maggie Maggie Maggie! Sing Sing
Sing! This fun piece combines theatre, music and
politics. The ensemble was set up in two rows facing each other
as if in the House of Commons. It is built over a taped loop of
Margaret Thatcher say “No!” (and occasionally
“Yes”) - a la Steve Reich. This gives a very strong
rhythmic pulse as a backdrop. The performers then play musical
phrases over this, often standing as they do so. The piece works
its way to a climax and ends with cries of “Order!
Order!” The audience clearly found this very entertaining as
they had the whole evening. It was an ideal close to a varied and
enjoyable evening.
David Penri-Evans
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Terence Allbright Recital
Portsmouth Grammar School
Saturday 28th February 2009
The Portsmouth Music Club was again treated to another excellent
PDCA concert, this time by pianist/composer Terence Allbright.
Terry warmed the audience up for the first twenty minutes with
Schumann’s Nachtstücke before
getting into more contemporary repertoire.
The first PDCA piece was Musette on a Theme of Martin
Read by Paul Pilott. The piece opens with
Martin’s theme played against interspersed chords. The theme
becomes a sort of continuous ostinato as the piece works up to a
climax. There is almost the feeling of distant bells heard across
a meadow.
Philip Drew’s Colours is a set of
five pieces each lasting exactly one minute. Blue moves up and
down a blues chord; Green is a pastorale in seven time with an
octatonic feel to it; Purple is a laid-back piece with a melody
over a bluesy chord; Red uses the whole tone scale in two-part
counterpoint; Black ends the set with a funeral march—here
you get the feel of Debussy’s La Cathédrale
Engloutie with a little Scottish snap.
Terry then played his own Nocturne. This
piece starts off with a feeling of quiet anxiety created by
syncopated counterpoint followed by heavier chords. This mood
continues alternating quiet anxiety with heavier sections. The
rhythms created are often quite jazzy.
Anthony Payne’s Homage to Debussy is
based on two intervals, the perfect fourth and the tritone.
However, if one expected the piece to sound like Debussy there
were only momentary glimpses. The piece has a flow of
considerable energy and builds to two powerful climaxes. It then
gradually climbs down as if exhausted from the effort.
The second half of the concert opened with Legend No.
1 St Francis of Asissi—the bird-sermon by Franz
Liszt. The piece demanded considerable technical craft from Terry
but it was perhaps the tritest piece on the programme with bird
effects sounding like they possibly came out of a Disney film.
The most substantial piece of the evening was Sebastian
Forbes’ Sonata-Rondo. It was the most
demanding on the pianist and the audience, requiring close
attention at all times. The single-movement work has eight themes
presented in a variety of ways. It opens with an agitated chordal
section with cross rhythms reminiscent of Stravinsky that
gradually gives way to a more spacious theme. Themes are
interwoven alternating well-judged highs and lows in tension. The
harmonic language, somewhere between Schoenberg and Messiaen,
keeps the listeners attention and moves the piece forward along
with sections of rhythmic drive and calm. After a very busy
section the piece opens out to the more spacious theme again that
brings it to a close.
The concert was brought to a jolly close with William
Alwyn’s neoclassical Sonata alla Toccata.
This was like a light desert after a sumptuous meal. The three
movements (fast, slow, fast) are derived from the material
presented in the first three bars. The finale with driving
rhythms builds to a big climax then ends in a triumphant coda.
Terry had given a brilliant performance and we were very lucky to
have been there. An excellent range of pieces expertly played.
David Penri-Evans
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Mark Wardell, organ workshop-recital
Saturday 16 May 2009
St Mary’s Church, Alverstoke
Mark Wardell, Assistant Organist of Chichester Cathedral gave an
excellent workshop recital as part of the BARN (British Academy
Regional Network) meeting. He opened by discussing and playing
extracts from You have seen the house built, a new choral work
written by Will Todd for Chichester Cathedral and first performed
there last October. Mark talked about how he had gone about
registering the demanding organ part. Following this he played a
piece written by Austrian organist-composer Anton Heiller - a
demanding test piece that Mark played with ease. He then played
extracts from Festive Voluntary: Variations on Good
King Wenceslas, a piece also written for Chichester.
Mark discussed and performed three pieces by PDCA composers. H
particularly talked about various issues regarding registration
and emphasised how important it was for composers to discuss this
with the organist as every organ is different. Not only can the
registration affect the piece but also the acoustic of the
building.
Halo by Philip Drew was a contemplative miniature originating as
an improvisation. Philip had used a very simple registration of
8’ gamba with 4’ and 2’ flutes, building up
overtones over pedal notes. This amazing spacious piece clearly
caught Mark Wardell’s imagination. I suspect the
congregation at Chichester Cathedral may occasionally hear this
piece.
Mark had deliberately not decided on his registration for the
Portsmouth pieces so he was able to discuss each one as the
workshop progressed. He used quite a thin texture for Prelude
on G.F. Handel by Michael Lawlor. The piece was
written for a competition run by the Handel House Museum so
Michael had based it on the letters in the name of Handel; he
also used his polyoctave modes which we have heard before in some
of his music. The result was a light piece with sweet
consonances.
Alun Grafton’s Choral Prelude on Aberystwyth was
a slightly more brooding piece. The slow and sombre start
gradually builds revealing the hymn tunes as it grows. Mark was
able to use increasingly heavy registration to build to a climax,
and then the piece resolves to a soft major chord.
Mark then discussed the technique of improvisation. The best
piece of advice was – if you make a mistake, do it again
then people will think it was deliberate. He then ended the
session with an impressive improvisation on the tune Adoro
te devote. Everyone was left amazed at how such an
incredible piece could have just been improvised on the spot and
it certainly showed the range of textures available on St
Mary’s organ.
Composers from several regions, including Brighton, Bristol and
Leicester and the CEO of BASCA had travelled down for the
afternoon; Marks workshop certainly made their journey
worthwhile.
David Penri-Evans
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PDCA 20th Anniversary Concert
Saturday 27 June 2009
All Saints Church, Steep
A good sized crowd gathered at Steep Parish Church to relive the
first PDCA concert which took place there in June 1989. Three of
the pieces during the evening were repeated from the original
concert; A Private by Paul Pilott, A
Collection of Birds by Philip Drew and The
Trumpet, while several others were newly composed for
this concert.
The evening opened with Philip Drew’s A
Collection of Birds sung by the composer, with
Catherine Nicholson, flute, Kate Redwood, cello and Karen
Kingsley, piano. The pieces reflected the atmosphere outside the
church, a warm summer evening in an idyllic Hampshire village.
Pewit calls with pentatonic overtones and the owl with a darker
feel over a walking bass. In the evocative Adlestrop
you can hear the train passing as the song rises to a climax.
Next was a group of songs by Amanda Jane Fox, Like the
Touch of Rain, Over the Hills and The Dark Forest, sung
by the composer with Valentina Seferinova on piano. Amanda’s
style is in a more popular vein owing much to West End musicals
and Amanda performance added real authenticity.
The music was interspersed with a number of Edward Thomas poems
expertly read by Tony Hazell. They reflected the breadth of
Thomas output covering all aspects of life from home to love,
friendship and the Great War all wrapped in an English idyll.
The readings were followed by two songs by Paul Pilott, Snow
and The Private, sung by Sylvia Lock
accompanied by the composer. The still chords of Snow gave the
feel of the chill, white landscape, while the voice weaves the
poem over them. I’ve heard the piece several times now and
like it more each time. The Private
emphasises the whole tone scale and is quite dark, even when it
builds to a climax.
The two Hardy songs by Philip Drew were sung by Marlene Purdy and
accompanied by Philip. Both songs were not surprisingly dark and
gloom (She at his funeral and His
immortality) and both made effective use of
suspensions.
After further readings was The Trumpet by
David Penri-Evans. This was expertly performed by Philip Drew who
gave the first performance twenty years ago, Karen Kingsley, and
Sam Moffatt, trumpet. The whole piece grows out of a single
repeated chord in the piano. Several people who know my music
commented on how it was typical of my style.
Child in the Orchard by Paul Pilott was
performed by pupils from Steep Primary School conducted by Sylvia
Lock. It has the feeling of a child’s nursery rhyme with a
strange turn at the end of each chorus. It has a decorative right
hand in the piano over a simple left hand.
There was another set of readings before the final piece of the
evening, Tall Nettles by Michael Lawlor.
This was well performed by a group of students from Peter Symonds
College, Winchester. The piece made good use of the voice and is
particularly well written for string quartet with interesting
lines for the viola.
The whole evening was very successful, with beautiful weather in
the English countryside; a most apt way to celebrate our
twentieth anniversary.
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Choral and Organ Music of the 20th &
21st Centuries
14 November 2009, St Mary’s Church, Alverstoke
The evening opened with a rousing Fanfare
by Kenneth Leighton played by Philip Drew that set the tone of
the evening. Wyndcliffe Voices then swung into action with
Britten’s Jubilate Deo in C. With a
couple of pieces by established composers in our ears we were
able to venture into less well known territory.
Now Welcome Summer by Alun Grafton is an
effective motet to words by Chaucer. It has a unison opening and
develops some unaccompanied sections. It has a 6/8 lilt to it
driven by the piano accompaniment and builds to a final cheer of
“Welcome!” This was followed by Geoff Dale’s
setting of Shakespeare's Sonnet No. 12.
The subject is the ticking of the clock and this is well
established in the music with syncopated melodies set against the
ticks. This is well handled and good contrast is given by more
static homophonic sections.
The choir was given a rest while Paul Pilott performed the second
movement of Hindemith’s Organ Sonata No 1.
This slow movement opens very peacefully and gradually moves into
a section with more contrapuntal activity. The movement ends with
a return to the serenity of the opening.
The Wyndcliffe Voices return to perform the Sanctus
and Benedictus from Philip Drew’s Missa
Sancti Mattaei Apostoli. The choir were very
confident in the triumphant Sanctus with
slightly dissonant modal harmonies. The first section sets up a
good contrast with the Benedictus sung by
two voices (Jane Hoskins and Julia Spurgeon this evening). And
inevitably the piece rounds off with a brief restatement of the Osana
from the Sanctus.
Next we had the Agnus Dei from
Rubbra’s Missa in Honorem Sancti Dominici.
This is a blissful setting of the text and again Wyndcliffe
handled it well. They moved on to Stravinsky’s Pater
Noster—always a harmonic surprise from this
composer as one would expect something far more dissonant, but
here Stravinsky has returned to his Orthodox roots resulting in a
very moving motet.
The first half drew to a close with Et incarnatus est by
the late Danny Knott. It is always a pleasure to hear
Danny’s music being performed, and Wyndcliffe Voices did him
proud as they did all the other composers of the evening.
Paul Pilott opened the second half on the organ with Saraband
(In modo eligaico) by Herbert Howells. The piece
begins very softly and gradually builds in volume and intensity
to the climatic C major chord at the end. The work is a good
display piece for the organ at St Mary’s which Paul
demonstrated well. Wyndcliffe Voices picked up with some more
Howells, the Magnificat from his Evening
Service in B minor. This is a piece the choir knows well and
their performance was secure.
The Howells was followed by Holy is the Lord
by David Penri-Evans (me). This is a minimalistic introit for
double choir gradually building in intensity. The choir did an
excellent job and gave a very effective performance. While I
can’t comment on the quality of the piece, I can say that
the performance was one of the best I’ve heard. This was
followed by Phillip Pennington Harris’ Tu es
Petrus. With tinges of Tavener this piece gives the
listener goose bumps. Phillip’s music is always able to
transport you to a higher dimension. This is also the effect of
the next piece; Philip Drew’s Halo,
for organ and played by Philip himself. The piece builds on the
overtone series and while one could say that nothing happens it
seems to contain the whole universe. It is a piece of meditation
that takes you out to the farthest stars. It’s one of those
pieces you don’t want it to stop.
Paul Pilott’s A Litany for Candlemass
works well with two singers singing antiphonally (Sylvia Locke
and Marlene Purdy). The free flow of the soloists contrasts well
with the choir’s homophonic setting of Ave Maria.
Michael Lawlor’s War of Nature was
the most challenging of the evening, both for the choir and the
audience. The text is taken from Charles Darwin and the music
quotes motifs from Josquin and Lassus. The complex melodic and
harmonic material is treated antiphonally, passed around the
double choir giving special effects. The ending was especially
effective
The evening was brought to a close with John Joubert’s O
Lorde, the maker of al thing. Using words by Henry
VIII this anthem slowly builds to a climax before quickly dying
away to a quiet end. Again another confident performance by the
Wyndcliffe Singers. Indeed the whole evening was a triumph, with
the choir singing well, conducted by Philip Drew and Paul Pilott
on the organ. There was a challenging range of music that the
choir had learnt well and they gave moving musical performances
throughout.
David Penri-Evans
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Portsmouth Music Club concert
Portsmouth Grammar School, 12 June 2010
Stephen and Teresa Foster, piano duet
World Cup Fever was in full swing as I walked from Portsmouth
& Southsea station to PGS: England flags were draped from
buildings and raucous fans were spilling noisily out of the
various hostelries along the way. Luckily the combined forces of
the PDCA and Portsmouth Music Club had ensured there was a
cultural balance in the city that evening, as the piano duet
concert given by Stephen and Teresa Foster was scheduled to kick
off at exactly the same time as England faced the USA in their
opening match of the tournament. The spectators at the Rotunda
were smaller in number than England’s fan base, but surely
no less attentive and involved in the proceedings they had come
to witness.
Stephen and Teresa provided a delightful recital, with fine,
sensitive musicianship evident throughout, along with the
effortless and sophisticated control of balance, tone and touch
necessary for performers in this medium. The programme
interspersed pieces by PDCA composers with a pot-pourri of
Romantic dances and, by way of a chronological
‘bridge’, the famous Petite Suite by Debussy. The
dances highlighted not only the sparkling elegance and grace, but
also the stylistic variety, of three giants of Romantic music
– Brahms, Dvorak and Grieg. While Brahms satisfied with High
German (yet lyrical) romanticism, Dvorak and Grieg sparkled with
folksy nationalism. Personally, I was particularly taken with the
first of the Norwegian Dances (Op. 34) by
Grieg, which, with its extraordinarily dark, chromatic colours
and forceful rhythms, sounded almost as contemporary as the four
PDCA pieces.
These fascinated me, not only for their individual
distinctiveness but also for their (surprising) similarities
– it seems that more than one PDCA composer enjoys working
with a combination of broadly minimalist, modal and/or liturgical
ideas. Maybe, over the years, a quintessentially
‘Portsmouth’ style has, no doubt subconsciously,
developed – not unlike that of Les Six, or the Mighty
Handful?
The first PDCA piece on the programme was Paul Pilott’s Prologue,
Chorale and Epilogue: a tripartite structure which
takes as its starting point the famous text from the Gospel of
John: ‘I am the bread of life…’ The Prologue
begins with a chorale-like texture which dissolves into florid
rising arpeggios: in the Chorale these
ideas are developed and juxtaposed, flowing triplets set against
four-part chords which, due to the liberal use of parallel 7ths,
instil a refreshingly dry, even harsh tone into the generally
modal, at times static harmonic language. The Epilogue
picks up on the material from the Prologue
to create a satisfyingly palindromic form overall.
Memo to Mike by Martin Read demonstrated
characteristics which I have come to associate with this
composer: a penchant for quasi-minimalist repeated refrains,
unashamedly melodic content, and wit (Stephen Foster commented on
the use of directions such as ‘a little mad’ and
‘very mad’ in the score). The piece started slowly and
quietly, in the manner of a chaconne, but gradually increased in
texture and dynamic to produce some harmonically adventurous and
climactic passages which were all the more forceful for being
abruptly contrasted with the slower, quieter material.
Michael Lawlor’s Resonances on ‘Ut queant
laxis’ combined the most ancient musical
starting point on the programme – the plainsong referenced
in the title, a hymn to St John – with the most strikingly
contemporary techniques. As a prelude to the performance, Philip
Drew led selected audience members in an impromptu vocal
realisation of the original plainsong – something which the
composer’s score identifies as a possible way of starting
the piece in performance. There was extensive use of sympathetic
resonance, where some keys are depressed silently in order to
‘catch’ the vibrations of those which are played
conventionally, and towards the end one of the performers was
directed to strike the strings directly inside the body of the
instrument. The harmonic and gestural language was often dense
and opaque, and the sound world colourful and arresting, but the
relationship to the plainsong stimulus was audibly clear.
The recital ended with an encore – the only solo work on the
programme, Alun Grafton’s Prelude No. 3
Op. 45, which the composer explained was originally conceived as
a lively and ‘flashy’ piece, but ended up gentle and
lyrical in mood. Cast in a rocking 3/4 metre, the Prelude was
calm and understated in tone, with a modal harmonic basis and a
sinewy, cantabile right hand melody, finishing with quiet, simple
chords. A beautiful, atmospheric piece.
Andrew McBirnie
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PDCA Showcase
27 November 2010, St Mary’s Church, Alverstoke
Review
It was a cold and chilly night when we gathered at St Mary’s
for a programme of PDCA music.
The evening started off with Nick Ray playing his Recollections
Nos. 1-6. A collection of piano pieces dedicated to Tom Hain. No
1 (Some bells), lived up to its title,
immediately evoking the sound of bells. No 2 (Dartmoor
Aug 2005) was very evocative suggesting the expansive
landscape of its title. No 3 had little snippets of melody
flitting about, while No 4 (Fanfare for the Uncommon
Man) had majestic 4ths with nods to Copland. Nos 5
and 6 were very complex and took some playing.
As a good contrast Paul Pilott played his Organ Choral
Prelude on Airs of Grace 104. The piece started very
quietly and developed into a flowing figure which bubbles over
the chorale on the great, while the melody is played in
augmentation on the pedals. The piece then settles down to
conclude quietly.
We were then given Anthony Green’s Mull of Oa on
the piano. The tonal language use is very complex and there is a
constant feeling of expanding and contracting: rhythmically more
or less active and moving from extreme complexity to less and
back. There was effective use of pizzicato inside the piano, but
the music stand got in the way a little. This was followed by
Anthony’s Cranstackie which a
mountain in Scotland in stormy, rainy weather.
The short concert concluded with two choral pieces by Philip
Drew. The Lesser Litany from Preces
and Responses 2nd setting (1994) is very flowing with
a 6/8 feel. Generally modal language with nice little twists. The
Lamb is a little reminiscent of Leighton and Mathias
with open 5ths, compound time and hints of the medieval. It is an
effective setting of a well-known text and works very well.
We all gathered in the vestry for a glass of wine and thanked all
the performers for their good work.
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PDCA Robert Blanken & Karen Kingsley -
Clarinet & Piano Recital
9 April 2011, Portsmouth Grammar School
Review
It was great delight that for this year’s concert for the
Portsmouth Music Club we were able to arrange for Rob Blanken
(clarinet) and Karen Kingsley (piano) to be our performers. They
drew together a programme PDCA music that they have performed
before along with some by other composers. The concert opened
with Philip Drew’s Prelude, Air and Ground.
The Prelude is contrapuntal and has the
feel of British “modern” music. The Air
has a very spacious opening with notes slowly ascending. A legato
clarinet line floats on an undulating piano part. It gently
builds to a climax and the end of the movement mirrors the
opening with long notes gradually descending. The Ground
is stated in the left hand of the piano and the clarinet joins
in. There is a series of variations of increasing complexity
including some quartal harmony, bring the work to a stately
close.
Next Rob and Karen reprised a set of five pieces written for the
SSFV Festival of 2006 (Sixty Second Film and Video): Black
and String Inverter by David Penri-Evans, Silence
Says Another Silent Minute by Geoffrey Dale, Nelson’s
Voyage by Judith Bailey and Small Plastic
Soldier also by David Penri-Evans. Originally each
piece was written to be played along with a sixty second film
clip. Black has a slow, calm choral in the
piano while the clarinet throws in wild melodic fragments. String
Inverter has a long repeated chord in piano while the
clarinet has a free melody playing around with intervals from the
chord. Silence Says is music for a stately
parade, while Nelson’s Voyage has a
lilting, wide ranging clarinet line in triple time. The set
closed with Small Plastic Soldier reminding
us of the bringer of war with a miniature march in 5/4. The
pieces were well chosen and made sense as a set.
The Ostinato of Michael Lawlor’s Cinque
Pezzi opens in the left hand of the piano, slow and
low, then the right hand comes in and finally the clarinet joins.
Initially there are hints of the pentatonic scale, but as with
many of Michael’s pieces the scales become more complex as
the pitch rises. The clarinet adds melismatic counterpoint until
the movement returns to a quiet end. Selvaggio
is much faster with a very active piano part. The tempo and
rhythmic activity builds then suddenly slows. The activity builds
again for the final section. Fuoco is rhythmically busy and
mainly in 5. It has quite a jazzy feel to it bringing the set to
a satisfactory close.
Next Karen and Rob moved us away from the 21st century and the
PDCA to the more established composers. Air and
Variation by William Lloyd Webber was quite a change
with a much more romantic feel. As suggested by the title, the
main theme was presented followed by a set of variations that
went through a variety of moods, but all in a pleasant land with
never a cloud in the sky. This proved to be a pleasant sorbet to
cleanse the palate.
The first half of the concert ended with Milhaud’s Sonatine
Op 100. This challenging piece really gave the
performers a chance to show their brilliance. The piece is
bitonal throughout, with the sound of Paris crossing Stravinsky
with Montmatre. The second movement Lent
is lyrical with a triple sway, even in its darker moments. The
concluding Trés rude has an explosive
start and is generally riotous with various cross rhythms deftly
handled by our duo.
The second half of the evening opened with an odd pair of pieces
by Ruth Gipps from the late 30s. Elephant God started
off with a little surprise for the audience with Karen playing
jungle drums off stage, the clarinet is then added playing with
the minor pentatonic and augmented 2nds. While really well
played, as a composition it was rather clichéd, a bit Carry on
up the Jungle. Kelpie of Corrievreckan is
programmatic music relaying a story. There is much use of
pentatonic and lyrical swing and ends depicting the screams of
the maiden as she drowns in the waves, but overall the music was
not as dramatic as the story explained to us beforehand had
suggested.
Georges Delerue’s Elegia is a piece
that certainly does induce reverie. It opens with a slow rising
line in the clarinet and is structured as a rising curve and
returns to its slow introduction to end. The Variations
on a Northern Chinese Folk Song by Zhang Wu was again
a chance for Rob and Karen to show their colours, especially for
Rob in the final fast variation. As a composition the piece did
what it said on the tin, variations with considerable use of
pentatonic scales. One half expected a group of Young Pioneers to
come out and sing the praises of Mao.
Paul Pilott’s Revasserie opens slow
and dream-like, with soft quiet splodges in the piano and a
legato clarinet notes with the phrase gradually getting longer.
The piece becomes more anxious and tense, moving into a more
rhythmic contrapuntal section. It then slows down and undoes
itself mirroring the opening and fades away.
Solo clarinet lays out the quiet and wistful theme at the start
of Bryan Kelly’s Capricorn Suite. The
piano joins in for the first variation with driving rhythm. The
second variation is slower and more reflective. The third is a
quick rhythmic variation while the fourth is more stately with a
high clarinet part. The final variation is slow and wistful like
the opening with a flowing quaver accompaniment in the piano.
The final piece of the evening was Sholem-alekhem, rov
Feidman! by Hungarian clarinettist Béla Kovács.
Karen started things off playing tremolo chords on an electric
keyboard imitating an accordion and the piece turns into an
upbeat Yiddish song. This was thoroughly enjoyed by the audience.
It looked at one point that some were going to get up and dance
(Zimmer frames permitting). Rob played with panache as things got
faster and faster. It brought a smile to every face and was a
great end to the evening.
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PDCA Showcase Concert, 19th November 2011, Holy
Spirit, Southsea, Portsmouth
The latest PDCA Showcase Concert took place in the beautiful
surroundings of Holy Spirit Church, Southsea, and presented the
audience with an inspiring range of contemporary music.
The evening began with ‘Magnificat’ by
Philip Drew, played by the composer on the organ. This is a
gentle meditation in the style of a Prelude, based around the
Tonus Peregrinus and makes colourful use of the organ, occupying
a rich “Howellsian” sound-world, very well suited to
the instrument and the building.
Anthony Green’s Tarbert-Loch Lomond
for solo piano followed, contrasting dramatically. This was
played by the composer. Anthony Green here explores a landscape
made up of a complex harmonic and rhythmic language. The music
draws the listener into its own world: it is a world of great
contrasts, fully exploring the piano’s range, leading one
through an eventful and exciting structure that seems to be
constantly changing and evolving.
Following this we entered the calm, Satiesque world of Offering
by Brian Wilshere, performed by Faye Clinton - ’cello - and
Philip Drew - piano. The piano provides very much the backdrop
for a long, sinuous ’cello melody that spans middle low and
high registers.
Nick Ray’s Sonatina for piano
followed, again contrasting with the Wilshere piece. The musical
language is taut and intense, with a melodic element that becomes
stronger through the piece, culminating in a large statement over
chords where the harmony suddenly clarifies.
Two pieces by Alun Grafton followed, Prelude No.1,
op.19 and Sinfonia Suite, op.6 with
Chopin’s Prelude in B minor, op.28,
No.6 in between. The composer sets the Prelude No.1
in a somewhat minimalist world, but one made up of shifting
harmonies that always guarantee movement and interest. The Sinfonia
Suite wanders deliberately in and out of conventional
harmonic language, always surprising the listener, ending with a
soft, wistful recollection high up.
Halo for organ by Philip Drew explored
harmonic overtones, immersing the listener in a static but
colourful exploration of the halo of sound that surrounds every
note. The piece moves through several fundamentals and the
overtones that the composer picks out with a delicacy that
reveals how well he knows this instrument.
The calm, lyrical world of Brian Wilshere’s Hymn followed.
This is another long, meditative and expressive melody for
’cello, this time with organ. The pairing of organ and
’cello was an interesting and inspired one which worked very
well in this piece with the organ having slow-moving chords
supporting the florid melodic line of the ’cello.
Paul Pilott wrote his Advent Miniatures Nos. 1 & 2
for organ solo when the BBC was doing a broadcast
from St Mary’s, Alverstoke. They were performed by the
composer in tonight’s concert and are gentle reflections on
‘O come, O come, Emmanuel’, exploring a colourful
sound-world well suited to the organ.
The Showcase Concert ended with Procella aevi primaevi
by Michael Lawlor which was almost as much a visual
as an aural piece. Michael Lawlor played oboe and percussion with
Catherine Lawlor on piano and percussion and the moving between
instruments gave the piece its strong visual element. It is a
well-crafted and imaginative piece that depicts in music a
primeval storm, painting a surreal landscape peppered with
strange and exotic sounds, from overblowing and harmonics to
extended piano techniques.
This was an amazingly rich evening’s music-making. The
standard of all the performances was excellent and it also proved
to be an excellent and thoroughly enjoyable Showcase Concert of
composers and their works from the Portsmouth District
Composers’ Alliance.
Phillip Pennington Harris
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