Editorial Board

London Editor:
(London UK)
Melanie Eskenazi

Regional Editor:
(UK regions and Worldwide)
Bill Kenny

Webmaster:
Bill Kenny

Music Web Webmaster:

Len Mullenger

                 

Classical Music Web Logs

Search Site With Google 
 
Google

WWW MusicWeb


MusicWeb is a subscription-free site
Clicking  Google adverts on our pages helps us  keep it that way

Seen and Heard Concert Review


Turnage, Payne, Carter and Matthews:  London Sinfonietta, Jane Irwin (mezzo soprano), Oliver Knussen (conductor), Queen Elizabeth Hall, London 30. 3.2007 (AO)

 

Mark-Anthony Turnage  :  Dark Crossing

Anthony Payne  :  Windows on Eternity (World premiere)

Elliot Carter  :  In the Distances of Sleep (European premiere)

Colin Matthews : Two Part Invention


Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Dark Crossing (2000) was commissioned by Oliver Knussen for the London Sinfonietta.  It is an atmospheric work whose depths are not easily revealed.  Turnage’s titles are purposeful, and thoughtfully chosen.  They aren’t “pictorial” but they matter.  Dark Crossing has been compared to Debussy’s La Mer, because it can validly be described in images of the ocean. The “foghorn” figure at the beginning certainly seems a warning that what follows won’t be easy passage.  But other “crossings” are implied.  It is a kind of journey through shifting moods, as the nebulous atmosphere changes.  The dense, ambiguous textures of the first movement are swept away by rolling progressions, making way for the manic second Ėtude. The quirky “cakewalk” passage in this section is wickedly downbeat.  A single note heralds the turbulence of the final section.  There are many highlights, for flute, bassoon and contrabassoon, but in this performance, the viola passages stood out as particularly impressive.  I liked the detail where one viola was bowed, while another was plucked, a tiny dialogue within the whole.  There’s so much in this piece that it’s no surprise it’s been performed several times, and by different orchestras.  I hope the Sinfonietta will add it to their recorded legacy, for they played with passion.

Anthony Payne’s Windows on Eternity (2007) received its World Premiere.  Two themes alternate, a “spiritoso” which continuously develops, and an “adagio” which essentially serves as a stable foil.  As the composer himself puts it, it is “as if an object in the heavens had been photographed through contrasting cloudscapes”.  The wavering instability seems at first to resolve in the coda, but then returns. The piece was sensitively played by the Sinfonietta, Knussen elucidating its detail carefully. Nonetheless, before the incomparable brilliance of Elliot Carter, almost anything else would be eclipsed.

Elliot Carter’s new work In the Distances of Sleep was receiving its first hearing in Europe.  Carter has long loved the poems of Wallace Stevens, with their quick changes of pace and unusual plays on words.  This cycle of six songs is by no means typical word painting : on the contrary, Carter hears syntax as music.  His setting flows from the cadence of the lines in the text.  For example, the lines in Puella Parvula break and chop mid-phrase, creating a choppy counter-rhythm which Carter adopts :

“…………………………………………………..O mind

Gone wild, be what he tells you o be : Puella.

Write pax across the window pane.  And then

Be still.  The summarium in excelsis begins…

Flame, sound, fury composed…Hear what he says,

The Dauntless master, a he starts the human tale.”

 
Carter makes a pause after “write” so the following phrase flows like an entity in itself.  There’s a much longer pause after “And then” which reflects the hiatus the poem intended, as well deepening the emotional tension.   Another pause after “Be still”, then an arching, full-throated “summarium in excelsis”.  This is a very different approach to song, indeed.  It’s reinforced by having passages spoken as well as sung.  Indeed, the fifth song, The Roaring Wind is based on abstract vocalise. 

“What syllable are you seeking,

Vocalissimus

In the distances of seep?”

This is the poem from which the whole group derives its name.  It may be short, and end abruptly, but that’s perhaps the point.  “”Vocalissimuss” becomes an entity, whatever he, she or it may be.  Just as the meaning of Steven’s poetry goes much deeper than his words, Carter is setting something a lot deeper than the surface of the poetry.  It’s quite amazing how he’s thought through the poems and penetrated their inner logic.  His minimal orchestration is exquisitely sensitive to the tiny nuances of feeling in the text.  Three violas and three flutes are used to resonate with the timbre of the voice, and the whole sound palette is restrained and pure.  The final line of the last song runs :

“The song of the great space of your age pierces

The fresh night.”

Carter sets it with solid ostinatos, like the pounding of tent pegs.  It’s as if he wants to delineate every single word, to pin each word down into our consciousness.  I’m sorry I’ve written so much about this piece, but it is very different and very demanding and there’s much more that could be said.

This cycle is of course still so new that there hasn’t been much time for interpretations to settle.  The orchestral playing was wonderful, however, refined and intuitive.  Jane Irwin is of course a very experienced singer and no stranger to new music.  Her diction was clear and pure.  One day, perhaps, when the cycle is better understood, perhaps may be a different approach to the delivery, because there always are different ways of doing things.  But for the time being, there’s so much to take in about this work that it’s probably wise not to risk too much too soon.

Most of the strings got to rest after Carter, because Colin Matthews’ Two Part Invention only requires double bass and cello.  As the composer says, it’s not two part counterpoint, but an invention in two halves.  The first part bursts with exuberant jazz like inventions, giving trumpets, horns, clarinets and double bass a chance for spirited playing.   The second part is a concerto for amplified cello.  The cello part continues unbroken through almost the whole section.  It’s manic and quite demanding.  Timothy Gill deserved the applause he received.  It’s interesting to reflect that Matthews wrote this piece in honour of Elliot Carter’s 80th birthday.  It captures something of Carter’s vivacious personality.  Fortunately, Carter is still with us 20 years later and still going strong !

 

Anne Ozorio 


 


Back to the Top     Back to the Index Page


Seen and Heard
, one of the longest established live music review web sites on the Internet, publishes original reviews of recitals, concerts and opera performances from the UK and internationally. We update often, and sometimes daily, to bring you fast reviews, each of which offers a breadth of knowledge and attention to performance detail that is sometimes difficult for readers to find elsewhere.

Seen and Heard publishes interviews with musicians, musicologists and directors which feature both established artists and lesser known performers. We also feature articles on the classical music industry and we use other arts media to connect between music and culture in its widest terms.

Seen and Heard aims to present the best in new criticism from writers with a radical viewpoint and welcomes contributions from all nations. If you would like to find out more email Regional Editor Bill Kenny.





 








Search Site  with FreeFind


 


Any Review or Article




 
Contributors: Marc Bridle, Martin Anderson, Patrick Burnson, Frank Cadenhead, Colin Clarke, Paul Conway, Geoff Diggines, Sarah Dunlop, Evan Dickerson Melanie Eskenazi (London Editor) Robert J Farr, Abigail Frymann, Göran Forsling,  Simon Hewitt-Jones, Bruce Hodges,Tim Hodgkinson, Martin Hoyle, Bernard Jacobson, Tristan Jakob-Hoff, Ben Killeen, Bill Kenny (Regional Editor), Ian Lace, John Leeman, Sue Loder,Jean Martin, Neil McGowan, Bettina Mara, Robin Mitchell-Boyask, Simon Morgan, Aline Nassif, Anne Ozorio, Ian Pace, John Phillips, Jim Pritchard, John Quinn, Peter Quantrill, Alex Russell, Paul Serotsky, Harvey Steiman, Christopher Thomas, Raymond Walker, John Warnaby, Hans-Theodor Wolhfahrt, Peter Grahame Woolf (Founder & Emeritus Editor)


Site design: Bill Kenny 2004