Luke Anthony’s name was new to me. He continues to study
jazz and classical music in parallel. Composition studies were
conducted at Royal Holloway College, at University of London
with John Woolrich and Peter Wiegold and in Milan with Anne-Marie
Turcotte. His work has been performed at the Queen Elizabeth
Hall, the Royal Opera House, the South Bank Centre, Green Man,
Lattitude and Edinburgh festivals. He has recently completed
Montuno,
a piece for Piano Circus (6 Pianos). Anthony is Composer-in-Residence
at Ibstock Place School, Roehampton.
The three movements of this ever so lightly jazzy
Saxophone
Concerto are sub-titled
Battle,
Death and
Resurrection.
The first of these begins Middle Eastern and mysterious then
jaunty and moves into steely mordant conflict. Minimalist euphoric
surging ostinato cells, wavelets and rhapsodising are in evidence.
Death has
the slow bloom of the Mahler
Adagietto. Its unhurried
breathing provides a humane and later chromium gleaming pulse
over which the saxophone idyllically soliloquises. It rises to
a keeningly poignant climaxing for the saxophone. It’s
just wonderful. The final
Resurrection reminded me of
the more lively
Greek Dances by Skalkottas. Some of this
writing is rather akin to Nyman’s
Where the Bee Dances -
the work championed with such triumph by John Harle. Don’t
miss it Classic FM. The 25-strong orchestra is real: not sampled;
not synthesised.
Far Away for piano, drum-kit and breathy saxophone
is emotionally cool and laid-back - radiating a sort of contented
melancholy.
Miss Julie for the same forces is from
the music Anthony wrote for a production of the Strindberg play.
It is urgent and capriciously freewheeling.
Get Carter is
Anthony’s tribute to the long-lived American composer Elliott
Carter. As perhaps expected it steps away from the jazzy accessibility
of the other tracks and makes free with a higher acid content
in the harmonic collisions. There’s feral verve about the
more animated writing.
Waltz is cool, affectionate
and lyrical with the suggestion of moistening eyes. The piano
line bustles intermittently with Swingles-style Bach. The final
track is another take on
Far Away - a sigh
on which to leave an intelligently smiling music collection.
The jazziness in the piano playing implies emphatic confidence.
This sometimes veers into commercialism but this is redeemed
by the feminine rhapsodising of the saxophone.
There are no background notes with the CD which is a pity although
there is some information at Anthony at his
website.
The clean design of the cover and insert is admirable.
Luke Anthony is one of a host of composers - including, each
in their different ways, Lionel Sainsbury and Graham Lynch) who
are announcing their presence outside the conventional label
scene. It’s a multitudinous trend so we will miss some
but I am glad to have encountered Anthony’s music and want
to hear more. His current projects include a Requiem Mass, an
album of piano music and a new folk/rock album. That Requiem
should be promising.
Rob Barnett
Tony Woods (alto
and soprano saxophones) 
