David Hackbridge JOHNSON (b.1963)
Orchestral Works - Volume 3
Ziggurats Op.251 (2017) [11.04]
Aspens Op. 362 (2017) [10.31]
Symphony No.15 ‘Where the Wind is Born Op. 361 No.3 (2017) [30.17]
Two Elegies for Strings and Harp Op.159 (2005) [10.27]
Valse Mérovingienne Op.77 (2000/2017) [6.12]
Liepāja Symphony Orchestra/Paul Mann
rec. 2017/18, Amber Concert Hall, Liepāja, Latvia
TOCCATA CLASSICS TOCC0456 [69.05]
I didn’t avail myself of volume 1 of Johnson’s
works which includes his 9th Symphony played by the Royal
Liverpool Philharmonic but I did purchase volume 2 which has on it two
symphonies, No.10 and No.13 played by the Royal Scottish Orchestra (TOCC0452)
and I must say it practically blew me away. I was delighted therefore
when volume 3 popped through the letterbox.
We have a different orchestra again this time, one I know nothing about,
and possibly that applies to you also but I should say instantly that
they acquit themselves wonderfully in what would surely be a new sound
world for them. I also find myself wondering where this composer has
been hiding all this time and am utterly amazed by his astronomically
high opus numbers, even more startling than Alan Hovhaness.
Oddly enough I started listening by taking in the Two Elegies
for Strings and Harp. In many ways unassuming
but holding much of interest but if you already know the symphonies
these pieces will come as something of a surprise, not least the fact
that they are informed, as it were, by older music; the second, ‘Semper
Dolens’, being clearly based via variations on Dowland’s
‘Flow my tears’. Perhaps however the introduction and coda
are the most interesting part of the piece, harmonically. The first
Elegy is an austere ‘Lochrian Ground’ based on a series
of five consecutive fifths.
The first two tracks make a pair Aspens Op.362 and
Ziggurats Op.251. They were both composed in 2017 and
even given that Hackbridge-Johnson is very prolific there can’t
be over one hundred opus number between them especially as the 9th
Symphony of 2012 is just Op.295! I suspect then a misprint, Ziggurats
I assume being Op.351; anyway putting pedantry to one side the composer
describes them as “nature and landscape pieces” and the
latter is certainly brooding, dark and oppressive. The composer explains
that a Ziggurat is a massive raised structure from Mesopotamian cities
and the music sounds ‘monolithic’. The booklet notes also
quote a poem, adapted from a description by King Nebuchadnezzar II of
such a building. The Eb clarinet is given a virtuoso part,
screeching above the heavy textures in the middle section and the player
is credited on the CD as Kärlis Catlaks.
The title of the composer’s detailed and fascinating accompanying
essay, which also offers us rare musical examples is ‘Nature,
Poetry, History - Refractions through music’ and this quote certainly
applies to Aspens, no wonder the composer remarks that
“This work is my own favourite from among my pieces” he
seems to have been able to put on paper with precise truthfulness the
inner voice that he heard and which came out of a dream of wind and
light refracting and swaying through trees and fallen leaves at dusk.
It’s a case, though, of did the music come first and afterwards
the suitable poem discovered or, as the composer was already familiar
with Edward Thomas’s ‘Aspens’, did it, manifesting
itself in dream-form, then inform the music’s inspiration and
progress that the composer then held throughout the entire composing
process. Which ever it was it is a very remarkable example of orchestral
colouring, which quite captures the listener’s imagination.
The three movement Symphony No.15 ‘Where the Wind
is born’ is, as the composer tells us, related
technically to Aspens but more significantly, as I
said above, the orchestra used for this CD is the Liepāja Symphony
Orchestra from Latvia and this is because the symphony was conceived
in that coastal city in which the light and the natural enviroment in
general so gripped the composer as he and his wife, with the conductor
Paul Mann and producer Martin Anderson, visited it together. It also
inspired the composer into writing an evocative prose description (almost
poetic) of that day. The city is often known as ‘the place where
wind is born’ and hence the symphony’s descriptive title.
In addition Anderson suggested that the composer try to incorporate
a Latvian folk melody into the work and this he did in the dying phases
of the finale’s ending. The booklet again gives us musical examples.
This original melody is for a text which begins ‘Blow wind, push
the boat/push me home to Kurzeme”.
In the opening movement ‘Drifts’ one can see a similar idea
as found in Aspens that is the holding of one harmony into the next
just long enough to create a misty atmosphere of an overlapping tidal
flow. ‘Storm’, which comes next, is interestingly orchestrated
but storm music is far from uncommon and I’m not really sure if
Johnson quite communicates what he sets out to achieve. Finally in ‘Chorales’
we are certainly wind blown but there is also an extraordinary chiaroscuro
sound world especially in the passage, which the composer describes
as ‘glassy orchestration’ of wind, harp and cello harmonics
announcing the folk melody.
Over all I haven’t found this symphony to be quite as satisfying
as either numbers 10 or 13, perhaps the composer took on a little too
disparate an idea; even so, I would add before moving on to the final
work, that if you are wondering where to start with this composer this
disc would be my suggested introduction.
I found myself wondering as I listened to the Valse Mérovingienne
if someone close to the composer had said “Look here David, you
need to include a lighter piece on the disc which will show another
aspect of your style” as this Waltz is in such pleasing contrast
to these other works. It was to have formed part of a ballet called
‘Cilderic’s Dream’ with an unlikely plot set during
the Merovingian dynasty and concerning a dream of Childeric III when
he was locked up in a monastery. It’s probably best just to enjoy
the main melody and the delicious orchestration.
The disc is wonderfully played and recorded and its presentation is
ideal. Buy it !
Gary Higginson
Posted by David Hackbridge Johnson on June 15, 2019,
12:41 pm
I am most grateful to Garry Higginson for pointing out some baffling
numbers on the 3rd volume of my orchestral music on Toccata Classics.
Ziggurats should be Op. 251 composed between 2011 and 2013. I simply
fed the wrong information to Martin Anderson when I was doing the notes
- entirely my fault! Although I have been known to produce music fairly
quickly, getting from Op. 251 to Op. 362 inside a year would be pushing
it, even for me! Best wishes, DHJ
