This CD is available
from the Naresh Sohal Society which
is run by Dennis Day (dennisday@onetel.com)
and has recorded been under the sponsorship
of Vinay Relan and N.C.Blythe. Members
of the British Music Society may recall
an article on Sohal in the June newsletter
2005, at the end of which this CD was
advertised as available.
It consists of five
works composed over a period from 1971-2001
and therefore represents a wide range
of development in the composer.
The first work is ‘Chiaroscuro
II’ for string quartet first played
by the Arditti Quartet in Holland in
1976 at a period when Sohal was more
regularly heard on the airwaves and
in the concert hall. Indeed he had recently
been the recipient of an Arts Council
Grant. It is typical of its period.
A casual and unsympathetic listener
might describe this atonal work as ‘squeaky
gate’ music or to put it in the words
of the anonymous booklet writer ‘The
work aims to display a multitude of
shades within the colour spectrum of
the string quartet –hence its title".
It is interesting and relevant to know,
as Dennis Day has recently told me,
that at the time of composing this work
the composer had become a keen amateur
painter. The title really hints at a
technique of painting items against
a darker background and in a very real
sense this is exactly what happens here.
In any case it is full of the use of
extreme ranges throughout the piece.
The work is in three tense sections
which drift into each other ending in
deep melancholia.
Shades IV for solo
viola comes next and this is a very
impressive achievement. Writing for
a solo instrument is always a major
compositional challenge but Sohal rises
to it wonderfully; and why not, as it
was written for Rivka Golani one of
the very best of violists. It begins,
harp-like with a gentle pizzicato presentation
of the instruments open strings, a motif
which returns throughout the piece and
acts as a kind of theme upon which variants
are imposed. I say harp-like but perhaps
I should say sitar-like as this piece
does particularly give me the impression
in places of being ‘Indian’ in inspiration
if I can say that. Although it is not
easy to pinpoint I could mention the
keening modality of certain yearning
phrases and the use of quarter-tones
in a variant of the open strings idea
at about six minutes in. Sohal has in
fact written works with definite inspiration
from his homeland like ‘Indra-Dhanush’
in 1973 and ‘Gautama Buddha’ in 1987.
Although not always
gripped by works for unaccompanied instruments
this one proved fascinating and clever
and with its faster and passionate final
two minutes proved emotionally satisfying.
Later on the CD, comes
another ‘Shades’ piece, the much shorter
number VI for solo violin .To quote
the booklet notes again ‘Shades in a
generic term for a series of pieces
created by the composer which aim to
make full use of their potential range
of timbres and techniques of various
instruments". (Just as he had done
in the aforementioned string quartet)
This is the most recent work on the
CD having been written for the brilliant
Rumanian born Cristina Anghelescu in
2001 after hearing her play the Beethoven
concerto. Indeed this work seems to
be inspired by the big broad melodies
of the Beethoven especially in the first
section with its beautiful use of double-stopping.
Again we have three sections and again
the speed increases as the work progresses.
This is an even more virtuosic work
that Shades IV and the stratospheric
writing at about five minutes in, is
negotiated with seeming ease and grace
by Anghelescu. Lucky the composer who
receives such a committed and brilliant
performance.
I was able to hear
again, courtesy of Dennis Day, after
well over twenty years, Sohal’s extraordinary
50 minute ‘The Wanderer’ for Chorus,
baritone solo and orchestra performed
for its one and only time, at the Proms
under Andrew Davies in 1981. One thing
that particularly struck me is the composer’s
economy of means bearing in mind such
a large structure. Austere, ascetic
even, but everything related to something
else. This economy is also to be found
in the Trio for piano, violin and cello
which falls nicely on the CD between
the two ‘Shades’ pieces. It also falls
into three clear sections which float
into each other beginning with a powerful
repeated pedal and March-like and out-of-sink
chords, and ending with a curious 7/8
eastern type dance which Holst would
have enjoyed. It is mainly an unsmiling
and gritty piece but one which involves
its listeners and certainly does not
outstay its welcome. Again this piece
achieves a wonderfully committed and
powerful performance with the music
seemingly in the bones of the players.
The same comments also
apply to the last work on the CD, a
piece for what is the largest ensemble
represented here and a piece which shows
off Sohal’s powers of ‘orchestration’
in this limited grouping that is ‘ Hexad’
and it makes an excellent ending to
this impressive disc. It is in six short
and contrasted sections (sadly not separately
tracked or indexed) and it is one of
Sohal’s most performed works. It would
be too tedious to describe each section
but I will briefly say that there is
a further use of quarter-tones (as noted
earlier in ‘Shades IV’) in its rather
exotic opening movement. Aleotoric techniques
are used in the last movement where
therefore an element of improvisation
is used in which the players are each
given a fragment from an earlier movement.
Perhaps the composer did this because
he felt that the work was too sectionalized
and that there was a little too much
contrasting music for the listeners
to take in so it seemed a good idea
to repeat some, even in such and unusual
manner. There is an evocative use of
the vibraphone especially in section
one and of the Xylophone in section
three. All in all a fascinating piece
full of sounds heard nowhere else on
the disc but whether the piece hangs
together successfully only each listener
can judge...
The CD comes with good
liner notes and performer biographies,
is perfectly well recorded and retails
at mid-price. Copies are also available
via the website above.
Gary Higginson
Daniel Pailthorpe (flute, Timothy Jackson
(horn, Richard Benjufield, (percussion); Anne
Solomon (violin); Michael Atkinson (cello); Paul
Sherman (double-bass); Roger Montgomery (director)
