John Burge (b. 1961)
Sinfonia Antiqua (2001)
Forgotten Dreams (1995)
One Sail (1993)
Upper Canada Fiddle Suite (1996)
Joanna G’froerer (flute); Rachel Mercer (cello)
Thirteen Strings Chamber Orchestra/Kevin Mallon
rec. 2019, Ottawa, Canada
NAXOS CLASSICS 8.579073 [64]
John Burge is a melodic traditionalist so be warned - or encouraged. The Naxos notes tell us that all four of these string orchestra works are from 1993 to 2001. They were commissioned and first performed by this diminutive yet ample sounding orchestra.
Burge plays, without faithlessness, to those who have a sound-image instantly conjured by the title of the four-movement Sinfonia Antiqua. The music breaks no musical bounds; this is not the language of stylistic insurrection. The language adopted is that of Binge, Parry, Britten, Warlock, Bridge, Holst and Finzi and one other work outside that loosely ‘grouped’ pleiad: Prokofiev in his ‘Classical’ Symphony. The warmly wafted Debussian Forgotten Dreams is heard here in a version for strings and solo flute. To my ears it fits well with the sun-drenched image of idyllic fir-be-groved Greek islands. It is expertly lofted by Joanna G’froerer who established a shared mood with the orchestra.
One Sail, in a single movement, has a deal of proudly rippling passion strained into its 15 minutes. It is the most emotive of all four of these works and sets the composer a fruitful challenge which might please listeners who seek greater depth of emotional impact than is delivered by the other works here. The soloist is Rachel Mercer and the work was premiered by fellow cellist Shauna Rolston. The final work is the three-movement Upper Canada Fiddle Suite. Rather like Arthur Benjamin’s shorter and much earlier North American Square Dance Suite and Red River Jig this makes refreshing play with the fiddle music of the immigrant Canadian nations: Scots, Irish and Eastern European. The movements are Reel, Waltz and Jig. Burge introduces harmonic adventures into the Waltz … and does so to hypnotic effect.
Kevin Mallon, of Irish/Canadian roots, studied with Peter Maxwell Davies and John Eliot Gardiner. He not only conducts but has also penned the contextual liner-note with the composer.
Rob Barnett
