Mighty River: A powerful celebration of women composers from Joanna MacGregor and the Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra to mark International Women's Day

Joanna MacGregor
& the Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra
© Nick Boston

Joanna MacGregor (Conductor & Piano)

Ayanna Witter-Johnson (Cello & Singer)

Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra

Ruth Rogers (Leader)

7.30pm, Friday 8 March, 2024

Dome Concert Hall, Brighton

★★★★

Meredith Monk (b.1942): Ellis Island
Nina Simone (1933-2003): Good Bait, arr. Joanna MacGregor
Eleanor Alberga (b.1949): Clouds for Piano Quintet: Scudding
Errollyn Wallen (b.1958): Mighty River
Ayanna Witter-Johnson (b.1985): Ain't I a Woman?
                                                     Colour War
Sam Cooke (1931-1964): A Change is Gonna Come, arr. Ayanna Witter-Johnson
Ayanna Witter-Johnson: Unconditionally

Florence Price (1887-1953): The Mississippi River

The Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra’s Music Director, Joanna MacGregor took back the baton following Sian Edwards’ visit last month for their concert marking International Women’s Day, Mighty River: Celebrating Women. And this was another great example of imaginative and brave programming, with music most if not all unfamiliar to their audience, who gave enthusiastic responses throughout.

 

Meredith Monk
© Julieta Cervantes

But before taking to the podium, MacGregor opened the concert with two solo piano works. First came Meredith Monk’s watery miniature, Ellis Island, originally written to accompany her 1981 film compiled from footage of immigrants arriving in the USA in the 1900s. MacGregor made the minimalist cascades flow with a fluid lilt, and allowed the brief fragments of melodic material to emerge from the textures, whilst keeping everything atmospherically quiet, particularly at its pianissimo conclusion. She followed this with her own arrangement of Nina Simone’s Good Bait, from her 1958 debut album. From the Bach-like opening, it quickly morphs its bluesy melodic line into jazzier lines over walking bass lines, and then the rhythms and rolling textures intensify, building to a virtuosic, Lisztian conclusion. MacGregor is in her element in this repertoire, and these two striking solo works from two contrasting women composers and performers from the twentieth century (although Monk is of course still composing and performing, now in her eighties) provided a strong opening.  

 

Eleanor Alberga

MacGregor remained at the keyboard, and was joined by the four BPO string principals, for the opening movement from Jamaican born composer, Eleanor Alberga’s Clouds for Piano Quintet, composed in 1984. Scudding conjures up wide skyscapes and shifting clouds, with its sliding, almost sultry solo lines, first from the cello, and then viola. The complex rhythms develop, and at one point, the pizzicato strings sounded reminiscent of the West African kora. There are lots of intricate moments here, and the players clearly enjoyed the challenge of their offbeat rhythms. The music builds and speeds up to an exciting coda with a rapidly repeated pattern – they might not have quite nailed the finish together, but their energy brought this fascinating piece to a lively conclusion. I will definitely have to check out the rest of the Piano Quintet on the back of hearing this.

 

Errollyn Wallen
© Azzurra Primavera

There was then a brief hiatus as the stage was reset for the full BPO’s arrival (and a rather long wait for the first violins to join – the Music Director shouldn’t have to go off stage to fetch them!), for Errollyn Wallen’s Mighty River. This orchestral work from 2007 was composed to mark the bicentenary of the abolition of slavery, and Wallen blends the spirituals Amazing Grace and Deep River into a rich tapestry of orchestral colours. It opens with a horn solo on Amazing Grace, and whilst this was relatively secure, the tuning when the horn was joined by piccolo and then clarinet could have been purer. However, once the strings began their rhythmic pulsing, with flutters from woodwind and brass, the orchestral sound settled. In the faster, more energetic sections, MacGregor danced through the joyful rhythms, but the orchestra as a whole felt a little cautious in these sections, perhaps as a result of limited rehearsal time, preventing full ownership of the piece. Yet Macgregor managed the frequent rhythmic transitions smoothly, successfully keeping the strings at bay later on as fragments of the spirituals were passed around the orchestra, and the concluding horn solo was much more secure, this time accompanied by the djembe drum, played with impressive attack by Donna-Maria Landowski.  

 

Ayanna Witter-Johnson

After the interval, came a real departure for the BPO, and a welcome injection of something completely different in the programme. Ayanna Witter-Johnson is a singer, cellist and composer from London, and performed four songs, accompanying herself on the cello. Her opening number, Ain’t I a Woman?, based on abolitionist and activist Sojourner Truth’s 1851 speech demanding equal rights for women, showed off her incredibly soulful voice, as well as a virtuosic ability to make the cello sound like a blues guitar. Colour War also had rhythmic pizzicato pulsing accompaniment underpinning her mellow, soulful voice, and her cover of Sam Cooke’s A Change is Gonna Come was incredibly powerful, the pared back sound adding strength to this classic protest against injustice and racism. And finally, Unconditionally took her percussive use of the cello to a new level, with the Cuban rumba clave providing the bass for her vocal dexterity to shine out. Her latest EP, including two of these tracks, was released today – more info here. Including such an exciting performer in their concert is another testament to MacGregor and the BPO’s innovative and adventurous programming.

 

Ayanna Witter-Johnson
© Nick Boston

Another hiatus for stage reorganisation (this really needs to get a little slicker), the evening concluded with a majestic performance of Florence Price’s The Mississippi River. As epic as the river itself, this large scale orchestral work combines four spiritual tunes, an Indigenous American song, ragtime music, and a Creole tune, all flowing one into the other, just like the rapid river. The opening section is full of pastoral woodwind, followed by moving brass chorales, and immediately one sensed the BPO were in a more confident mood here. There were moments of lush Hollywood, and some glorious harp moments (Alex Rider deserves a special mention here, and for his deft contribution in the Wallen earlier in the evening), and there was some remarkably delicate rapid work from the bassoons too. Nothing stays still for long in this piece as we move on down the river, and the build up to the climax was powerfully delivered, before the wind down to the solo trumpet’s Deep River fragment – but the final word was given to more delicate work from Alex Rider on the harp, over glistening, watery strings.