Ensemble MidtVest give strong performances of engaging chamber works & arrangements by Matthew Owain Jones
Matthew Owain Jones (b.1974) is a renowned violist, violinist and musical educator, as well as composer. He has also trained as an Alexander Technique and a Yoga teacher, with a strong emphasis on promoting wellbeing in musicians, prompted by his own career-threatening experience of RSI. As a performer, he has many significant viola recordings to his name, and is Head of Chamber Music and Professor of Viola at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. His composing output has been relatively sparse, but includes a String Quartet and Wind Quintet, both of which have been recently recorded by the Danish chamber group, Ensemble MidtVest. The original version of the String Quartet No. 1 was compossed when Jones was just 19, and had four movements, but he later revised the work down to two movements, adding the title ‘Deletia’. In this recording, Jones himself takes the first violin part. The opening movement is wistful, full of expression, with a pastoral feel, and the lyrical, winding melodies sing out. The climax is more heartfelt, before a return to the quieter musical language for the quiet ending. The second movement has more of a bouncing, rhythmic pulse, although melodic lines dominate once again. As with the first movement, there is a build to a more passionate section, with a unison crying idea, and elements of minimalist repetition. Harmonics calms things down, and the conclusion is quiet and subdued. This is an attractive work, given a clear and warm performance here. The Wind Quintet is a more recent work, composed for the Ensemble MidtVest in 2016. Comprising single movement of nearly seventeen minutes, it has a confident, atmospheric feel, making good use of the different wind timbres. A distant horn call opens, before different instruments join, crossing each other with distinct entries. After the various lyrical lines have emerged, the clarinet heralds quicker movement, joined by the oboe, and perkier rhythms bubble along. There are many filmic passages here, including a lilting waltz-like andante section. Once again, the Ensemble MidtVest do Jones proud, with clear articulation and smooth, lyrical lines from all five instruments. The rest of the disc is given over to Jones’ arrangement of excerpts from Carl Nielsen’s (1865-1931) Aladdin, Op. 34. The complete score runs to some 80 minutes, composed for Adam Oehlenschläger’s 1805 five act play, and is scored for soloists, choir and orchestra. Nielsen also conducted performances of extracts, and a suite of seven parts was published in 1940. Here, Jones has arranged nine extracts, for string quartet plus wind quintet, and piano (with occasional additional tambourine and bells). Jones distils the atmosphere of Nielsen’s imaginative score well, with swirling energy in the dance movements, and deft articulation and effective use of col legno (the wood of bows hitting strings) and bouncy string spiccato to add texture, the addition of the piano also adding drive and weight. The precision of Ensemble MidtVest’s performance here brings vibrant life to this effective arrangement. A Beautiful Square in Isfahan is the most unusual and atmospheric of the excerpts here, with the eastern infused slow melody over a low drone against a hurdy-gurdy-like violin at cross rhythmic pulse, and weird horn and bassoon chords. Like a busy market square, there is lots going on, and Jones’ taut arrangement captures this well. The final Oriental Festival March is perhaps the most familiar music, with its lively and intense swagger. This is an interesting disc, contrasting Jones’ own engaging compositions with the lively Nielsen arrangements, all performed with energetic commitment by Ensemble MidtVest.
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