'Tavener’s music is ... relatively successful in places, with a kind of meditative build in tension, although we are kept waiting for a fair while before any sense of climax'.
'Rachana Jadhav’s design of the temple staging, combines with effective lighting from Tim Mitchell do create a colourful and pleasing backdrop to the ‘action’, as do the vibrant costumes'.
'Sopranos Julia Sitkovetsky (Radha) and Nazan Fikret (Rukmini) stood out as the most impressive voices of the evening, their ‘uniting’ duet almost eclipsing the love duet between Radha and Krishna'.
'Mark Shanahan conducted the Gascoigne Orchestra with controlled precision, and moments of glistening brass and bells brought the score to life, as did the ‘aerial’ flutes up in the high balcony'.
Following their successful festival finale last July, The Baroque Collective Singers are once again conducted by their Director, John Hancorn. They will be performing 'O Magnum Mysterium', a candlelit, radiant seasonal programme of familiar and unfamiliar music, with some beautiful carols for the audience to join in. The programme includes highly contrasting settings of O Magnum Mysterium by Victoria, Poulenc and Ola Gjeilo. There will be music by contemporary composers such as James MacMillan, Judith Weir and Ed Hughes, as well as works by Holst, Britten and Tavener.
Guest cellist Sebastian Comberti and pianist and festival director Nancy Cooley will be playing too. Tickets are £15 (under 16s £7.50) with proceeds going towards a new piano for the festival. Mulled wine and refreshments by donation. Get tickets here.
Requiem Fragments (BBC
commission, world première)
It would have been Sir John
Tavener's 70th birthday this year, and presumably the BBC's
commission of Requiem Fragments was originally intended to mark that
anniversary at this year's Proms. In fact it was one of the last works he
composed before his death in November last year, and was dedicated to The
Tallis Scholars, who performed it on Monday, conducted by Peter Phillips, along with Ikon of Light,
which they recorded 30 years ago. Their landmark recording of the work
was also re-released earlier this year (read my review here), and that release
also included The Tallis Scholars singing Tavener's The Lamb (more of this later), conducted by Tavener himself.
The Tallis Scholars line-up has
gone through considerable changes in recent times, with many newer voices
joining the group. I wonder whether all these new voices have had chance
to 'bed down' just yet, as the ensemble in Ikon
of Light was at times surprisingly less secure than the smooth, blended
sound we are accustomed to hearing from them. Despite the fact that
tuning was impeccable, they also took a note from the strings between several
sections of the work - unnecessary as the tuning was bang on, but perhaps
another indication that the ensemble were not 100% confident in this opening work.
Ikon of Light is a
striking work, with many of the key elements that would become Tavener's
hallmarks throughout his career. The first of these is evident in the
opening section, Fos I, where he
contrasts short sections for string trio (performed here by members of the
Heath Quartet) with sudden, loud chords from the choir, on the single word, Fos ('light'). In their original
recording, The Tallis Scholars gave these bright, illuminating chords real
shine and edge, but on Monday night, some felt a little tentative, particularly
from the top soprano voices, which characterised the performance overall,
unfortunately. However, there was some impressive singing here too, particularly
from the two low basses in the Mystic
Prayer to the Holy Spirit, as the subterranean bass drones frequently
ground the increasingly complex invention in this long central section.Tavener also shows his fascination with
palindrome in this work, both small and large scale, as seen in the overall
symmetrical structure of the work.When
the Fos chords return towards the end
of the work (Fos II), the voices
seemed more secure and confident, although still without the power and bite of
the original recording.
However, for their performance
of Requiem Fragments, The Tallis
Scholars, separated into two choirs, seemed suddenly much more secure and at
home. Tavener was inspired here by Josquin's complex 24-voice Qui
habitat, with its intricate canon structure.Requiem
Fragments is not as complex, but there is still considerable use of canon,
particularly in the settings of the Hindu words Manikarnika (a Hindu shrine and place of cremation) and Mahapralaya (the total reabsorption of
everything into the one Divine Being, at the end of the Universe). In
contrast, the earlier fragments, setting short parts of the Requiem text, are
much simpler, although there is use of strict canon here between the two
choirs, so that although the harmonies are very simple, almost Romantic in
their lushness, Tavener still creates dissonance and effective layering of
sound. This richness is also matched in the writing for the string
quartet, and the Heath Quartet produced a remarkably full tone to avoid being
swamped by the singers.The sections for
string quartet also use canon, and they are joined by two trombones at key
points, particularly effective in the climactic settings of Atma ('Supreme reality and supreme
self') and Sanctus. After this, Manikarnika begins with a lone soprano voice (exquisitely sung by
Carolyn Sampson, who by now had crept into the organ loft way above the singers
on stage), gradually joined by the choir in canon.Tavener’s ability to produce something
sublime out of seemingly simple beginnings is what marks out certain of his
works as masterpieces, and this is definitely one of those works.When the opening Requiem aeternam setting returns, closure is hinted at, but the
final unresolved chord left hanging in the air felt like a fitting tribute to
the enigmatic composer no longer with us.
Following the original
scheduled programme, as part of the nationwide LIGHTS OUT event, the lights
were dimmed and prommers lit small electric candles, whilst actor Samuel West
joined the stage to recite Wilfred Owen’s Anthem
for Doomed Youth. The Tallis
Scholars, joined by Carolyn Sampson, then gave a heartfelt rendition of
Tavener’s The Lamb, followed by Sam
West reciting the attributed words of the British Foreign Secretary, Sir Edward
Grey, on the eve of Britain’s entry into the First World War, ‘The lamps are going out all over Europe…’ A moving and effective end to a reflective
and atmospheric evening.
Clarinetist Michael Collins
continues in his partnership with pianist Michael McHale, bringing us the music of eight composers, spanning nearly one
hundred years. Some are lighter in character
– the Canzonetta by Gabriel Pierné (1863-1937), the
earliest work here, is a pretty, delightful piece, and the Solo de concours by Henri
Rabaud (1873-1949), a conservatoire test piece, manages to squeeze a slow
dance between a rhapsodic opening section and a highly virtuosic quick-fire
close, all in under six minutes. Debussy’s Première Rhapsodie was also a
conservatoire test piece, but is an altogether more weighty affair. He later made a version for clarinet and
orchestra, and it is somewhat reminiscent of his earlier Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune, for flute and orchestra, with the same sense of languid
lyricism and dreamlike fantasy.The
latest work here is Time Pieces by Robert Muczynski (1929-2010).Its four movements each focus on a different
characteristic of the clarinet, such as the soft, lyrical tones required in the
slow movement, quirky folk style in the third, and lively jazz rhythms in the
final movement.Bohuslav Martinů’s (1890-1959) Sonatinais full of complex
rhythmic devices, as well as hints of Czech folkdance, and its finale is a
joyous celebration, testing the clarinet’s flexibility to its limits, with wild
leaps and real bravado. Jazz is here too, as it is in Leonard Bernstein’s (1918-1990) Sonata, his first published piece, and Collins and McHale bring to life
its Hindemith-influenced cerebral first movement, the warmer more songlike
writing of the second movement, and the jazz style of the finale.As ever, Collins’ command of the technical
requirements is faultless – as is McHale’s command of the often equally
demanding accompaniments (particularly in the Martinů).A great survey
of music perhaps otherwise only known by clarinetists.
Baroque
violinist Johannes Pramsohler has
carved out an innovative and successful career in a very short time, and has
now even launched his own music label, Audax Records, to produce his and other recordings.I first came across him when he led the
International Baroque Players in a concert with Emma Kirkby (when I sang with
BREMF Consort of Voices in choruses from Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas), and was
blown away by the energy and life in the performance from Pramsohler and the
young players.His first recital disc on
his own label is of a varied range of Sonatas
for violin and basso continuo, and he is joined by Philippe Grisvard on harpsichord. They begin with Corelli (1653-1713), and the first Sonata from his highly influential Op.
5 set from 1700.The opening of this
Sonata demands attention with its declamatory opening, and Pramsohler sets the
tone immediately for what proves to be a remarkably engaging recital.Again, there is incredible energy here,
making this sound like a live recital.However, it is the Telemann
(1681-1767) Sonata which follows that was real revelation for me.I have always found Telemann somehow lacking
in something, and rather pedestrian, but here again there is great spirit in
Pramsohler and Grisvard’s approach, which really brings the music alive.Yet that is not to say that the performers
lack sensitivity or subtlety – the opening movement of the Telemann has such
poise and grace, which makes the contrast with the lively Vivace that follows
all the more delightful.Ornamentation
throughout is elaborate yet tasteful, and this is underpinned throughout by
sure-footed accompaniment from the harpsichord.Jean-Marie Leclair’s (1697-1764) Sonata was a delightful discovery for
me here too.Again there is grace and
beauty in the opening Andante, contrasted with the joy of the final Giga.Handel
(1685-1759) is represented here in the Sonata in D major, and singers of Handel’s oratorios will recognise some of
the music here from Solomon and Jeptha.The recital ends with Sonata ‘La
Follia’ – a set of variations on the popular theme, but not Corelli’s
famous set.This time, we have the
lesser known Giovanni Albicastro’s
(c.1660-c.1730) set, and this provides both players with a great way to
shine and round off this excellent programme in style.My only (very minor) quibble with this otherwise exemplary
release is the lack of detail in the notes on the repertoire itself, as some of
these works are less well-known – but there is a very interesting article on
the tradition of the violin recital by Reinhard
Goebel.I await more recordings of
this calibre from Pramsohler with anticipation.
The Tallis Scholars, directed by Peter Phillips, have reissued their
landmark recording of Ikon of Light
by Sir John Tavener (1944-2013) who
died last year.The recording is exactly 30 years old, and the work was commissioned by The Tallis Scholars, and
premiered by them at the Cheltenham Festival that year.Two other works on the disc were also
premiered by The Tallis Scholars – Funeral
Ikos, and the Great Canon of St
Andrew of Crete.The final piece
here is one of Tavener’s most well-known short choral works, The Lamb, and it is conducted here by
the composer himself.In Ikon of Light, the singers are joined
by members of the Chilingrian String Quartet(minus a violin) for a seven movement work of over forty
minutes.From the perspective of looking
back over Tavener’s career, many of his trademarks are here – dramatic use of
silence juxtaposed with loud, thick choral chords, his use of exact contrary
motion and palindrome to create unusual dissonance, and his immersion in the
Orthodox Church and its texts.His use
of the string trio is mostly to provide distant, rather ethereal textures,
which the strident choral chords interrupt – although they do get an interlude
by themselves in the long middle movement (which accounts for nearly half the
piece).Being used to hearing The Tallis
Scholars in early repertoire on the whole, and in precise, polished recordings,
it is actually refreshing to hear them with a slightly rougher, hard-edged
sound, totally appropriate in this repertoire, and still with pinpoint tuning
and accuracy throughout.The other
substantial work, the Great Canon,
uses just twelve singers, with a bass cantor part sung very commandingly by Jeremy White.Again, Tavener’s use of repetition to create
a timeless, meditative atmosphere is in evidence, although I suspect this
atmosphere would be better created by a live performance than on disc.The performances of the two better known,
shorter works here are strong, and the Alleluia setting that Tavener used
frequently in his music is particularly effective here in Funeral Ikos.The Lamb has been recorded so often and
by so many now, but this historic performance with Tavener conducting is still
a significant landmark.The Tallis
Scholars will be performing Ikon of Light, along with the première of Requiem Fragments, written just before the composer’s death, in the BBC Proms on Monday 4 August. Tavener, J. 2014. Ikon of Light. The Tallis Scholars, Peter Phillips. (Release). Compact Disc. Gimell GIMSE 404.
(Edited versions of these reviews first appeared inGScene, June 2014)
