…from Josef Suk. Here is his Serenade for Strings in E flat major, an early work – performed by the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Jiří Bělohlávek in a recording from the 1990s:
A serenade for a spring evening…
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On Record – Zoë Beyers, English Symphony Orchestra / Kenneth Woods: Elcock: Violin Concerto, Symphony no.8 (Nimbus)
Zoë Beyers (violin), English Symphony Orchestra / Kenneth Woods
Elcock
Violin Concerto Op.13 (1996-2003, rev. 2020)
Symphony no.8 Op.37 (1981/2021)
Nimbus NI6446 [56’24’’]
Producer and Engineer Phil Rowlands
Recorded 28 July 2021 (Symphony), 26 May 2022 (Violin Concerto) at Wyastone Concert Hall, Monmouth
Reviewed by Richard Whitehouse
What’s the story?
The English Symphony Orchestra and Kenneth Woods add to their much lauded 21st Century Symphony Project with this release devoted to Steve Elcock (b.1957), juxtaposing two major works which confirm his standing among the leading European symphonists of his generation.
What’s the music like?
Both works heard here only gradually assumed their definitive form. Composed at stages over almost a decade, the Violin Concerto marks something of a transition between less ambitious pieces for local musicians and those symphonic works which have come to dominate Elcock’s output. Its initial Allegro vivo is a tensile sonata design whose rhythmic energy is maintained throughout, with enough expressive leeway for its second theme to assume greater emotional emphasis in the reprise. There follows a Molto tranquillo whose haunting main theme, at first unfolded by the soloist over undulating upper strings in a texture pervaded by change-ringing techniques, is a potent inspiration. A pavane-like idea soon comes into focus while the closing stage, reaching an eloquent plateau before it evanesces into silence, stays long in the memory. The short but eventful finale is a Passacaglia whose theme (audibly related to previous ideas) accelerates across five variations from Andante to Presto, before culminating in a heightened cadenza-like passage on violin and timpani then a peremptory yet decisive orchestral pay-off.
The Eighth Symphony has its antecedents even further back, having begun as a string quartet in the early 1980s, though it continues those processes of evolution and integration central to the seven such works which precede it. It reflects the impact of the Sixth Symphony by Allan Pettersson (still awaiting its UK premiere after 58 years), but whereas that epic work centres on fateful arrival, Elcock’s single movement is more about striving towards a destination that remains tantalizingly beyond reach. Numerous pithy motifs are stated in the formative stages, as the music alternates between relative stasis and dynamism before being thrown into relief by the emergence (just before the mid-point) of a trumpet melody that goes on to determine the course of this piece as it builds inexorably towards a sustained climax then subsides into a searching postlude. Overt resolution may have been eschewed, yet the overriding sense of cohesion and inevitability duly outweighs that mood described by the composer as ‘‘one of desperation in the teeth of impending catastrophe’’ which, in itself, becomes an affirmation.
Does it all work?
Certainly, given both works receive well prepared and finely realized performances – notable for the way Elcock’s demanding yet idiomatic string writing is realized with real conviction. The concerto is a tough challenge for any soloist and one Zoë Beyers meets with assurance – its close-knit interplay of soloist and orchestra brought off with admirable precision, and its occasional modal subtleties rendered as enrichments of the tonal trajectory. Elcock has been fortunate in his recorded exponents, and this new ESO release is emphatically no exception.
Is it recommended?
Indeed, and good to hear that, as the ESO’s current John McCabe Composer-in-Association, Elcock will feature on a follow-up issue of his pieces Wreck and Concerto Grosso, along with the recent Fermeture. For now, this latest release warrants the strongest of recommendations.
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You can listen to sample tracks and purchase on the Naxos Direct website. For further information on the artists, click on the names for more on Zoë Beyers, the English Symphony Orchestra and their conductor Kenneth Woods. Click on the name for more on composer Steve Elcock
Published post no.2,182 – Saturday 18 May 2024
In concert – CBSO Chorus & Orchestra / Joshua Weilerstein: Haas, Bernstein, Shaw & Dvořak
Michael Mulroy (treble), CBSO Chorus, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra / Joshua Weilerstein
Haas Study for Strings (1943)
Bernstein Chichester Psalms (1965)
Shaw Music in Common Time (2014)
Dvořak Symphony no.9 in E minor Op.95 ‘From the New World’ (1893)
Symphony Hall, Birmingham
Wednesday 15 May 2024
Reviewed by Richard Whitehouse Picture (c) Yuri Pires Tavares
In recent seasons, Joshua Weilerstein has presided over several of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra’s most thought-provoking concerts and tonight’s programme was no exception in its potent mix of the recent and unfamiliar, alongside a symphonic evergreen.
It was thanks to the conductor and Auschwitz survivor Karel Ančerl that Study for Strings by Pavel Haas survived its immediate context, as propaganda for a Nazi documentary on cultural activity at the Theresienstadt transit-camp, to become one of this composer’s defining works. Felicitously combining Czech folk music with traditional Jewish inflections and (in its central section) more expressionist undertones, alongside a compact and quasi-symphonic design, it is a potent indication as to where post-war Czech music might conceivably have been headed.
It duly brought a vivid and energetic response from the CBSO strings, who were then joined by brass and percussion in Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms. Commissioned by the Dean of the city’s cathedral, it enabled the composer to pull together a number of earlier or aborted ideas in three Psalm-settings given focus by being heard in Hebrew translation with an authentic (if impractical as regards the percussion) scoring. Weilerstein drew the requisite verve from its initial setting, and if Michael Mulroy seemed tentative in its successor (discreet amplification might have helped), the contrast between his plaintiveness and edginess of the male-chorus interludes was pertinently drawn. Its anguished prelude for strings powerfully rendered, the final setting had an affecting eloquence through to the serene unaccompanied closing chorus.
After the interval, the CBSO Chorus was heard in rather more restrained guise with Music in Common Time by Caroline Shaw. Its brief and oblique text might have come from a late song by Talk Talk, but it yet provides the framework for a cannily unfolding fantasia in which the eddying textures of John Adams frame a speculative section with its string writing more than a little redolent of early Penderecki. Throughout, voices and instruments were finely melded in a composition that certainly suggests a plausible way out of any post-minimalist impasse.
What to say about the New World Symphony? Firstly, that it fitted judiciously into the overall programme as to conception; secondly, that it brought out the best in this partnership. Right from its evocative introduction, Weilerstein was alive to those many expressive ambiguities in the initial Allegro (a pity, though, that he omitted the exposition repeat as this undermines the formal balance overall), then drew a rapt and often searching response from the CBSO in the Largo – Rachel Pankhurst making the most of its indelible cor anglais melody. Nor was there any lack of bite or (in its trio section) gracefulness in the scherzo; such incisiveness of ensemble consistent throughout the finale, whose rhythmic impetus ensured the coda was not merely decisive but crowned the whole work in an apotheosis as conclusive as it was joyous. In his thoughtful initial remarks, Weilerstein spoke of this programme as being defined by its complexity, nuance and confrontation: qualities not always evident in present-day music, or in present-day discourse, but whose absence is our loss – as this concert eloquently confirmed.
Click on the link to read more on the current CBSO concert season, and on this link to read about the CBSO’s 2024/25 season. Click on the names for more on conductor Joshua Weilerstein, the CBSO Chorus and composer Caroline Shaw
Published post no.2,181 – Friday 17 May 2024
Let’s Dance – Perc: The Cut Off (Perc Trax)
by Ben Hogwood
What’s the story?
This is the first album in seven years from Perc, aka Alistair Wells – recorded at the Perc Trax studios in London. It is his fourth album and is pointed squarely at the dancefloor, a collection of club tracks with an industrial edge.
What’s the music like?
Big and bold. Perc makes his techno big – the riffs, drones and drums all of a size that could easily fill an aircraft hangar. This is dance music going back to first principles, but as he says it is in avoidance of nostalgia and, as far as possible, cliches.
Most of the album is instrumental, which makes Sissel’s appearance on Static all the more striking. Banging industrial drums complement her claustrophobic vocal. The drums are to the fore in the minimal Imperial Leather, a primal high,
Elsewhere there are hints of ambient backdrops amongst the activity. Can You Imagine? works like a set of bells before the cavernous drums kick in, while choral voices alternate on Heartbeat Popper. UK Style dispenses with the drums for some disarming panoramic views, as does Calcify, a closing track of orchestral dimensions.
By contrast, the synths come out in force on the acidic Cold Snap, while Felt 23 goes for white hot percussive action and very little else. Milk Snatchers Return is quick march techno, with an ominous presence of widescreen white noise.
Perc’s versatility is most impressive, cutting through a range of drum tracks and styles, most of them fast and all of them delivering straight-to-dancefloor satisfaction with the minimum of fuss.
Does it all work?
Perc certainly achieves what he set out to do with The Cut Off, and its energy levels are off the scale – meaning it is not for every listening situation! When you need to cut loose, though, it does what it needs to do.
Is it recommended?
A qualified recommendation for The Cut Off – because it certainly won’t be to all tastes! – but if fast and furious minimal techno is what you want, you’ve come to the right place.
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Published post no.2,180 – Thursday 16 May 2024
On Record – Jon McKiel: Hex (You’ve Changed Records)
by Ben Hogwood
What’s the story?
New Brunswick artist Jon McKiel returns with a follow-up to the successful 2020 album Bobby Joe Hope. Hex makes use of new sampling techniques he discovered while working on that record, working with JOYFULTALK’s Jay Crocker to make an opus described in the press release as ‘equal parts flower field and burning building’.
What’s the music like?
The promotional material has it spot on. For every moment of brightness in McKiel’s music there is a dark undertone, creating an appealing tension that runs through each song.
McKiel’s vocals are on first impression quite deadpan, but with subsequent listening they are loaded with meaning, and complemented by imaginative instrumentation and counter melodies. Hex has a catchy chorus, ever so slightly sinister, until an unexpected saxophone solo breezes across it like late summer sun.
String goes for an appealing wander with loops of guitars, the sampling work paying dividends, while the woozy textures of The Fix hang heavy in the air, dressed with distant vocals. This song has a barren outlook, “on a land where nothing grows”, and wants to get away from the working day, “still running from the zeros and ones”. While this might come across as pessimistic, there is a lighter touch to the music that gives the listener hope.
This bittersweet approach is a hallmark of McKiel’s music, with pastoral moments such as Everlee taking time to appreciate their surroundings while sitting in the aftermath of world-weariness.
Does it all work?
It does. There is melodic invention aplenty here, fresh lyrical insights and influences that go back to late-1960s pop and psychedelia. All combine for a very satisfying whole.
Is it recommended?
Yes, enthusiastically. If Jon McKiel is a new name to you, then no need to hesitate – he is a clever, multi-dimensional songwriter who makes music appealing to the human spirit.
For fans of… Steve Mason, Gruff Rhys, Grandaddy
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Published post no.2,179 – Wednesday 15 May 2024
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