Author Archives: Arcana

Unknown's avatar

About Arcana

My name is Ben Hogwood, editor of the Arcana music site (arcana.fm)

In Concert – Sean Shibe @ Wigmore Hall: A Celebration of the Guitar

Posted on by
Reply

Sean Shibe (guitar)

J.S. Bach Prelude in C minor, BWV999 (c1727)
Barrios Mangoré La Catedral (1921, rev. 1939)
Villa-Lobos Prelude no. 3 in A minor (1940); Études (1929) – no.1 in E minor, no.5 in C major, no.8 in C sharp minor, no.10 in B minor
Barrios Mangoré Barcarola in D major, ‘Julia Florida’ (1938)
Mompou Suite compostelana (1962) – nos. 1, 2, 5 and 6
Martin Quatre pieces brèves (1933)
Adès Forgotten Dances (2023)

Wigmore Hall, London
Thursday 19 September 2023

Reviewed by Richard Whitehouse

Expecting the unexpected has become synonymous with Sean Shibe, who tonight began his season-long residency at Wigmore Hall with this recital which deftly blurred any perceived demarcation between improvised or notated music in a compulsively absorbing programme.

One of a surviving handful of pieces probably written for lute, Bach’s C minor Prelude began proceedings – its elegantly methodical unfolding here rendered with real liquidity by Shibe. It segued seamlessly into La Catedral as is among a relative few of Agustín Barrios Mangoré’s extended compositions: the subdued fervour of (belatedly added) Preludio saudade heading into the hieratic processional of Andante religioso, before the lively yet disquieting motion of Allegro solenne brought this vividly yet understatedly illustrative sequence to its close.

Here, as across this recital, Segovia was a pervasive presence – not least on the guitar output of Heitor Villa-Lobos. From his Five Preludes, Schiebe opted for the Third – a Homage to Bach whose echoing open strings summon an opulence, even majesty, out of all proportion to its length. Then came four of his 12 Études – the intensive arpeggio workout of the First, the stark contrasts between melody and accompaniment of the Fifth, the playful alternation of registers in the Eighth, then rounded off with the exacting rhythmic fluidity of the 10th.

The first half closed with more Barrios – his Júlia Florida a barcarolle of melting tenderness whose allure carried over a second half that commenced with four of the six movements from Federico Mompou’s Suite compostelana. One of the Catalan’s handful of works for other than piano, the distanced evocation of Preludio complemented the austere spirituality of Coral as surely as did the folk-tinged pathos of Canción the ingratiating allure of Muñeira – this latter bringing the Galician environs which had inspired this music into greatest prominence.

Shibe’s including music by Frank Martin was more than welcome in the 50th anniversary of the Swiss composer’s death as has passed largely unnoticed in the UK. His only work for solo guitar, Quatre pieces brèves has been championed by many guitarists in Segovia’s wake and Shibe duly left his mark with his quizzical take on its Prélude, the chaste witfulness of Air then the barely contained emotional impetus of Plainte, before Comme une gigue provided a pointedly ‘contemporary’ vantage on the Baroque dance by turns quixotic and invigorating.

That both Martin and Thomas Adès have written operas on Shakespeare’s The Tempest seems as good a link as any into Forgotten Dances, the latter composer’s first work for guitar. Its six vignettes traverse the restless Overture and Buñuel-influenced speculation of Berceuse, via the Ligetian propulsion of Courante and tenuous repose of Barcarolle, to the cumulatively effusive homage to Berlioz of Carillon de Ville then rather more equable homage to Purcell of Vesper – its allusions emerging, Dowland-like, over what becomes an affecting farewell.

An intriguingly varied recital duly afforded focus not least by the calmly assured presence of Shibe – his appearance this evening redolent of the long-gone, much-missed Billy Mackenzie. A limpid rendering of an as yet unidentified encore provided a brief if wholly appropriate envoi.

To read more about Sean Shibe’s residency at the hall, visit the Wigmore Hall website – and click here to visit the guitarist’s own website

On Record – Tredegar Town Band / Ian Porterhouse, Martyn Brabbins – Holst at 150: A Brass Celebration (Doyen)

Posted on by
Reply

Gustav Holst
Suites for Military Band Op.28:
no.1 in E flat major (1909)
no.2 in F major (1911)
The Perfect Fool Op.39 (1918-22) – Ballet Music (all arr. Littlemore).
A Fugal Overture Op.40 no.1 (1922; arr. Wheeler)
Mr Shilkret’s Maggot (1932; arr. Hindmarsh)
A Moorside Suite (1928)
Imogen Holst
The Unfortunate Traveller (1929; ed. Hindmarsh)
Glory of the West (1969)

Tredegar Town Band / Ian Porthouse and Martyn Brabbins (A Moorside Suite)

Doyen DOYCD435 [74’37’’]
Producer Adam Goldsmith Engineer Daniel Lock
Recorded 18-19 May 2024 at Jack Williams VC Hall, The Works, Ebbw Vale

Reviewed by Richard Whitehouse

What’s the story?

The 150th anniversary of his birth, and 50th anniversary of his death, is an ideal opportunity to reassess the legacy of Holst in all its variety; not least with this anthology of his music for brass band that also finds space for her contribution to the medium by his daughter Imogen.

What’s the music like?

Typical and inimitable Holst – but, as he only wrote one work for the medium, much of this release consists of arrangements. The two Suites for Military Band were obvious candidates: the First Suite’s Chaconne emerges with renewed pathos, as too its whimsical Intermezzo or rumbustious March; no less idiomatic is the Second Suite with its recourse to traditional tunes in such as the effervescent initial March, then the final Fantasia with its memorable rendering of the Dargason. Philip Littlemore is an expert arranger here as of the Ballet Music from the opera The Perfect Fool – the sections that evoke ‘earth’ and fire’ lacking a degree of panache, but that of ‘water’ hardly less magical in this guise. Alastair Wheeler proves no less adept in capturing the impetus of A Fugal Overture, while Paul Hindmarsh gives what ought to be a new lease of life to the ‘jazz-band piece’ designated Mr Shilkret’s Maggot praised but never played by its commissioner. Imogen Holst’s 1967 orchestral arrangement as Capriccio rescued it from oblivion, but this new incarnation makes even more of its recalcitrant humour.

Mention of Imogen leads one to her pieces for brass band, both included here. Compact and characterful, her suite The Unfortunate Traveller was initially more successful as transcribed for strings, though Hindmarsh’s edition adds percussion and clarifies the brass texture as was doubtless intended. Its sure highlight is the winsome Interlude, conjuring a discreet though tangible profundity subsequently glimpsed with The Glory of the West – seven variations on said Morris Dance which confirms music written for amateurs need not involve compromise.

This just leaves A Moorside Suite, a work such as transformed the standing of test-pieces for brass band with that understated acuity surely unique to this composer. Whether in its gently satirical Scherzo, wistful Nocturne whose gradual building to a soulful culmination makes for the highlight of this collection, then a March which fuses energy and eloquence to round off the sequence with irresistible elan – this is Holst at his most engaging and communicative. Music, moreover, Martyn Brabbins clearly relished the chance to conduct for this recording.

Does it all work?

Absolutely, both in this piece and elsewhere, as long-standing music director Ian Porthouse puts the Tredegar Town Band exactingly and admirably through its collective paces. At the forefront of the modern brass-band movement, the latter is ideally placed to find this music an audience outside of its customary domain. That it succeeds is clear from the fact that one listens to this programme without thought of the medium or its context; rather, the emphasis is on those qualities of inspiration and substance as are hallmarks of any worthwhile music.

Is it recommended?

Indeed. Recorded with requisite clarity and definition, and featuring informative annotations by Hindmarsh and Littlemore, this is a significant release in Holst’s anniversary year and an evident first choice for acquiring a representative cross-section of his music in this medium.

Listen & Buy

You can listen to samples and explore purchase options on the World of Brass website Click on the names for more on conductors Ian Porthouse and Martyn Brabbins, the Tredegar Town Band, and for more on the composers Gustav Holst and daughter Imogen Holst

Published post no.2,307 – Friday 20 September 2024

Online concert – English Symphony Orchestra / Kenneth Woods: Elgar Festival 2023 – Symphony no.1

Posted on by
Reply

Elgar Symphony no.1 in A flat major Op.55 (1907-08)

English Symphony Orchestra (leader Zoë Beyers) / Kenneth Woods

Filmed at Worcester Cathedral, Saturday 3 June 2023

Recording, editing and video direction by Tim Burton

Reviewed by Richard Whitehouse

The revival these past four years of the Elgar Festival has provided a boost to music-making in the Midlands, with the present account of that composer’s First Symphony a reminder of the English Symphony Orchestra’s prowess right across the spectrum of symphonic writing.

It may not have had the usual number of strings to complement the triple woodwind or brass, but the resonance of Worcester Cathedral ensured any such disparity was not evident in terms of internal balance. Not least an opening movement whose motto-theme was thoughtful while never indulgent, setting the tone for a main Allegro where expressive variety was never at the expense of its formal focus. Especially felicitous was a hushed transition into the reprise, and a coda which ably distilled the equivocal mood overall as it subsided into a ruminative calm.

Kenneth Woods was mindful to invest the scherzo and its trio with a consistency of pulse so, if the former felt a little reined-in at its return, the latter unfolded with an ideal blend of poise and wistfulness. Nor was that lengthy transition into the slow movement other than seamless as a harbinger of this Adagio’s understated if undeniable profundity, Woods duly negotiating its interplay of soulful main theme and wistful asides with unerring rightness through to the artless closing bars where the music seems not so much to cease as recede beyond earshot.

If the finale represents a falling-off of inspiration, it was not apparent here. Sombre yet shot through with expectancy, its introduction launched an Allegro whose alternating incisiveness and suavity held good during an impulsive development, then a transformation of the codetta whose pathos returned for an apotheosis where the motto-theme carried all before it. Not that these closing pages felt at all bombastic or even grandiloquent in import; rather, they set the seal on a work whose affirmation is the greater for its having been so purposefully attained.

An impressive performance as must have seemed even more so in the context of this concert, not that anyone hearing it via ESO Digital is likely to feel short-changed in emotional terms. Hopefully more performances from the Elgar Festival will be made available at this platform.

This concert could be accessed free until 3 September 2024 at the English Symphony Orchestra website, but remains available through ESO Digital by way of a subscription. Meanwhile click on the names for more on the English Symphony Orchestra and Kenneth Woods

Published post no.2,305 – 19 September 2024

New music – Rival Consoles: Gaivotas (Erased Tapes)

Posted on by
Reply

published by Ben Hogwood, with text appropriated from the press release

Rival Consoles returns with genre-blurring new piece Gaivotas, a first taster from his forthcoming ninth studio album, written during an experimental residency in Portugal last year.

“This music feels like one of the most intuitive things I have ever written”, says Ryan Lee West, the man behind the pseudonym. “The momentum that the piece establishes in the first breath pushes forward right until the very end and many of the ideas were created in a first-take moment that were exciting and liberating.”

The powerful accompanying video was directed by Vincent Duluc-David and shot in Kyrgyzstan, where we follow the life of a group of teenagers as one of them mysteriously disappears. You can watch below:

West will be touring as special guest with Kiasmos for select European shows in September, and returns to North America for Slingshot Festival and four headline shows in the Northwest in October.

Published post no.2,304 – 18 September 2024

On Record – Benjamin: Picture A Day Like This (Nimbus)

Posted on by
1

George Benjamin
Picture a day like this (2021-23)

Woman – Marianne Crebassa (mezzo-soprano)
Zabelle – Anna Prohaska (soprano)
Artisan/Collector – John Brancy (baritone)
First Lover/Composer – Beate Mordal (soprano)
Second Lover/Composer’s Assistant – Cameron Shahbazi (countertenor)
Mahler Chamber Orchestra / Sir George Benjamin

Nimbus NI8116 [60’09’’] English libretto included

Producer & Engineer Etienne Pipard
Live performance, 5 July 2023 at Theâtre du Jeu de Paume, Aix-en-Provence

Written by Richard Whitehouse

What’s the story?

Nimbus continues its long association with the music of George Benjamin by releasing his most recent opera, as recorded during its initial production at the Aix-en-Provence Festival and here featuring an impressive line-up of musicians under the direction of the composer.

What’s the music like?

Surprising as was the emergence of Benjamin as an opera composer, he has consolidated his standing accordingly – the ‘lyric tale’ Into the Little Hill (NI5964) duly followed by the full-length Written on Skin (NI5885) then Lessons in Love and Violence (NI5976). In spite of its greater length, Picture a day like this marks his return to the intimacy and understatement of that first venture in terms of its reduced cast and chamber forces – for all that the underlying ‘theme’ seems nothing if not significant in its consideration of life above and beyond death.

Unfolding across seven scenes, the narrative relates a Woman’s search for a ‘happy person’ to redeem the death of her child – during which she encounters a pair of Lovers, a retired Artisan and a renowned Composer; their happiness and contentment in each case pure self-deception. After a despairing monologue, she meets a Collector whose attempted empathy leads her to a garden where the arcadian aspect proves as illusory as the contentment of Zabelle: one whose ostensibly tragic story still enables her to glimpse a future beyond what she has experienced.

Musically this work finds Benjamin at his most subtle and often rarified though never merely inscrutable. Understandably eschewing those respectively sustained expressive build-ups then jarring histrionics of his previous two stage-works, the present opera focusses on incremental changes of emphasis both vocally and instrumentally to maintain a fluid if always perceptible momentum. Allied to this the texture has a poise and finesse, notable even by the standards of this composer, as largely mitigates any sense of the drama played out at an emotional remove.

It could hardly be bettered in terms of performance. Marianne Crebassa brings eloquence and no little fervour to the Woman, while Anna Prohaska evokes Zabelle with mounting gravitas. The other singers are nothing if not attuned to their doubling of roles – notably John Brancy’s fractured Artisan, Beate Mordal’s unfulfilled Composer and Cameron Shahbazi’s narcissistic Lover. Long an able exponent of his own music, Benjamin secures playing of responsiveness from the Mahler Chamber Orchestra as he steers this work forward with audible inevitability.

Does it all work?

Yes, providing one accepts that Benjamin’s idiom is inward if not necessarily inward-looking and elusive without its being inaccessible. The ethos of this opera is likely to be experienced at a remove from the drama it articulates, with the listener becoming absorbed in the onstage action but never coerced into an intended response. That what one takes from listening to it is no more permanent than it is predetermined is itself testimony to the conviction of Benjamin’s and librettist Martin Crimp’s fashioning a parable simultaneously of its own yet outside time.

Is it recommended?

Indeed, given the fascination of its subject, the nature of its treatment and the assurance of its realization. Hopefully a DVD presentation of this or the subsequent Royal Opera production will be forthcoming. Even if or when it appears, this release can be strongly recommended.

Watch

Buy / Further information

For purchase options and more information on this release, visit the Nimbus website.

Published post no.2,303 – Tuesday 17 September 2024