Author Archives: Arcana

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About Arcana

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

On Record – Ensemble MidtVest – Matthew Owain Jones: String Quartet no.1, Wind Quintet; Nielsen arr. Jones: Aladdin (First Hand Records)

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Matthew Owain Jones
String Quartet no.1 ‘Deletia’ (1993, rev. 2012)
Wind Quintet (2016)
Nielsen arr. Jones
Aladdin, FS89: Nine Pieces for wind quintet, string quartet and piano (1917-19, arr. 2018)

Ensemble MidtVest [Charlotte Norholt (flute), Peter Kirstein (oboe), Tommaso Lonquich (clarinet), Yavor Petkov (bassoon), Neil Page (horn); Matthew Owain Jones, Karolina Weltrowska, Ana Feitosa (violins), Sanna Ripatti (viola), Jonathan Slaatto (cello), Martin Qvist Hansen (piano)]

First Hand Records FHR163 [63’53’’] All world premiere recordings
Producers / Engineers Michael Ponder (String Quartet, Wind Quintet), Morten Mogenson (Aladdin)

Recorded 6 December 2017 (String Quartet), 11 January 2018 (Wind Quintet), 29-31 August 2018 (Aladdin) at Den Jyske Sangskole, Herning, Denmark

Reviewed by Richard Whitehouse

What’s the story?

First Hand Records makes a welcome addition to its contemporary catalogue with this release of music or arrangements by Matthew Owain Jones, all performed by the extended outfit that is Ensemble MidtVest and among whose varied personal the composer himself can be found.

What’s the music like?

Fifty last year, Jones has had a diverse career as a musician as is recounted in his personable booklet notes. Composing has often taken a back seat in his activities, the works here written almost a quarter-century apart, yet there can be no doubting the idiomatic nature of his music.

Composed when barely out of his teens, the First String Quartet is evidently the product of a gifted if unfocussed musical talent. Jones admits as much by appending the subtitle ‘Deletia’ to its revision almost two decades on – the original four movements having been reduced to just two, albeit substantial entities. These duly complement each other in almost all respects – the initial Andante exuding a warmth and fervency that is questioned, without being denied outright, by the ensuing Allegro whose ‘minaccioso’ marking underlines its capricious while sometimes ominous nature. The result is uneven yet engaging – making it a pity that, after a musical co-written with his sister, Jones should have left composing somewhat in abeyance.

It was the positive reception accorded that revision of his quartet which encouraged Jones to return to composition in earnest, and among the first fruits of this resumption was his Wind Quintet. Its substantial single movement falls into four continuous sections such as outline a relatively Classical design (albeit with an intermezzo-like section placed second), and Jones cannily exploits those incremental changes in timbre or texture without recourse to extremes of tempo and mood. The outcome is music demonstrably within the lineage of a genre more extensive than often supposed and, though its content breaks little new ground, this is never less than expertly conceived for the medium and affords a pleasurable listen in its own right.

The locus classicus of wind quintets has to be that written just over a century ago by Nielsen, music by which composer ends this collection. Although its suite is periodically revived, the lavish incidental music (not a ballet, as is referenced several times in the notes, though there is a notable element of dance) for Adam Oehlenschlager’s play Aladdin proved too ambitious even at its Copenhagen premiere. Surprising, perhaps, that the nine numbers included here translate so well into the medium of a mixed decet – preserving the distinctive nature of music from Nielsen’s maturity (it comes mid-way between his Fourth and Fifth Symphonies) and thus making it freely available to practitioners for the very different context of the recital room.

Does it all work?

Pretty much. Much of the attraction of this collection lies in the respect which the members of Ensemble MidtVest have for Jones and his music, thereby making for performances that could scarcely be improved upon in terms of technical refinement or interpretative insight.

Is it recommended?

It is, not least as the sound conveys the immediacy but also delicacy of this music with ideal clarity and perspective. Jones must feel vindicated by the enterprise, as indeed he should, and one looks forward to more releases of both his compositions and arrangements in due course.

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Click on the names to read more about composers Matthew Owain Jones and Carl Nielsen, and the performers Ensemble MidtVest

Published post no.2,515 – Saturday 26 April 2025

Switched On – Andrea Cichecki: Drawn Into The Edge Effect (Castles In Space)

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by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

The music of Andrea Cichecki speaks of the great outdoors, the environment she now calls home having moved after years of city life.

Each of the nine tracks tells a personal story, the music complemented by field recordings made in the Ore Mountains and Saxon Switzerland, designed to further the immersive listening experience.

What’s the music like?

The season of spring courses through Cichecki’s music, which teems with life and hope. The lush textures of A Lost Memory are a case in point, where the warm keyboard sounds build up in layers, melodies swirling towards a greater whole. The lush textures are beautifully managed.

Cichecki uses no drums but generates plenty of momentum on tracks like Choosing Paths and Diffused Reflection Of Yourself, both a hive of activity with melodic loops bubbling up in lively counterpoint. The Edge Effect is the musical equivalent of looking at the bright light of a new morning, with dappled, treble-rich textures.

A Tale Not Everyone Knows is poised and rather beautiful, while the expanse of tracks like Naked Animal and Different Step is enhanced by the field recordings.

Does it all work?

It does. Cichecki’s music has an inner serenity and brightness that give it an immediate appeal.

Is it recommended?

Very much so. This is music to soothe the fevered brow, but through its ambience there is also an inner energy that provides a great deal of positivity. Andrea Cichecki makes music to enhance and energise!

For fans of… Matthewdavid, M83, Julianna Barwick, Ulrich Schnauss, Jon Hopkins

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Published post no.2,514 – Friday 25 April 2025

New music – Rival Consoles: Known Shape (Erased Tapes)

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Rival Consoles, aka Ryan Lee West, will release his ninth studio album, Landscape from Memory on July 4 via Erased Tapes. The label have released a new single, Known Shape, ahead of a pre-album tour across Europe.

Talking about the track, West said “I’ve always been obsessed by controls on machines because they produce beautiful sounds and they have their own rhythms. The drums are made from rotating switches and the synths are set in motion by invisible mechanical rhythms. Machines have a special connection to the human spirit, which is both good and bad but above all restless. There is a constant searching in Known Shape for some kind of answer or emotion.”

Known Shape is a relatively understated piece of music, but compelling too – the beats describing the mechanical processes flit across the stereo picture, while snippets of melody drift in, as though the listener is hearing a piece of music on the other side of a door.

The piece is accompanied by a graphical score West created, shown below:

Published post no.2,514 – Thursday 14 April 2025

On Record – Matteo Generani: Martucci: Piano Works (Naxos)

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Martucci
Romanza facile (1889)
Capriccio e Serenata Op.57 (1886)
Sei Pezzi Op.38 (1878)*
Notturno Op.25 ‘Souvenir de Milan’ (1875)*
Minuetto e Tempo di Gavotta Op.55 (1880/88)*
Sonata facile, Op.41 (1878)*
Scherzo in E major Op.53/2 (1880)
Nocturne in G flat major Op.70/1 (1891)
Tarantella Op. 44/5 (1880)
Prima barcarola, Op. 20 (1874)*

Matteo Generani (piano)

Naxos 8.574628 [71’51”] * World premiere recordings
Producer & Engineer Joseph Tesoro

Recorded 25-27 April 2023 at White Recital Hall, James C. Olsen Performing Center, Kansas City, USA

Reviewed by Richard Whitehouse

What’s the story?

Naxos continues its coverage of Giuseppe Martucci (1856-1909) with this selection of piano music, a medium for which the Italian composer wrote extensively but that has tended to be overshadowed by the upsurge of interest in his symphonies, concertos and chamber works.

What’s the music like?

As indicated by Tommaso Manera in his informative booklet notes, Martucci was established as a pianist when barely out of his teens and could have enjoyed an international career had it not been for his attraction to conducting and, most importantly, his determination to promote Austro-German symphonism when it was hardly established in the Italian-speaking territories. Even the piano pieces that enjoyed popularity in his lifetime often did so in transcriptions for orchestra, making the present anthology a viable overview of his achievement in this domain.

What is immediately noticeable about Martucci’s piano music is the relatively short time in which it was written – the 50 or so opus numbers over which it extends equating to 17 years of composing. Certainly, the Prima barcarola yields a melting limpidity redolent of Chopin, while the Notturno affords an evocation of Milan that wears any Lisztian antecedents lightly. More distinctive is the Sonata facile, a study in deftness and understatement which is by no means ‘easy’ and has an appealing humour. More substantial, however, the Six Pieces are not only contrasted within themselves but amount to a cohesive overall sequence (were they ever performed as such?). Highlights are its fourth and fifth pieces, an ebullient La Chasse then a beguiling Sérénade, but the whole sequence is demonstrably more than the sum of its parts.

Martucci’s piano output tended to fall away as the 1880s progressed, but what he did write is worth attention. Hence the capering Minuetto which was partnered almost a decade on by an even more engaging Tempo di Gavotta, or the Scherzo in E which is playful and resourceful by turns. A further set of six pieces is represented only by its final item, but this Tarantella is the most substantial piece here and testament to the increasing sophistication of its composer. Nor is Capriccio e Serenata other than a brace of genre-pieces unified in overall conception. Emerging either side of 1890, the Romanza facile is a compact study in unforced sentiment, whereas the Nocturne in G flat could hardly be further removed from that eponymous piece written some 16 years previously in terms of its harmonic subtlety and textural translucency.

Does it all work?

It does. As a composer for piano, Martucci may not have had the distinctive profile of Busoni (even at a comparable stage in their respective developments) or Sgambati, though the best of what he did write has no lack of character or personality. It is also music that cries out for the level of commitment evident throughout this selection, Matteo Generani audibly enjoying its technical challenges while always aware of that aspiring towards something more ambitious that was to find its outlet in the multi-movement works which crowned Martucci’s maturity.

Is it recommended?

It is. Although this does not survey the extent of Martucci’s piano music, Generani’s selection is an enticing one that will certainly appeal to those with any taste for the byways of musical Romanticism, along with those who have acquired earlier releases of this composer on Naxos.

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Click on the artist names to read more on pianist Matteo Generani and composer Giuseppe Martucci

Published post no.2,513 – Wednesday 23 April 2025

Switched On – Walt McClements: On A Painted Ocean (Western Vinyl)

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by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

Walt McClements began work for On A Painted Ocean in a Pasadena church in 2022. There he was given unexpected access to the building’s organ, recordings that he revisited at a later date while on tour as part of the group behind Weyes Blood.

With months on the tour bus, and restricted access to musical instruments, McClements began to add his own processed accordion sound from a synthesizer, forming the basis of the album. Unsure how to move forward, he explored collaborative options on a visit to former home New Orleans, and the album took shape with saxophonist Aurora Nealand and with studio help from Rachika Nayar.

McClements describes the album as, “A credit to strong relationships and mutual support…adapting to the tides and remembering your community can help when you feel stuck at sea.”

What’s the music like?

Often close to weightless. The woozy combination of pipe organ and accordion make appealing sonorities to form the basis of McClements’ music, whose wide open textures are surely as a result of all that time spent on the road. The music has an appealing freedom but also melancholic tones that speak of homesickness and confinement.

A Painted Ship has a touching intimacy in its thoughts, but reveals a surprising depth to the fulsome chords as the music gradually swells. The title track pares back to accordion alone, a thoughtful elegy. Washed Up has a lovely backdrop that you can dive in to, with shimmering textures that reflect the blue and white cover.

Elsewhere peace is found in the midst of a struggle. Cloud Prints is initially more elusive, before the saxophone of Aurora Nealand soars above the musical landscape like a soaring eagle – and Nealand appears too on the longer form Parade, whose stately chord sequence from the organ is adorned with glitter but also scarred – and effectively rescued by an instructive field recording. The coda, Clattering, drifts in and out of focus.

Does it all work?

It does. McClements is right – his music is a source of comfort, but also of beauty in spite of the scars.

Is it recommended?

It is. Walt McClements has created something original and rather special here, one that speaks of how it was composed – but also offers a unique form of comfort, converting damage and strife into ambience and light.

For fans of… Philip Glass, Terry Riley, Tim Hecker, Peter Broderick, Efterklang

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Published post no.2,511 – Tuesday 22 April 2025