Category Archives: Small scale

In concert – Quatuor Danel: Shostakovich & Weinberg #7 with François-Frédéric Guy @ Wigmore Hall

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François-Frédéric Guy (piano), Quatuor Danel [Marc Danel & Gilles Millet (violins), Vlad Bogdanas (viola), Yovan Markovitch (cello)]

Shostakovich String Quartet no.10 in A flat major Op.118 (1964)
Weinberg String Quartet no.11 in F major Op.89 (1965-6)
Weinberg Piano Quintet in F minor Op.18 (1944)

Wigmore Hall, London
Monday 25 November 2024

by Richard Whitehouse Photo (c) Marco Borggreve

This latest instalment in Quatuor Danel’s parallel cycle of string quartets by Shostakovich and Weinberg comprised one of the former composer’s most understated pieces followed with two of the latter’s most characteristic yet, at least in terms of expression, utterly contrasted works.

Written during just 11 days, the Tenth Quartet is something of a standalone in Shostakovich’s cycle – coming as it does between the four innately personal quartets that preceded it and the four related to members of the Beethoven Quartet (who premiered all except the first and last of this cycle) that followed. Yet, as its dedication to Mieczysław Weinberg suggests, this is no less specific in intent – hence the musing ambivalence of its initial Andante and visceral force of its scherzo. The Danel savoured their respective essence, cellist Yovan Markovich coming into his own in the ensuing Adagio with its emotionally restrained variations. The link to the finale was seamlessly effected, then the movement built methodically towards a heightened restatement of the passacaglia theme before tentatively retracing its steps to a wistful close.

Written months later, Weinberg’s Eleventh Quartet is by no means lesser by design or intent. Its fugitive opening Allegro exudes a scurrying motion such as resurfaces at key moments in the overall design, akin to that of the Shostakovich in equivocation, and if the scherzo could hardly be more different in its fleeting delicacy (the original such movement it replaced was likely much more demonstrative), the solemn alternation of ensemble and solo writing in its Adagio conjures up a similarly processional aura. Contrast is again pronounced in the finale where, instead of channelling the musical loose-ends towards a formal and expressive unity, Weinberg leaves matters in abeyance; despite (or because of) the most tentative recollection of that scurrying motion which flits across the already fragmented texture at the very close.

If the Danel had long mastered Weinberg at his most refractory, it proved equally adept with the communicative power of his Piano Quintet. At almost 45 minutes this is also his largest chamber work, its five movements unfolding as a discursive if never random sequence such that the furtive questioning of its opening Moderato finds accord with the unsettled humour of its ensuing Allegretto – an intermezzo next to the scherzo-like energy of its central Presto, in which the interplay between François-Frédéric Guy and the Danel was at its most incisive.

Much the longest movement, the Largo accumulates intensity through juxtaposing passages in rhythmic unison with those during which piano and strings predominate. Its impassioned culmination is exceeded by that of a final Allegro whose impetuous main ideas bring about    a climactic return to the work’s opening theme. Even more remarkable is what follows: the intensity soon subsiding prior to this movement’s initial idea returning, quietly transformed, as though to suggest its composer having been reborn as a sentient being and creative artist.

Hearing this work, performances of which have fortunately become more frequent these past two decades, is an experience like few others in the chamber domain; suffice to add that Guy and the Danel were as one in their realizing the scale and impact of this modern masterpiece.

You can hear the music from the concert below, in recordings made by Quatuor Danel -including their most recent cycle of the Shostakovich quartets on Accentus:

For more information on the next concert in the series, visit the Wigmore Hall website. You can click on the names for more on composer Mieczysław Weinberg, Quatuor Danel and pianist François-Frédéric Guy

Published post no.2,378 – Saturday 30 November 2024

In concert – Jazz On The Box: A Tribute To The BBC’s Jazz 625 @ The Cockpit, London

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Robert Mitchell (piano), Jean Toussaint (tenor saxophone), Larry Bartley (double bass), Rod Youngs (drums) and Dave Green (double bass)

The Cockpit, London, 20 November 2024

by John Earls. Photo credit (c) John Earls

Jazz 625 was a BBC television jazz programme which ran for two years between 1964 and 1966.The show was first broadcast on BBC2 on 21 April 1964 (on what turned out to be the channel’s opening night). It is revered because in that period it brought into UK living rooms live performances by American jazz legends such as Dizzy Gillespie, Oscar Peterson, Thelonious Monk, Art Blakey, Dave Brubeck and Duke Ellington (who appeared in a gala presentation in the first show). It also showcased UK jazz musicians such as Tubby Hayes, Ronnie Scott and John Dankworth.

In May 2019, Jazz 625 returned to the BBC as a 90-minute live show on BBC Four called Jazz 625 Live: For One Night Only. The house band for that broadcast featured Robert Mitchell (piano), Jean Toussaint (tenor saxophone), Larry Bartley (double bass) and Rod Youngs (drums).

In celebration of Jazz 625’s sixtieth birthday this year, the band were reunited under Robert Mitchell at London’s The Cockpit as part of the London Jazz Festival for a performance also featuring the legendary UK bass player Dave Green. Green is one of only two people still alive who appeared on the show (the other being singer Cleo Laine, one of only eight women to have appeared on the show throughout those two years).

Green opened proceedings with a solo bass piece that highlighted his musicality, understanding, tradition, inventiveness and preparedness to take risks. It was a captivating and spirited performance.

The re-convened For One Night Only band fittingly started their set with a lovely Along Came Betty (written by Benny Golson and most famously recorded by Art Blakey), a tune they performed on the 2019 programme. The programme also saw Thelonious Monk’s Criss Cross, heard here with some excellent solos on sax (Joshua Redman did sax duties for this tune on the broadcast), piano and bass and classy drum intervals from Rod Youngs.

Youngs’ drumming style gives the appearance of him shrugging his shoulders and it was fascinating to watch his smooth brush strokes on the next tune, Ben Webster’s Body and Soul (which featured some soft and expressive piano playing by Mitchell) and some more energetic and hefty drum work on the next tune, an original whose title I didn’t quite catch (Mood Board?).

There then followed a Jean Toussaint-penned tune Calypso (also new?),a nice nod to the influence of oft-neglected Jamaican jazz musician and composer Joe Harriott (the tapes of his Jazz 625 performance were recorded over). It’s a sunny piece on which both saxophone and piano shone. It is also worth noting here Toussaint’s (and indeed Mitchell’s) role in supporting new UK jazz talent. One of the highlights of the For One Night Only programme is seeing Toussaint playing with saxophonist Camilla George (who he taught and mentored) for a performance of Harriott’s Tonal.

Finally, the band were joined by Dave Green for Blue ‘n’ Boogie, a 1944 jazz standard written by Dizzy Gillespie and Frank Paparelli. It’s the first time I’ve seen two double basses play together in a small ensemble and what a treat it was. To say that Green and Larry Bartley engaged in ‘battling basses’ would be to imply too much competition, whereas what was evidently on display was a mutual respect between two fine musicians that span generations. Bartley paid lovely tribute to Green in words and music. Their double bass exchanges were a joy.

John Earls is Director of Research at Unite the Union. He posts on Bluesky and tweets / updates his ‘X’ content at @john_earls

Published post no.2,370 – Friday 22 November 2024

In concert – Charles Tolliver celebrates ‘Max Roach @ 100’ @ Barbican Hall

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Charles Tolliver (trumpet and director), Darrell Green (drums), Camille Thurman (tenor sax and voice), Tony Kofi (alto sax), Danny Piers (piano), Larry Bartley (double bass), Cheikh Diop (percussion) and ‘A Big Band of London’s Finest’

Barbican Hall, London, 18 November 2024

by John Earls. Photo credit (c) John Earls

In my post-punk 1980s drumming days (yeah, I know) my list of favourite drummers included the likes of Charlie Watts (The Rolling Stones), Topper Headon (The Clash), Lindy Morrison (The Go-Betweens) and Brian Downey (Thin Lizzy). But it also included Max Roach, the legendary jazz drummer, composer and activist (who most of my musical contemporaries at the time hadn’t heard of). His 1968 Members, Don’t Git Weary album (of which more later) was an important part of my record collection. It still is.

I was also lucky enough to see Roach perform live (again at the Barbican) in 1999. So it was with great anticipation and excitement that I headed to the same venue some 25 years later for a London Jazz Festival concert put together and directed by Charles Tolliver, a friend and collaborator of Roach who played trumpet on Members, Don’t Git Weary to celebrate what would have been Roach’s 100th year (he died in 2007).

The first half of a two set concert saw Tolliver (trumpet and leader) joined by Darrell Green (drums), Camille Thurman (tenor sax and voice), Tony Kofi (alto sax), Danny Piers (piano), Larry Bartley (double bass) and Cheikh Diop (percussion) in a terrific seven-piece ensemble.

It got off to a ripping start with Powell’s Prances, a piece from Roach’s days with trumpet player Clifford Brown which also featured nice saxophone solos from Thurman and Kofi. This was followed by a poignant Effi from Members, Don’t Git Weary. Then came a terrific performance of Cole Porter’s I Get A Kick Out Of You which featured on Roach’s 1954 album with Clifford Brown and his Quintet, Brown and Roach Incorporated. This maintained the fizz and dexterity of the recorded version but, unlike the album, included vocals which were skilfully done by Thurman, who went on to demonstrate what a fine singer she is throughout the rest of the evening.

This was the case with the next tune, Always Loved You, which – in a nod to Roach’s spirit of innovation and risk-taking – was a new number, starting as a lovely ballad before livening up considerably, allowing Thurman to also display her saxophone prowess. The set ended with the Members, Don’t Git Weary tune itself. It remains a potent and powerful expression for the disenfranchised with its “I’m going to feast on the milk and honey…I’m going to march with the tallest angel” refrains.

The second set saw the first set’s ensemble (minus percussionist Cheikh Diop) joined by what the Barbican website described as ‘A Big Band of London’s Finest’, assembled by Toni Kofi. Let’s name them now for they deserve nothing less (they weren’t introduced by name on stage so here’s the personnel listed from the Barbican website): Donovan Haffner (alto saxophone, clarinet), Jean Toussaint (tenor saxophone), Denys Baptiste (tenor saxophone, clarinet), Charles Rothwell (baritone saxophone, bass clarinet), Josh Short (lead trumpet), Byron Wallen (trumpet), Dan Coulthurst (trumpet), Alexander Polack (trumpet), Matt Seddon (trombone), Harry Brown (trombone), James Wade-Sired (trombone) and Richard Henry (bass trombone).

Tolliver is a renowned big band composer and leader himself; his big band’s With Love album (2006) is fabulous. The set opened with a throbbing and steaming Suspicion, leading into some scat singing from Thurman and even Tolliver himself (advising us afterwards that it was “the only time you’ll hear Charles Tolliver sing!”). This was followed by Drum Suite, with deft saxophone solos from Jean Toussaint and Donovan Haffner allied to some nice smoky organ playing, before an amazing spiritual-like piece of vocal work (again) from Thurman. The Grand Max encore was rousingly appropriate.

I don’t know how much time this band had to rehearse as a collective but it was a formidable and engrossing performance – well done Toni Kofi.

Needless to say, to be the drummer in a performance honouring Max Roach’s 100th year must be a daunting experience but Darrell Green played with considerable aplomb and flair including some magnificent solos not least, not surprisingly, on Drum Suite.

Charles Tolliver is to be congratulated and commended for putting together a concert of such entertainment, joy and poise in tribute to his friend and fellow musician. I’m sure Max would have enjoyed it immensely. Those that were there certainly did.

John Earls is Director of Research at Unite the Union. He posts on Bluesky and tweets / updates his ‘X’ content at @john_earls

The albums mentioned by John in his review can be heard on Tidal, using the links below:

Published post no.2,368 – Wednesday 20 November 2024

In concert – Steven Isserlis and Friends – Fauré at the Wigmore Hall (5)

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Steven Isserlis (cello) – with Joshua Bell, Irène Duval (violins), Blythe Teh Engstroem (viola), Connie Shih, Jeremy Denk (pianos)

Fauré Dolly Suite Op.56 (1894-6)
Enescu Pièce sur le nom de Fauré (1922)
Ravel arr. Garban Berceuse sur le nom de Garbriel Fauré M74 (1922)
Koechlin Hommage à Gabriel Fauré Op.73bis (1922)
Fauré Cello Sonata no.2 in G minor Op.117 (1921)
Fauré String Quartet in E minor Op.121 (1923-4)

Wigmore Hall, London
Tuesday 5 November 2024

Reviewed by Richard Whitehouse Picture (c) Wigmore Hall Trust

So to the final concert of this series, curated by cellist Steven Isserlis and centred on Fauré’s larger chamber works in the centenary of his death. The last of five concerts was rounded out in its coverage by including his most popular work for piano duet, along with miniatures from several pupils of one who was held in equal esteem as a teacher.

It is doubtless as easy to describe the Dolly Suite with patronizing charm as it is to play it so but, with Jeremy Denk and Connie Shih an alert if always sensitive partnership, there was no likelihood of this latter. A limpid take on the evergreen Berceuse was followed by no less a deft rendition of Mi-a-ou; the ineffable charm of Le jardin de Dolly made a telling foil to the skittish evocation (of a dog) that is Kitty-valse, then the searching poise of Tendresse created a delightful contrast with that affectionate send-up of Chabrier in Le pas espagnol.

Quite why the journal Le Revue chose Fauré’s 77th year to publish an edition devoted to his music is unclear, but it did enable seven former students to express their admiration through miniatures that encapsulate his own idiom as surely as theirs. Hence the intricate texture and enfolding harmony of Enescu’s Pièce, the pert elegance of Ravel’s Berceuse arranged (from its violin-and-piano original by Lucien Garbon), then the gently inflected wit of Koechlin’s Hommage to remind one of the latter composer’s service to Fauré as sometime orchestrator.

These three items were engagingly played (and introduced) by Denk, and it seemed a pity the other four (by Aubert, Ladmirault, Roger-Ducasse and Schmitt) could not have been included – perhaps at the start of the second half – given the appositeness of the programme. This first half ended with the Second Cello Sonata which, while it resembles its predecessor in form, is appreciably more forthcoming as to expression. It is evidently a work that Steven Isserlis first played as a teenager, and there could be no mistaking his identity with the close-knit dialogue of its opening Allegro, pathos bordering on the elegiac of its central Andante that started out as music commemorating the centenary of Napoleon’s death, and effervescence of a finale as endows what is otherwise typical late Fauré with a genial humour never less than captivating.

After the interval, this series ended in the only way possible with the String Quartet that was Fauré’s last work. In his initial remarks, Isserlis mentioned how long it had taken for him to ‘get’ this piece and, indeed, its three movements each unfolds in a seamless polyphonic flow which can feel disconcerting even in the context of the composer’s other late chamber works. Whether or not they play it frequently, Joshua Bell, Irène Duval, Blythe Teh Engstroem and Isserlis audibly had its measure – their steady though always flowing tempo for its Allegro moderato ideally complemented by the luminous radiance of its Andante; before its Allegro elides elements of scherzo and finale in music whose dextrous pizzicato writing and gently cumulative intensity conveys an affirmation that speaks of a challenge, and a life, fulfilled.

As a work and as a performance, it set the seal in the only way possible on a series of concerts through which the quality and substance of Fauré’s chamber music could not have been more eloquently confirmed, which is just as should be expected from a retrospective of this nature.

You can watch the concert below, thanks to the Wigmore Hall YouTube channel:

For more information on the Fauré series, visit the Wigmore Hall website – while you can also read Arcana’s interview with Steven Isserlis about the French composer

Published post no.2,355 – Thursday 5 November 2024

In concert – Steven Isserlis and Friends – Fauré at the Wigmore Hall (4)

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Steven Isserlis (cello) – with Joshua Bell, Irène Duval (violins), Connie Shih, Jeremy Denk (pianos), Quatuor Agate [Adrien Jurkovic, Thomas Descamps (violins), Raphaël Pagnon (viola), Simon Iachemet (cello)]

Fauré Cello Sonata no.1 in D minor Op.109 (1917)
Enescu Violin Sonata no.2 in F minor Op.6 (1899)
Fauré Piano Trio in D minor Op.120 (1922-3)
Ravel String Quartet in F M35 (1902-03)

Wigmore Hall, London
Monday 4 November 2024

Reviewed by Richard Whitehouse Picture (c) Wigmore Hall Trust

Tonight’s instalment of the Wigmore Hall series focussing on Fauré’s larger chamber works was also the most cohesive in its alternating two of the composer’s late pieces with formative ones by Enescu and Ravel for what was a fascinating programme of echoes and anticipations.

While not necessarily the weakest of those works played in this series, Fauré’s First Cello Sonata is the least remarkable – the melodic content reduced to barest essentials such that its main motifs can verge on the anonymous. That said, its opening Allegro is a model of formal economy and expressive restraint, Steven Isserlis and Connie Shih being no less perceptive in the pensive musing of its central Andante or the urbanity of a final Allegro whose ‘commodo’ aspect was always evident. Less may not always be more, but it is rarely less than appealing.

Less often heard than its successor, Enescu’s Second Violin Sonata is no less significant. Its composer’s first masterpiece, much of the fascination lies in the degree to which its melodic ideas evolve across and between each of the three movements for a potent demonstration of motivic unity. This was something Irène Duval conveyed in ample measure, yet without ever neglecting that reticent or sometimes ominous quality characterizing much of its content – at least until the quixotic finale channels these diverse elements towards a resolution achieved almost despite itself. Throughout, Jeremy Denk’s pianism was a model of lucidity and poise in a performance which went all the way in confirming this work as one of the three greatest masterpieces by a teenager – the other two being written 74 years earlier, then 72 years later. (presumably Mendelssohn’s Octet and a piece to be confirmed! – ed)

Fascinating how much Enescu’s precocity resembles Fauré’s maturity in what was the latter composer’s penultimate work. Compact almost to a fault, the Piano Trio is dominated in all respects by a central Andantino whose melodic eloquence has intensified almost to the point of ecstasy by its close, not least as rendered by Joshua Bell, Isserlis and Denk in what was a near-ideal performance. Succinctness almost gets the better of the outer movements, though it would be churlish not to acknowledge the tensile energy of its opening movement and the exhilaration of a finale whose element of syncopation marks Fauré’s nearest approach to the jazz idiom. Interesting as it is to hear this piece with clarinet as was originally intended, its interplay of violin, cello and piano is no less inevitable than in the parallel work by Brahms.

The well-regarded Quatuor Agate duly took the stage for Ravel’s String Quartet, evidently a work for which Fauré expressed only muted enthusiasm. Superbly played though a little self-regarding interpretively, this account was at its best in its latter stages – the inward rapture of its slow movement in pointed contrast to the volatility and ultimate decisiveness of its finale. The opening movement at times verged on expressive inertia and the scherzo’s deft humour was rather self-conscious, but the overall conviction of this performance still came through. Seemingly the Agate will not be playing Fauré’s String Quartet which forms the culmination of tomorrow’s concert and of this series; one that also includes the Second Cello Sonata and music written in tribute to a composer whose greatness could hardly be doubted now as then.

You can watch the concert below, thanks to the Wigmore Hall YouTube channel:

For more information on the Fauré series, visit the Wigmore Hall website – while you can also read Arcana’s interview with Steven Isserlis about the French composer

Published post no.2,354 – Wednesday 5 November 2024