Unless you were under a rock all weekend, it won’t have escaped your notice that a certain music festival was taking place in the south of England. Glastonbury has lit up the music world since the 1970s, and even though it is bigger than ever before it seems to have retained a lot of the qualities that have made it so successful.
One of those qualities is bringing music of all genres to all people, crossing over all manner of boundaries – and one of the stages to do that most proficiently was the West Holts stage. With acts such as Young Fathers and Gabriels excelling earlier on Friday evening, the way was clear for Kelis to remind us just what an amazing vocalist she is. Here is just a snippet of her set, a powerful performance of Acapella, which you can watch as part of her full set on BBC Sounds:
As I’m sure you know, Elton John is headlining at Glastonbury on Sunday night, his first appearance at the festival. It has taken me a long time to appreciate his music, to be honest, but I find the further back I go the more there is to enjoy.
Best of all – in my mind at least – is the disco era he enjoyed at the end of the 1970s, capped by this wonderful, life-affirming song. Are You Ready For Love is a beauty, right from the harp introduction, dressed with strings, to the memorable chorus. What price Elton opening with it tomorrow?
by Ben Hogwood Picture courtesy ALMA – ESO/NAOJ/NRAO, E/O’Gorman/P.Kervella
A report on the Guardian website today asks why the great red giant star Betelgeuse is glowing so brightly and behaving so strangely. It is a fascinating read, and its remarkable conclusion is a reminder that the light we see from the star is actually 600 years old.
It brought to mind a setting by Gustav Holst of a great poem about the star by Humbert Wolfe. This is a highly unusual song, proceeding such a slow speed that the age of the star is never in doubt. Here it is, sung by tenor Philip Langridge with pianist Steuart Bedford:
There is only one tune to start the day with today…and it’s the Eurovision anthem – or, as it is known in classical circles, the Prélude to Marc-André Charpentier’s Te Deum. Written in the final decade of the 17th century, this bright opener has shown itself to be an incredibly versatile piece of music, capable of beginning a larger-scale sacred piece but equally well-suited as a fanfare for trumpet and organ, or organ alone.
You can hear it in its original context – followed by the whole of the Te Deum…
If you’d prefer, here is the Prélude on its own:
Now, though, it is treasured as the music we hear before a certain singing contest gets underway – so without further ado, let’s celebrate!
Juliet Fraser (voice and Casio keyboard), Mark Knoop (piano and electronics)
Another Timbre AT210 [55’15”]
Producer Mark Knoop Engineer Newton Armstrong
Recorded 17 December 2022 at City, University of London
Reviewed by Richard Whitehouse
What’s the story?
Another Timbre issues a follow-up to its two-volume overview of Laurence CraneChamber Works 1992-2009 (AT74x2) with Natural World, his longest work to date, performed by the artists who commissioned it and making an essential addition to the composer’s discography.
What’s the music like?
Older readers may recall the children’s TV programme Mr Ben, where the shopkeeper appears from nowhere. Such is the impression made by Crane’s music, which exists as if awaiting the listener’s recognition. From his early pieces – often brief and frequently for piano – his output has gradually expanded to embrace larger concepts and ensembles, resulting in such works as Octet (2008) and the Second Chamber Symphony (2016). Natural World (2021) might seem a throwback in its intimacy and understatement, but its impact conveys a wholly different story.
This might appear a song-cycle for voice and piano, but their deployment is hardly beholden to precedent. Crane has spoken of his aversion to ‘setting’ poems such that their meaning is distorted, and Natural World uses texts whose neutrality ensures an objectivity of response.
Unfolding as an unbroken span, the work falls into three distinct and designated sections. The first of these, Field Guide, draws on various authors (not least Crane himself) along with marine biologist Rachel Carson in terms of her classifications and observations – proceeding from a lengthy introduction for piano to an increasingly intricate and nuanced interplay with the voice Field recordings of individual birds gradually interpose so that the closing phase is dominated by that of the Dawn Chorus, its complexity the more affecting for not being the outcome of any (self-)conscious creativity.
The second section, Chorus, is the shortest and effectively an interlude that continues with the above as context for a sequence of piano chords and a vocalise whose curving, glissando-like phrases engender an expressive response without this ever becoming explicit or emotive. Such a response is intensified in the third section, Seascape, that includes a further field recording of the ocean – the voice emerging with a text on the innate fragility of ecosystems. Underpinning this is a sustained electronic tone comparable to those on electronic keyboard to which Crane has often had recourse. Here, it serves to envelop the aural picture and so intensify the musical content without this becoming a ‘message’ in any cultural or political sense: listeners being left free to determine their responses to this music.
Does it all work?
Absolutely. Crane has long been a master of musical continuity, such that the extent of this piece is imbued with a tension sustained and unfaltering. It helps that the performers are so attuned to his creative wavelength – Juliet Fraser articulating the vocal part with unforced clarity and poise, complemented by Mark Knoop’s adroit handling of piano and electronics. As on that earlier release from Another Timbre, the close but never constricted sound is ideal in terms of the immediacy brought to Crane’s music which seems never less than absorbing.
Is it recommended?
Indeed. As is usual from this source, there are no booklet notes but a revealing interview with the composer can be accessed at AT’s website. Those who are new to Crane should also check out previous collections of his music issued on the Hubro, LAWO, Metier and Nimbus labels.
Arcana.fm 