On Record – BBC National Orchestra of Wales / Kenneth Woods – Christopher Gunning: Symphonies nos. 8 & 9 (Signum Classics)

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BBC National Orchestra of Wales / Kenneth Woods

Christopher Gunning
Symphony no.8 (2015)
Symphony no.9 (2016)

Signum Classics SIGCD949 [67’33”]
Producer Phil Rowlands Engineer Mike Hatch

Recorded 11-13 March 2024, Hoddinott Hall, Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff

Reviewed by Richard Whitehouse

What’s the story?

Signum Classics continues its coverage of the late Christopher Gunning with this coupling of two symphonies, a genre that dominated the composer’s thinking in later years, and which get the advocacy they deserve from the BBC National Orchestra of Wales with Kenneth Woods.

What’s the music like?

Although he studied at London’s Guildhall School of Music and Drama with early ambitions as a symphonist, Gunning’s subsequent career was centred on scores for film and television with successful excursions into popular music. Not until 2001, when he was nearing 58, did he complete his First Symphony that was followed by a further 12 over the next two decades, along with several concertos and other orchestral pieces, in what is among the more notable instances of a composer moving between very different disciplines with comparable success.

Written for modest and what might be called ‘late-Classical’ forces, both symphonies are as integrated formally as they are resourceful motivically while, in both instances, movements are merely numbered rather than designated by tempo or expression. The Eighth Symphony consists of three movements unfolding from a sonata design of deft formal proportions with a slower introduction, via a slow movement whose ruminative cast is enhanced by plaintive contributions from flute and cor anglais, to a finale whose scherzo inclinations afford it an impetus and lightness maintained through to the decisive close. An earlier era of American symphonism (ostensibly that of Walter Piston or Randall Thompson) can be detected in its harmonic colouring and melodic contours, but Gunning’s personality is audible throughout.

Scored for slightly larger forces and with four movements, the Ninth Symphony feels no less focussed formally while admitting a wider range of or, at least, of more ambivalent emotions. Thus the opening movement again adheres to sonata design, with a more discursive (though never rhapsodic) take on its primary ideas. This is followed by a speculative or even fugitive scherzo, then a slow movement whose sustained eloquence arguably makes for the highlight of either symphony. It only remains for the finale, its progress as purposeful as it is eventful, to afford a conclusiveness that feels not at all premeditated, let alone predictable. If, in both these works, there is a tangible inner drama which is being played out, Gunning is first and foremost a symphonist for whom abstract concerns override any more subjective tendencies.

Does it all work?

It does indeed – thanks, above all, to Gunning’s unstinting focus on what symphonic form is and can be. Those familiar with any of his other symphonies will know that there is nothing anecdotal or half-baked about his handling of the genre, which emerges as the self-sufficient concept it ideally should be. It helps, of course, that Woods renders both these works with the insight expected from a conductor whose 21st Century Symphony Project has been crucial in rehabilitating the symphony in the UK, and who secures committed playing from BBCNOW.

Is it recommended?

Very much so. Recorded with all the necessary definition, and informatively annotated, this is well worth acquiring by those who are not yet acquainted with Gunning’s symphonic odyssey. Only recordings of the 11th, 13th and the revised First remain to complete an important cycle.

Listen / Buy

You can hear excerpts from the album and explore purchase options at the Signum Classics website, or you can listen to the symphonies on Tidal. Click on the names to read more about composer Christopher Gunning, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and conductor Kenneth Woods

Published post no.2,782 – Thursday 29 January 2026

In Concert – Simon Wallfisch & Joseph Middleton @ Wigmore Hall: Voices of Terezin

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Simon Wallfisch (baritone, above), Joseph Middleton (below)

Ullmann Beryozkele from 3 jiddische Lieder Op. 53 (1944); Lieder der Tröstung (1943): Tote wollen nicht verweilen, Erwachen zu Weihnachten; From Drei chinesische Lieder (1943): Wanderer erwacht in der Herberge; Der Müde Soldat
Taube Ein jüdisches Kind (1944)
Haas 4 Songs on Chinese Poetry (1944)
Leo Strauss arr. Iain Farrington Als Ob! (c.1942-4)
Brahms 4 Serious Songs Op.121 (1896): Ich wandte mich und sahe an alle
Ullmann From Der Mensch und sein Tag Op. 47 (1943): Heimat, Der Liebsten, Verdämmern, Nacht
Brahms 4 Serious Songs Op.121 (1896): Wenn ich mit Menschen und mit Engelszungen redete
Ullmann Stille from Der Mensch und sein Tag Op. 47 (1943)
Ilse Weber Wiegala (1944)
Ravel Kaddisch from 2 mélodies hebraiques (1914)

Wigmore Hall, London
Tuesday 27 January 2026, 1pm

Reviewed by Ben Hogwood

This remarkable concert, given on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, took the form of a wholly appropriate tribute to the musicians, writers and academics assembled by the Nazis in the Ghetto Theresienstadt. This was based at Terezin, the small town near Prague, and used as a propaganda tool to present Jewish prisoners as thriving artists, in spite of them being held prior to being sent to the Auschwitz or Treblinka concentration camps.

German-English Baritone Simon Wallfisch is a member of a deeply musical family, with his grandmother, Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, a survivor from the Women’s Orchestra of Auschwitz. Together with pianist Joseph Middleton he presented music from four composers held in the ghetto, part of a sequence intertwined with diaries, poems, essays, pictures and musical excerpts. They gave the Wigmore Hall a deeply moving period of contemplation, their consummate artistry and control ensuring that a celebration of the creative spirit ultimately won through.

Wallfisch and Middleton (above) used the music of Viktor Ullmann as reference points. A principal focus was the composer’s settings of German haiku equivalents by the Czech poet Hans Günther Adler, a Holocaust survivor whose son Jeremy addressed the audience before the concert began. Ullmann’s music found a blend of touching simplicity and harmonic daring, pulling against tonal confines to give increased tension but in a way bringing the music closer to Berg than Schoenberg.

His word settings were particularly vivid in the first song, Beryozkele (Little birch tree), especially the line Jedes Bletele ihr’s Scheptshet schtil a t’rile (Each little leaf whispers quietly its own prayer), a parallel for each of the souls held captive in the town.

Meanwhile the crumpled harmonies of Tote wollen nicht verweilen (The dead do not want to linger) contrasted with the eerie purity of the fragment Erwachen zu Weihnachten (Awakening at Christmas), while in the Adler settings we heard the concentrated Heimat (Home) and the shafts of hopeful light offered by Der Liebsten (The loved one). The cold bell of Verdämmern (Twilight) rendered by Middleton offered beauty but also fear, before the pair achieved a remarkable stasis during Stille (Stillness).

The music of Carlo Sigmund Taube was similarly moving, through the innocence of Ein jüdisches Kind (A Jewish child), but was a wild contrast to the approach of Leo Strauss, whose cabaret scene Als Ob! (As If!) was deadpan, its humour brilliantly done but cold in the extreme.

The music of Czech composer Pavel Haas continues to make a striking impact, and his 4 Songs on Chinese Poetry were prefaced by a video clip (above) of the tensile Study for Strings from Theresienstadt itself. The songs were dramatic, particularly The moon is far from home, where the bare bones of Middleton’s left-hand line supported the powerful vocal. The discomfort and distorted imagery of A sleepless night were similarly vivid.

Finally Ilse Weber, the nurse who opted to travel with her young children to Auschwitz, was represented by Wiegala (Cradle Song), a touching sweetness lent to the upper piano part and a moving simplicity to Wallfisch’s reading.

Complementing the four Terezin composers was the music of Brahms, whose last work for voice, the 4 Serious Songs Op.121, were heard in a concert in the ghetto. Their gravitas here was only enhanced by the composer’s sense of mortality, Wallfisch singing with poise and power. The final word, however, was left to Ravel, whose Kaddisch was a potent memorial, Wallfisch commanding through his intonation and ornamentation.

A prolonged silence followed; the only appropriate response to a deeply moving concert. Here, in spite of the horrors suffered by the composers and the subjects of the readings, it was possible to appreciate their resolve and enduring talent, their lights somehow undimmed. Here they were remembered with the utmost respect and appreciation, and I for one shall never forget it.

Published post no.2,781 – Tuesday 27 January 2026

Playlist: Yamila

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by Ben Hogwood Picture (c) Assiah Alcázar

Arcana are delighted to present a playlist from the Spanish cellist, singer and producer Yamila, who is on the verge of releasing her new album Noor, due on 6 February through Mexico City label Umor Rex.

Noor is a work with intertwined strings and electronics, sculpting landscapes where, in the words of the press release, “listening expands toward territories of dusky beauty. The album was born under the shelter of a secret ecological community. There, among damp meadows and the song of a blackbird, Yamila feels an ancient urge—to sing to the bees. Inspired by ancestral rituals in which sound served as a bridge between species—to summon herds or soothe the trembling sky – the artist listens to the wind and reimagines that lost practice through a contemporary language: titanic harmonies dissolving into fragile microtones, rhythms that pulse not merely as measure, but as breath that stirs the body.”

This playlist could be subtitled Cello and Beyond, for on it Yamila curates an hour of listening bringing the instrument into healthy contrast with sounds around. You can listen on Spotify here:

Noor will be reviewed soon on Arcana.

Published post no.2,780 – Tuesday 27 January 2026

On Record – Jimi Tenor Band: Selenites, Selenites (Bureau B)

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Reviewed by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

The Jimi Tenor Band has its roots in the early years of this decade, and a group of msuicians rehearsing in Jimi’s kitchen while rehearsal venues were unavailable during the pandemic.

Initially a live concern, the group of Eeti Nieminen, Heikki Tuhkanen, Ekow Alabi Savage and Lauri Kallio honed their craft in Helsinki, in thrall to Afro-jazz but leaning on their experience in a myriad of musical forms. The album was recorded in Kiikala, Finland, then finished at producer Tobias Levin’s Hamburg studio.

What’s the music like?

Jazz is certainly the prevalent style here, but there is a refreshing freedom that allows the music to evolve naturally.

The title track and Some Kind Of Good Thing both delight in joyful singalongs, while Shine All Night brings in Ghanaian vocalist Florence Adooni to front a song full of persuasive rhythms.

Universal Harmony sings of brighter hopes for humanity – something we can all get behind – while Alice In Kumasi has some lovely, grainy textures to the slow introduction from the band, before branching out into syncopated exchanges – which Furry Dice picks up, while heavy on the funk.

Does it all work?

Yes, thanks to the instinctive approach the instrumentalists bring to the table, and the airy choruses that raise a smile.

Is it recommended?

It is – and though released in November, the Jimi Tenor Band make music to bring light to the darker months.

Listen / Buy

Published post no.2,779 – Monday 26 January 2026

On Record – Various Artists: Naive Melodies (BBE)

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Reviewed by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

Talking Heads songs have always been ripe for cover versions, but Naïve Melodies is going one step further. It is curated by Drew McFadden, who has previous with an imaginative Modern Love tribute to David Bowie, also on BBE. In his own words, he is looking to “spotlight the deep and often overlooked influence of Black music on the sound of Talking Heads, drawing from the rhythmic foundations of Afro- diasporic traditions, soul, gospel, Latin, and spiritual jazz.”

The artists are drawn from far and wide, reflecting a ‘no musical rules’ policy as McFadden’s cast are let loose on one song each.

What’s the music like?

Invigorating. This is a fascinating musical project, and the rewards are frequent and many. Risks are encouraged in these versions; no stone is left unturned not just to highlight the influence of Black music but also to celebrate the group’s powers of invention.

As a consequence, songs we thought we knew are reframed and given fresh perspective. The best known songs get some startling treatment, with W.I.T.C.H. taking Once In A Lifetime to the cleaners, off beat and unexpectedly thrilling. And She Was becomes an unexpectedly tender R&B ballad in the hands and voice of Vicky Farewell, while Rogê offers an airy Road To Nowhere that works really well.

Of the many other highlights, Georgia Anne Muldrow’s questioning take on Girlfriend Is Better brings squelchy bass and an oblique vocal together, while there is a big space for the electro dub of Liv.e, taking on I Zimbra. The warm hearted EBBA version of Uh-Oh Love Comes To Town is a delight, while the scattered beats and bright vocals / guitar combination of Florence Adooni work well on Crosseyed And Painless. Meanwhile the dreamy Bilal cover of Seen And Not Seen is a rich reward.

Does it all work?

In the main, though not all the versions are immediately successful. Miguel Atwood-Ferguson’s breezy string arrangement of Heaven makes an effective prelude but is musically restless, while Astrønne’s version of Psycho Killer begins promisingly but loses focus.

Is it recommended?

Yes. Naïve Melodies is an eye-opening compilation, whichever musical direction you approach it from, and the artists clearly had a lot of fun making it. Should David Byrne and his fellow-Talking Heads hear it, they are bound to be impressed and charmed in equal measure.

Listen / Buy

Published post no.2,778 – Sunday 25 January 2026