In Concert – Stewart Goodyear, CBSO / Kazuki Yamada: Gershwin, Ives, Simon & Mazzoli

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Stewart Goodyear (piano, above), City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra / Kazuki Yamada

Simon Hellfighters’ Blues (2024)
Mazzoli Sinfonia (for Orbiting Spheres) (2014)
Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue (1924)
Ives ed. Sinclair Three Places in New England (1911-14)
Gershwin An American in Paris (1928)

Symphony Hall, Birmingham
Wednesday 21 January 2026

Reviewed by Richard Whitehouse

The heady interplay of jazz and blues idioms (with a little help from pioneer W. C. Handy) of Carlos Simon’s Hellfighter’s Blues launched in exhilarating fashion this City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra concert, pertinent as the 250th anniversary of American Independence approaches.

Missy Mazzoli’sSinfonia (for Orbiting Spheres) could not have been further removed with its formal parallel to that of the solar system; an abstraction offset by the ‘sinfonia’ connotations of a Medieval hurdy-gurdy whose modal drone, recreated here with harmonicas played by the horns and woodwind, underlies the piece’s increasing velocity. That this suggested a tangible connection with the past and, at the same time, absorbed accrued influences into an idiom of today said much about the effectiveness of Mazzoli’s modus operandi these past two decades.

It could have been a conceptual leap too far from here to Gershwin’s galvanizing of the ‘jazz age’ aesthetic almost a century earlier yet Rhapsody in Blue has lost but little of its edge in the interim, especially as Stewart Goodyear rendered its solo part with almost reckless enjoyment. With almost every focal point either underlined or rendered in inverted commas, this was not the subtlest of performance, but Kazuki Yamada was at one with his pianist in conveying the breezy excitement of this music, with the final stages emerging as a high-octane apotheosis. Goodyear is evidently a pianist with whom to reckon – maybe his next appearance will find him tackling Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F? For the present, he gave the slow movement of his own Piano Sonata (1996), poised midway between Copland and Piston, as plaintive encore.

Whatever his radical tendencies, Charles Ives embodies the ethos of an earlier age (Michael Tilson Thomas aptly described him as America’s greatest late-Romantic composer), such as felt uppermost with Yamada’s take on Three Places in New England. So the intensifying of feeling in The ‘St. Gaudens’ at Boston Common was secondary to a distanced recollection of time, while the elaborate march-fantasy that is Putnam’s Camp, Redding, Connecticut was genial rather than boisterous – albeit until its accumulation of activity for an ending of visceral abandon. The Housatonic at Stockbridge yet which left the deepest impression –   its fervent evocation of place from the vantage of marital bliss duly inspiring a welling-up    of emotion which not even Yamada’s slight over-hastiness could rob of its sheer eloquence.

An American in Paris might have been an awkward piece with which to close, but succeeded well on its own terms. Something between tone poem and symphonic rhapsody. Gershwin’s evocation of a compatriot (himself?) a little lost in the French capital received an impulsive yet perceptive reading. There was a start-stop feel to its earlier stages, while Oscar Whight’s rather forced take on the indelible trumpet melody was to its detriment, but what ensued was rarely less than persuasive – not least those final bars with their tangible sense of resolution.

It certainly brought to a resounding close a concert which conveyed much of the sheer variety of American music across little more than a century. Hopefully Yamada will programme more of this repertoire – perhaps an Ives symphony or music by the late, great Christopher Rouse?

To read more about the CBSO’s 2025/26 season, visit the CBSO website. Click on the names for more on pianist Stewart Goodyear, CBSO chief conductor Kazuki Yamada and composers Missy Mazzoli and Carlos Simon

Published post no.2,777 – Saturday 24 January 2026

Switched On – Craven Faults: Sidings (The Leaf Label)

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Reviewed by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

Craven Faults is proving to be a particularly fertile source of long-form instrumental music. Created by a single, anonymous hand, its pictorial approach leans on industry for inspiration but looks beyond that, creating an intriguing form of descriptive ambience. This has already been shown in double-length albums Erratics & Unconformities and Standers, and a number of EPs.

“The journey on Sidings isn’t made with people in mind. It begins in an isolated community which has built up around one of the great engineering projects of its age. The work is slow and perilous – thousands of men at the mercy of the elements. The ground is frozen or flooded for months on end, while red kites circle overhead. 14 tunnels and 22 viaducts to open up the north. The on-beat and the off-beat interchange. Recorded in 1969, Olympic Studios – a precursor to the ships we built.

We walk northeast in search of a distance marker. When it first comes into view, it looks similar to where we commenced our journey on ‘Bounds.’ The open moorland gives it away. This particular trip will take considerably longer, by foot and packhorse, before the land and power is redistributed by order of parliament. Just shy of fifteen minutes between 1952 and 1964 – from J&M Studio, New Orleans to the San Francisco Tape Music Centre. Rapid progress and consistently fertile ground.

As the sun rises, we make our way by road to a junction. There is a livestock market and an inn for travellers. It’s important to make the journey before the seasons change and this area becomes inaccessible. An idea almost lost in the mists of time – a West German prototype unearthed twelve years later. A little way due south, we arrive at another crossroads. We find a maestro labouring over his masterwork – Gold Star Studios, United Western Recorders, Columbia Studios and Capitol Studios. October 3rd, 1966 to November 20th, 1968. Inspired by the story of another community building the railways. The circle is complete and encompasses continents.

We continue south, hitching a ride on a finely turned-out cart. We help to unload the churns onto the platform and wait for the train to arrive. Our cargo will head east before switching tracks to be delivered into urban areas. Hundreds of thousands of gallons per year. The Black Ark, 1977.

From there we head north and west a little way and find ourselves near to where we began. Another temporary settlement built up along the line, where each chord occupies its own space. Wally Heider in 1967 and finished off at home a year later. Spikes driven into the frozen ground and the Kirkstall Forge hammer in the dead of night. Finding order in the chaos.

We strike a deal with the local farm and walk a thousand heads of cattle to market. The ground is heavy and it’s slow going – it will take the best part of a week. We stop to graze at Suma Recording Studio, 1978 and then Sunwest, 1969. We reach the end of our journey via a final rest stop – an enclosed field on the moor we hovered over on ‘Standers.’ 1858. An outgrown coda and proof that two chords will suffice. Three is a luxury. A radio enthusiast intercepts government secrets – Cargo Studios, 1980.

What’s the music like?

Once again, the music matches the story – and Sidings unfolds in subtle yet compelling form, finding a meditative sweet spot on Ganger that never lets up, with shimmering figures in the half-light above a supportive, broadly phrased drone.

The start of Stoneyman is initially like the summons of a bell, above a drum with an ominous tread, while Three Loaning End slows the tempo, with an oddly persuasive lilt. Incline is scattered with melodic fragments that have the quality of settling snow, again over the reassurance of a supportive bass drone. Far Closes, meanwhile, operates with a steadying kick drum pulse beneath subtly shifting figures.

Does it all work?

It does. This is an album to get thoroughly engrossed in, rewarding its listeners with vivid and captivating imagery.

Is it recommended?

Very much so. Craven Faults’ music is distinctive and forward looking, yet extremely conscious of its recent past. The blend is both fascinating and rewarding, becoming a form of 21st century English electronica with an uncanny awareness of its surroundings.

Listen / Buy

Published post no.2,776 – Friday 23 January 2026

On this day – Henri Dutilleux

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by Ben Hogwood Picture courtesy Wise Music Classical

Today marks the 110th anniversary of the birth of Henri Dutilleux, one of the finest composers of the second half of the 20th century.

Dutilleux wrote distinctive music notable for its colour, clarity and concision, with works for orchestra and piano in particular that have proved both compelling and durable.

You can listen to two of these stand out works below – beginning with Métaboles, an orchestral work completed in 1964 and notable for its original orchestration and intensity:

Meanwhile Timbres, espace, movement, inspired by Vincent van Gogh’s painting La nuit étoilée (The Starry Night), was completed in 1978. The work is remarkably brought to life in this account:

Published post no.2,775 – Thursday 22 January 2026

In appreciation: John Wallace

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by Ben Hogwood Picture courtesy of Wikipedia / Thechisholm

Last week we heard the sad news of the death of trumpeter and conductor John Wallace, at the age of 76. There have been a number of affectionate obituaries for John that refer to his character, musicianship and academic influence among many other positive qualities. Wallace was principal trumpet of the London Symphony Orchestra from 1976 to 1995, and along the way blossomed into an international soloist of considerable repute.

In 1981 he played at the wedding of Price Charles and Princess Diana, joining soprano Kiri te Kanawa in a performance of Handel’s Let The Bright Seraphim:

He also formed The Wallace Collection in 1986, an influential brass ensemble whose flexible approach brought brass music to new audiences. Several composers wrote for Wallace, among them Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Sir Malcolm Arnold, Sir James MacMillan and Robert Saxton.

Arcana has put together a playlist in honour of John Wallace, featuring the concertos written by Arnold and Maxwell Davies, along with the latter’s Litany for a Ruined Chapel between Sheep and Shore, written for Wallace to perform solo in 1999.

Wallace also features as soloist in Haydn’s much-loved Trumpet Concerto, Prayer of St Gregory by Alan Hovhaness and a commanding performance by the Wallace Collection of Berlioz’s Grande Symphonie Funèbre et Triomphale. There is also a pop nugget, Wallace playing piccolo trumpet on The Alan Parsons Project’s Don’t Let It Show, from the album I Robot.

Listen, enjoy, and appreciate the ability of a wonderful player whose presence will be greatly missed

In appreciation: John Wallace

Published post no.2,774 – Wednesday 21 January 2026

On Record – Dry Cleaning: Secret Love (4AD)

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Reviewed by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

South London quartet Dry Cleaning have been establishing themselves as a unique and original voice in pop music. Their first two albums, New Long Leg and Stumpwork, reveal a band whose many distinctive features are headed by vocalist Florence Shaw, with a largely spoken word delivery, backed by a fulsome instrumental section that features at its root the sonorous bass of Lewis Manyard.

For their third album they undertook sessions in Dublin and Chicago before hooking up with fellow leftfield popster Cate Le Bon in the Loire Valley, where she produced the record.

What’s the music like?

As distinctive as ever. Dry Cleaning have an unusual ability among pop bands to keep you hanging on every word and every note, and manage to make even their most oblique melodies and harmonies make sense.

Under Le Bon’s production, they are very much playing to their strengths here, if anything encouraging their unpredictable side to be let loose on the listener, confounding and delighting at equal measure.

The compelling vocals from Shaw are mostly spoken but have a pitch that gives them unexpected melodic meaning, with leftfield lyrics that are original, wirry and meaningful. Cruise Ship Designer is one of the best examples where everything comes together, but the loose funk of Hit My Head All Day, with the supple bass of Manyard is also notable. Shaw’s directness pays dividends on Let Me Grow And You’ll See The Fruit, where lovely guitar lines are spun above the vocal while the fulsome, dubby bass operates down below.

Sometimes Dry Cleaning’s music resembles a coiled spring, like a sotto voce version of Pixies, and Shaw’s quieter vocals, such as “Fuck the world”, in the coda of I Need You, are as effective as a full-blown shout.

Does it all work?

It does. Avant Garde pop is scarcely as rewarding as this, and yet none of it feels contrived. This is where Dry Cleaning are meant to be.

Is it recommended?

Very much so. Secret Love is a peak in the Dry Cleaning output so far, a natural progression from their first two albums and one that leaves you scratching your head, tapping your feet and smiling – all at the same time. The first must-hear album of 2026.

For fans of…Stereolab, Jane Birkin, Broadcast, Cate Le Bon

Listen / Buy

Published post no.2,773 – Tuesday 20 January 2026