SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

Malvern Songfest 3^rd and  4^th May 2008: a report from Lyndall Dawson (LD)


“ The realisation that I had two song composers of national importance - Elaine Hugh-Jones and Ian Venables - living on my doorstep, inspired me to promote performances of their works in the locality”, explained William Coleman about the birth of the Malvern Songfest. Coleman’s longstanding friendships with several British composers, together with his own experience as an interpreter of English song, prompted him to organise a brand new event that would unite current composers with singers and pianists keen to perform new works.

The two performances of the weekend festival, held at St Edmund’s Hall , Malvern College were shared between singers Helen Massey (soprano), Peter Wilman (tenor) and Willian Coleman (baritone), and pianists Philip Collin and Robert Challinor.  Composer/ pianist Claire Liddell was originally programmed to accompany her own song cycles but unfortunately was indisposed. The repertoire ranged from audience favourites like Purcell, Quilter, Finzi, Gurney and Vaughan Williams, to new works from Ian Venables, Elaine Hugh-Jones and prizewinning young composer, Edward Nesbit. A buzz of enthusiasm was maintained throughout by the mutual zeal of singers, pianists, composers and audience converging as one community to celebrate each others’ work.

Helen Massey’s bell-like tone opened the first concert with Purcell’s Sweeter than Roses, and concluded the first set with the British premiere of Venables’ enthralling November Piano. The song, together with its spirited interpretation by Massey and pianist Collin, inspired the audience to demand an encore performance. After interval, Massey’s fine soprano lyricism did justice to the charm and ecstasy of Hugh-Jones’ The Nightingale Near the House and The Starlight Night. Hugh-Jones’ detailed melodic phrasing is complex, constantly weaving in and out of often thickly textured piano accompaniments. Hugh-Jones’ songs have an intellectual depth and sophistication that distinguish her as a cerebral composer of great worth.

Another highlight of the festival was Peter Wilman’s engaging interpretation of little known composer W. Denis-Browne’s Dream Tryst. His easy tone floated over a wash of broken chords, expressing Francis Thompson’s text with clear diction and an exquisite range of colour. Wilman’s sensitive performance of Venables’ cycle Songs of Eternity and Sorrow set to AE Houseman, prompted the composer to compliment the tenor’s detailed artistry and sense of characterisation. This highly regarded cycle was commissioned in 2004 by the Finzi Trust and originally written for string quartet and tenor. It premiered in Ludlow and was recorded by Andrew Kennedy and the Tippett String Quartet with pianist Simon Lepper. The cycle was later skilfully arranged for voice and piano accompaniment by Graham Lloyd. My favourite in the cycle was the opening Easter Hymn, a song of great simplicity and beauty with a magical piano interlude played with immense sensitivity by Collin. The reason for Venables’ current success is obvious; his music is singable, playable and listenable. The unfussy melodic lines are instantly appealing and he has a gift for creating mood by colouring text with accessible rhythmic patterns and straightforward harmonic movement.

The lyric beauty of William Coleman’s mellifluous tone abounded in Quilter’s Go Lovely Rose, and the intimate texts of the Hugh-Jones premieres The New House and House and Man. There were moments however, in Nesbit’s cycle Legion, set to David Harsent’s text, in which the listener felt awkward for the musical demands it made on both singer and pianist. Nesbit is an up and coming composer who already has a number of song cycles under his belt, as well as chamber and choral works to his credit. This cycle was commissioned for the Malvern Songfest and displays an admirable commitment to musical detail. The range of ever changing tonal colour was effective, although the absence of a continuous melodic line and the lack of variation in pace of the first three songs occasionally caused the listener’s attention to wander. The fourth song of the cycle, The Piss Pail, brought us an acute change of tone and pace with its initial upbeat tempo, followed by some very beautiful harmonic writing.

My one criticism of the programming as a whole is that I would have preferred to hear a greater variety of compositional style.  As the festival progressed, the slow, atmospheric, reflective pieces sometimes seemed to run into each other with little respite. Nonetheless, as a first attempt, this was an extremely entertaining weekend and the mutual feeling of performers, audience and composers was summed up by Ian Venables: “this is a fantastic idea and I hope that it will happen next year”. According to Coleman, next year’s plans include performances of works by John Jeffreys, songs and part songs of Peter Warlock, a showing of the film Some Little Joy (about the life of Warlock), as well as a masterclass for young singers aged fifteen and above.

Lyndall Dawson

Details of next year’s festival can be found by contacting: william.coleman-bar@virgin.net


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