This is the third CD
Campion has released in conjunction
with the North West Composers’ Association.
It is dedicated to the string quartets
of composers with a northern UK connection.
The previous discs, "Fast Forward"
and "Old City-New Image",
featured works by John Casken, Kevin
Malone, Geoffrey Poole, Robin Walker
and Liverpool born John McCabe. Here
the music includes the Third Quartet
of David Ellis, whose years at BBC Manchester
have been put to good use with Ellis
fulfilling the role of the disc’s producer.
Completed in 2002,
David Ellis’s Third Quartet is
a substantial work of nigh on half an
hour’s duration. Cast in two weighty
outer movements framing a fleeting intermezzo,
it is the opening Adagio sostenuto
– Allegro molto that carries the
thrust of the musical argument. The
movement effectively combines the traditional
function of an opening allegro with
elements of a slow movement, the two
differing types of material often battling
for ultimate superiority. The predominantly
pizzicato central movement, appropriately
marked "semplice" paves
the way for the finale. The raw material
for that movement is largely drawn from
the opening but subjected to a series
of transformations often pervaded by
a mood of resolute defiance. As with
the composer’s symphonies the result
is a powerful work, vigorously argued
and given a reading of equally impressive
substance by the Manchester Camerata
Ensemble.
John Reeman was
something of a late starter as composer,
pursuing various differing occupations
before enrolling at Hull University
where he ultimately achieved a Master’s
degree in composition. His Scena
was awarded first prize in the 2002
"In Memoriam Zoltán Kodály"
International Composer’s Competition
and comprises a single movement that
the composer describes as a "mini-drama".
Each of the players initially assumes
the part of an individual character
before a gradual coming together as
the protagonists unite. The ensuing
vigorous central section sees the players
interact collectively before the material
once again breaks down into individual
lines. Scena is an impressively
constructed work in which the composer
demonstrates a strong sense of developmental
control over his material. Although
the music rarely gravitates away from
an underlying sense of tonality Reeman’s
approach to harmony and melodic line
is never less than absorbing. Given
that he is possibly the least known
composer represented it is to be hoped
that this recording will help to bring
about a greater awareness of his work.
Anthony Gilbert
on the other hand is a composer
with a long established reputation;
although there was a time when his fame
in the field of teaching at the Royal
Northern College of Music seemed to
overshadow his considerable achievements
as a composer. For many years very little
of Gilbert’s work could be heard on
CD although fortunately NMC stepped
in, releasing recordings of several
works for wind band including Dream
Carousels, as well as the violin
concerto, On Beholding a Rainbow.
Gilbert’s own disarming description
of his Fourth Quartet as "simply
a 21 minute partita" belies what
is a rigorously controlled and organised
work of significant architectural complexity.
Of all four works on the disc it is
Gilbert’s that represents the sternest
challenge to the listener, yet as is
often the case it is also the work that
can yield the greatest rewards given
repeated listening. Its four movements
are starkly contrasting whilst the intensity
shared by the first and third movements
are offset by the pizzicato of the second
and the relative abandon of the finale,
which carries the wonderful direction
to the performers to "play dirty".
Duncan Druce’s
String Quartet No. 4 is the only work
of the four to carry any kind of programmatic
element, drawing its inspiration, and
to some degree structure, from Emily
Brontë’s immortal novel Wuthering
Heights. The "fourteen vignettes"
that make up the work paint a vivid
and at times highly imaginative picture
of the passages from the book that they
represent. That said, the overall impression
is understandably less cohesive than
the other works on the disc. Nevertheless
the work succeeds in drawing the listener
in through the strength of its personality
and atmosphere.
Indeed, it is personality
that is possibly the key word in assessing
this CD overall. The contrasting stylistic
personas of the composers represented
makes for interesting and enjoyable
listening. All four works benefit from
committed advocacy by the Manchester
Camerata Ensemble and Tavec Quartet.
Given that the work was written specifically
for them it is especially fitting that
the Tavec Quartet, made up of former
students at the Royal Northern, perform
the demanding Anthony Gilbert Fourth
Quartet, with particular aplomb.
Christopher Thomas
for
details
Manchester Camerata Ensemble (Reeman,
Ellis, Druce); Tavec Quartet (Gilbert)
