For most of his life Eric Craven has kept a very low profile, concentrating on his teaching career and quietly developing his ‘non-prescriptive’ composing method, a sort of aleatory style but which allows the performer varying degrees of freedom. His earlier cycle of short pieces, ‘SET’, was recorded after Craven was persuaded by leading pianists to make his work available. Highly praised, that technique is shown again to great effect in the ‘Pieces for Pianists’, producing music that is varied, interesting, but perfectly accessible for listener and performer. The composer states that his hope is ‘to reward any pianist with even modest ability with immediate success’ while also providing a challenge to more accomplished pianists to explore new territory. The pianist says that this collection ‘will prove endlessly rewarding’. Mary Dullea is an Irish pianist based in London, who enjoys a very busy career as a soloist and chamber musician and regularly performs and broadcasts in many countries. Her discography is exceptional and demonstrates her support and championing of new music. Her pianism and musicality as well as remarkable virtuosity make her an ideal interpreter. She is also Reader in Music at Royal Holloway, University of London.

For most of his life Eric Craven has kept a very low profile, concentrating on his teaching career and quietly developing his 'non-prescriptive' composing method, a sort of aleatory style that allows the performer varying degrees of freedom. His earlier cycle of short pieces, 'SET', was recorded after Craven was persuaded by leading pianists to make his work available. Highly praised, that technique is shown again to great effect in the 'Pieces for Pianists', producing music that is varied, interesting, but perfectly accessible for listener and performer. Volume 1 attracted very positive reviews: "joyous, playful and satisfying music." - New Classics; and we are sure that this second set will find many new fans for this very individual composer.

Mary Dullea is an Irish pianist based in London, who enjoys a very busy career as a soloist and chamber musician and regularly performs and broadcasts in many countries. Her discography is exceptional and demonstrates her support and championing of new music. Her pianism and musicality as well as remarkable virtuosity make her an ideal interpreter. She is also Reader in Music at Royal Holloway, University of London.

Edward Cowie is one of the most individual and notable voices in contemporary music and considered by many to be the greatest living composer directly inspired by the natural world. He has worked for over 40 years writing music in response to landscapes and the voices of creatures. In this new cycle of 24 ‘sonic portraits’ of different British birds from 4 distinctive habitats, Cowie has drawn even closer to composing music that not so much imitates nature, but that – after much study and extensive field-work - has led to new music with highly original treatments of the relationships between the bird singers and where and how they sing. This album will be followed in early 2022 by a companion (music for flute and piano) featuring birds of Australia entitled ‘Where Song was Born’. This is a major addition of importance to the contemporary chamber repertoire and will benefit from the success and glowing reviews of previous Cowie albums. Peter Sheppard Skærved and Roderick Chadwick are at the highest level of musical achievement and are champions of the best contemporary composers, while Skaerved is also renowned as a musical historian and writer. His continuing series of ‘The Great Violins’ recordings and other early music for the instrument are testament to his enormous depth of knowledge and the innate musicality which also inspires the magical performances on ‘Bird Portraits’. The artists have substantial followings online and in real life and Skærved in particular has strong links to institutions such as the Library of Congress.

REVIEW:

The genesis of Edward Cowie’s’ Bird Portraits was the enforced isolation caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Luckily Edward and his artist wife Heather live in a stunning part of the country. The “permitted” exercise took them to the wonderland of the neighbourhood of Morecambe Bay. Cowie writes: “…only a short walk – less than 10 minutes in any direction, we could explore wild woodland, wetland and pastures. The birdsong, in the first spring of Covid, was stunning - the more so because we didn’t meet anyone else on our walks – the roads were almost silent, and the skies were devoid of vapour trails.” Hearing and seeing these birds inspired Cowie to compose the present piece. He explains, “slowly and with a delicious inexorability, a ‘procession’ (or should I say, ‘fly-past’), of British birds came to fill my head with fresh and refreshing inspiration.”

The resulting work consists of 24 Bird Portraits. Not all were seen in Morecambe Bay: the composer has had a lifelong interest in our feathered friends and has tracked them down in many UK locations. Over Cowie’s career, a quarter of his musical compositions allude to birds - either implicitly or explicitly.

I am not convinced that the general listener to Bird Portraits will be aware of the intellectual superstructure of this music. A cursory hearing will reveal it to be all about birds; the relationship to their unique landscape may be a bit harder to divine, but this is no problem, as the work can be enjoyed “absolutely.”

The playing by both partners of this violin/piano duo is revelatory. Engineer Jonathan Haskell has provided the wonderfully sensitive and always vivid recording.

– MusicWeb International

This unique and intriguing work is one of four ‘fashion/operas’ by Scottish composer Alastair White (b.1988) and this audio version follows the release in February 2021 of the opera ROBE which has attracted much praise. White’s work is advanced not only in its musical sound-world but also in his self-penned librettos which transform the story into surrealist and impressionist poetry. The work might also be classified, more traditionally as a song cycle or solo cantata but with its clever staging and set, it is definitely an opera despite its imaginative use of only a single singer with an alto sax, an instrument which can as needed either blend beautifully with the voice or create dynamic contrast. The work is based on the ballad of Tam Lin (Tamlane), originating in the Scottish Borders, in which Tam Lin is rescued from the Queen of the Fairies by his true love. Here he has been bewitched and transformed into other forms. But is it his body which changes, or the world around him? Reality may not be as clear as we believe in a multiverse of endless possibility. (The legend should not be confused with that of Tamerlane, a different story!) Alastair White’s work has been described as ‘virtuosic’ (Winnipeg Free Press) and ‘passionately atonal’ (Gramophone). His work has been shortlisted for several art awards. Belgian soprano Kelly Poukens and saxophonist Suzy Vanderheiden are building fine reputations as virtuosos in busy and distinguished careers. A full video of the opera will be available for streaming in 2022.

This recording of Alastair White’s ‘fashion opera’ ROBE features the original cast from the premiere performance as part of Tête-a-Tête, London in 2019. The unique concept employs only four female singers with flute and piano, but also dancers and actors, in this futuristic drama. The work was shortlisted for the Creative Edinburgh Award and described as “a very considerable achievement”. In a society where the difference between the real and the virtual is no longer meaningful, a powerful new being threatens the stability which holds these worlds together. Two elders, Neachneohain and Beira, convince the young cartographer Rowan to complete a terrible task: descend into the mind of the superintelligence EDINBURGH and map this creature so as to grant its desire – to become a living city, teeming with human life and activity. Witnessing visions of the awful realness of life beyond cyberspace, Rowan agrees – plunging into its depths: a strange, abstract world of data and dream. Thirty years later, Rowan and EDINBURGH have fallen in love, have lived their lives together. Though every morning she awakes with no memory of the past, Rowan has almost completed the map that EDINBURGH desires. But into this map Rowan has woven something else: something hidden, silent, unsaid. As these rifts in the structure undo causality itself, she must answer the question: what exactly has she created? And what does it have to do with this strange, otherworldly figure who sings the red song of a forgotten city – of an ancient, poisoned ROBE…

Works by two composers working at the University of Manchester in England: one American (Kevin Malone) and one British (Richard Whalley). These new works are all based on folk music: spirituals, protest songs, work ballads. They all reflect the instability of our current world and political systems, expressing concern about climate change, gun control (and the lack of), the neglect of the oppressed and the willful deafness of ‘leaders’ to the real needs of the planet and its people. It’s not a ‘political’ album in any sense of partisanship but a reflection on how real progress can be destroyed by the power-brokers. Kevin Malone studied with Morton Feldman among others and is a lecturer in composition at the University of Manchester. Richard Whalley is Senior Lecturer in Composition at the university having studied at first at York with Nicola LeFanu and then at Harvard with Joshua Fineberg, Ebonit Saxophone Quartet, founded in the Netherlands in 2011, is a sparkling and lively ensemble featuring musicians from Poland, the Netherlands and Spain. The group has won many prizes and is developing a reputation for exciting and brilliant performances. The Ebonit Quartet appears frequently on the popular Netherlands YouTube Channel VPRO VG which features 115k subscribers.

The flute is one of the instruments closest to the audible human breath and is caught in the process of continually becoming something other than a metal cylinder. Listening to Richard Craig's playing, one becomes aware not of the limitations of the flute but of its expansion into a vibrant sonic biosphere. We listen, not just to the flute, but to teh flausti; singing, whistling, humming are added to his palette and become integrated with the sound of the instrument.'' - John Hails. Richard Craig has established a leading position in the new music world for his virtuosity and skill in traditional and newer techniques on all members of the flute family. Here he presents a challenging and fascinating divers group of contemporary works by British, American, French and Swedish composers - some are solos, which present even more challenges to the player - other swith voice or chamber ensemble. Distractfold Ensemble is a British group of high stature, having been ensemble in residence at Harvard University in 2016 - this year they are back in America but at Stanford. The ensemble cna vary its personnel and here is a string trio: Linda Jankowska, Emma Richards, and Alice Purton.

Charles Ives and Henry Cowell are two of the greatest figures in the history of early American experimental music. Ives has enjoyed far greater recognition in the vocal repertoire than Cowell, largely due to the latter’s lack of published songs. The songs chosen for this collection offer a glimpse into one aspect of the remarkable output of both composers. Charles Ives (1874-1954) is rightfully called the father of contemporary American music. Fiercely individual as a composer, he was an innovator and a loner with a brilliant, creative mind. The songs chosen for this album range from the simplistic to the most complex, and represent the eclectic range of styles Ives used in his vocal compositions. His use of jazz idioms, pop songs, religious revival tunes and much more – often overlapping – created a unique style which has never been successfully matched. Henry Cowell (1897-1965) was deeply interested in spiritualism and mythology, served time in prison for child abuse (later pardoned and released) and wrote over 180 songs, most of which are unpublished and secreted away in libraries. Several manuscripts were obtained with the help of researchers to make this recording possible. Aylish Kerrigan is one of the foremost interpreters of contemporary Irish vocal music, and of Brecht, and her one-woman Broadway-style shows won acclaim when given in New York, Paris, Berlin and Dublin. Her accompanist Vladimir Valdivia is from Peru and has performed around the world. He has worked with Aylish Kerrigan for ten years.

American composer Joshua Fineberg has long been a leading light in the younger generation of composers of spectral music, following the Messiaen-Murail school; more recently he has turned to a different aspect of composition which he terms Sonic Fiction – a complex concept but which stresses the abstract music as creating its own ‘fiction’ story and world –perhaps the antithesis of impressionism and program music. On this new album, recorded in France, Germany and the USA, four major works are presented by exceptional performers all very highly regarded on the international stage – from virtuoso accordionist Pascal Contet to the renowned Arditti Quartet. The album is supported by (among others) the Ditson Fund, Columbia University.

Howard Skempton has established over the last 50 years a reputation as one of the UK’s most accomplished and internationally-acclaimed composers, with a style which is based on traditional tonality and lyricism; but he also delights in working with unusual instruments and settings, as is clear from this superb new album including music for hurdy-gurdy, viol, medieval harp, accordion and gamelan alongside ‘normal’ contemporary Western instruments. This is probably one of the most individual and striking albums of the year! Founded in 1992, Sirinu is a British ensemble specializing in early and world music, performing and recording music from the 11th century to the present day. The group has appeared at festivals and venues throughout Europe. An important element of its activity is the commissioning of new works for medieval instruments (such as the title track of this album) which directly led to the making of this recording. Founding members Sara Stowe, Matthew Spring and Jon Banks are joined on this recording by contemporary and world music specialists Chris Redgate (oboe), Isabelle Carré (flutes, recorders and gamelan) and Chris Brannick (percussion).

“The unusual combinations of instruments intrigued me. The performers seem very skilled on their various instruments.”
– Henry Fogel (Fanfare)

Composer Tristan Murail is without doubt one of the most significant figures in European contemporary music circles, known best perhaps for his being a close follower of Messiaen (his teacher was Jeanne Loriod) and one of the prime instigators of the field of spectral music. Murail says this: ‘Early on, every young composer is confronted with an already existing musical universe. Should he accept it, play according to established and consensual rules, or instead, try to stretch or even break away from them?” His answer is generally, to develop new soundworlds arising out of the old and to concentrate not on the serialism fashionable when he was young, but the essential musical sound, investigating new playing techniques and creating a genre practically his own. Marilyn Nonken’s recording of his complete piano music, issued in 2005, remains one of the regular best sellers in the Metier catalog. This new album reflects on his encounters with Schumann and culminates in his re-interpretation of Kinderszenen where his restrained arrangement stays close (but not too close) to the original – it is also a first class set of performances by a stunning cellist. Marie Ythier is a remarkably fine cellist for whom this is the 5th album. She plays repertoire form all periods, but is particularly interested in new music. She has collaborated with many leading composers, holds several teaching posts and has received numerous prizes. Her playing is assured and deft, equally at home in the Romantic and the avant-garde.

This album features the first ever recordings of Sam Hayden’s complete music for solo piano, performed by contemporary music specialist and indefatigable champion of new music, Ian Pace, a pianist with a formidable reputation for mastering the most challenging of new repertoire. The centrepiece is Hayden’s monumental 7-movement cycle, Becomings (Das Werden) I-VII (2016-18), the most recent work on the album and the most ambitious and demanding in terms of scale and sheer virtuosity. Becomings is accompanied by two shorter acoustic works, …still time… (1990) and Fragment (After Losses) (2003). . A different soundworld is provided by Piano Moves (1990) for amplified piano. His solo piano works have in common constant transformation, existing at the extremes of gesture, polyphony, density, register, dynamic range and textual juxtaposition, very much reflecting an aesthetic alignment with modernist traditions and very much at the cutting edge of the avant-garde, while retaining an open and interesting experience for even less adventurous listeners. Hayden has received commissions from many ensembles and the BBC and is Professor of Composition at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance. Ian Pace is a pianist of long-established reputation, specializing in the farthest reaches of musical modernism and transcendental virtuosity, as well as a writer and musicologist focusing on issues of performance, music and society. He has pursued an active international career, performing in 24 countries and at most major European venues and festivals. His vast repertoire, which extends to all periods, focuses particularly upon music of the 20th and 21st centuries. He has given world premieres of over 300 piano works and has recorded 34 albums. He is Head of Music at City University, London.

The Roaring Whirl is a musical journey across the North Indian Punjab – the setting for Rudyard Kipling’s ‘Kim’. The work was originally commissioned by clarinetist Geraldine Allen as a piece to take on tour, and she approached composer Sarah Rodgers for a piece that would cross continents, genres and styles. After the first performance it was clear that the short work had much more potential and it was expanded. The final version was a centerpiece of the Nottingham Now Festival in 1992, as a fully staged performance with a designed set and lighting and choreographed kathak dance. This studio recording was made at the same time but has not been made available until now. Sarah Rodgers is a direct descendant of Henry Purcell - she has written music in many genres and takes a great interest in cross cultural music and Roaring Whirl was only the first of many such works which have been performed around the world. The four performers are all well established as leading lights in their own fields and have all developed a superb reputation in the years since making this recording. Bhasker Patel is best known in the UK for his leading role in the British TV drama Emmerdale.

Kevin Raftery is an American composer who has been working in the UK since 1989, and also plays bassoon, sings contemporary vocal music, and works as a Project Manager. His work is thoroughly modern, without classical limitations,. but is also in turn lyrical, tuneful, dramatic and serene, giving appeal to more than just fans of modernist music. In fact this is top-class post-modern work. While the Quartet and Quintet are formal works, the Pleasantries suite is full of wit, based on ‘figure of speech’ expressions. The three ensembles here are all celebrated in their own right: The Heath Quartet, quartet in residence at Middlebury College, Vermont, near to Metier HQ, and have appeared at the Proms, at Carnegie Hall and the Lincoln Center and have made several acclaimed recordings. The Berkeley Ensemble and Animare Ensemble were both formed to explore modern chamber music as well as more traditional material: both have flexible configurations and employ some of the UK’s top soloists and orchestral principals.

Geoffrey Allen was born in the UK in 1927 and after studying at Oxford moved to Australia where he set up a music publishing imprint and facilitated recordings of Australian music. He is still very active and is busy with several projects and compositions. His chamber music is widely neo-Romantic and rhapsodic, repeating motifs indifferent ways, constantly evading fixed tonality but retaining a soft and mellifluous melodic flow. Thus: his music is distinctive and strongly constructed but very attractive–post-modernist in the best sense. This collection of woodwind works begins with the 1964 Bassoon Sonata–more edgy, redolent of Prokofiev or Hindemith–through to the 2007 Fantasy Trio, polytonal, rhapsodic with beautiful textures. All works are receiving their first commercial recording. The four musicians are among Australian’s finest–among many other activities, Waye and Meyer are principals with the West Australian Symphony; Walpole is an internationally-known freelance and Wickham is acknowledged to be among Australia’s most pre-eminent accompanists.

“The performers are very fine throughout this well-made recording which provides an interesting chance to hear an accomplished composer’s way of handling woodwinds in a modern chamber-music context.”
- Mark Estren (Infodad)

“A pleasant album… always interesting, the relatively novel sound of the bassoon always a pleasure, warm and quite often almost amusing while the flute and clarinet often add a dreamier feel. A clever mix of easy listening mood music and more intellectual classical”
– Jeremy Condliffe (The Chronicle Review Corner)