Classical Explorations — June 2024

Chary Nurymov
Suite from Fate of Sukhovey
Chary Nurymov was a composer from Turkmenistan, a country in Central Asia bordered by the Caspian Sea and largely covered by the Karakum Desert. I was fascinated to learn the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra are running a series entitled Voices from the East with a this new recording released just last month on the Chandos label. Premiered in 1967, the work’s title describes a hot wind that blows around the arid regions of the Caspian Sea. The scenario describes how humanity triumphs over nature, transforming inhospitable desert into a fertile temperate climate. There is a rawness in the energy to the piece. Middle-eastern rhythmic figures and harmonies are woven into beautifully orchestrated passages, reminiscent of the Romantic period giving the work cohesion. A true gem to find!

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Morceaux, Op. 51 – vi. Valse sentimentale
This lovely little piece caught my imagination this month. Taken from an album of flute and harp music, famous pieces are arranged by harpist Nora Mercz. They work well together as a duo. The pace, tone and performance of the Tchaikovsky is perfect.

Gabriela Ortiz
Altar de Cuerda – Morisco chilang
Mexican composer Gabriela Ortiz began her musical journey listening and learning the folk traditions of her homeland, later studying more formally in Mexico as well as Paris and London. Her music is an alchemic mix of classical, contemporary, rock, African and Afro-Cuban influences. The title of the first movement which is featured here, refers to Ortiz's Mexico City background ("chilango" is a slang term used to denote its residents). You would be mistaken for thinking the piece has a religious element with the word altar. Ortiz describes the piece as being “more towards the symbolic, the spiritual and the magic; an altar is a place to throw music into relief. Nonetheless, the first work in the series was in fact inspired by a true neon altar she came across in a church. In this most improbable image, I found a cultural syncretism, an erasure of borders, a conceptual eclecticism that can very well be synthesized in the idea of the postmodern, which happens to be one of the main aesthetic tendencies that define my music.’

Traditional
Surb, Surb
Some years ago I became obsessed with the ancient medieval ruins of Ani, sparked by a performance of Hovhannes’ Symphony No.23 (‘city of thousand and one cathedrals)’. I’d still really like to visit Ani one day. Now situated in Turkey's province of Kars, Ani is next to the closed boarder with Armenia. The very idea of such a monumental civilisation there feeds the imagination given the now barren landscape. I had in the back of my mind a plan to see if I could get permission to fly some drones there to capture the buildings which still exist and make some kind of production. But alas, the Turkish aviation authority is one of the strictest on the planet and I had to abandon the idea. This little story is something of a backdrop to my next piece, which is haunting, utterly beautiful and played on an instrument rarely heard: the duduk. An ancient double reed instrument, the duduk is the true sound of Armenia. In 2005, UNESCO proclaimed the Armenian duduk and its music as a “Masterpiece of the Intangible Heritage of Humanity”. Duduk music has been used in a number of films, most notably in The Russia House and Gladiator. This recording is so beautifully shaped with graded dynamics and a varied vibrato.

Dardust
Mon Coeur, Béton Brut
Italian pianist and composer Dario Faini (aka Dardust) has just released this month a curious single entitled Mon Coeur, Béton Brut, a track from his upcoming album Urban Impressionism. Described as a “metaphor for our emotional barriers, how we build concrete palaces to protect our hearts”, there is a black and white video to accompany the track. Beautifully shot at Les Arenes de Picasso in Paris featuring some really interesting postmodernist architecture which the composer describes as encapsulating “both the hardness of elements like iron and concrete, musically translated into glitchy and minimal beats, and the emotional and human element of the tightrope walker, who seeks to find a balance between emotional protection and the need for connection with others with a piano motif inspired by "Asturias" from the Suite Española by the Impressionist composer Albéniz.” The fusion of different musical styles gives contrast musically which is also mirrored in the film. The electronic element is introduced at the same time as some clever video effects.

Arno Babadjanian
Elegy
For our next stop along our musical journey this month, I’m featuring the second of two Armenian pieces! Arno Babajaniann was a Soviet and Armenian composer and pianist. He was made a People's Artist of the USSR in 1971. Here this beautiful and lyrical Elegy was written for Aram Khachaturian and is dedicated to his memory. This piece is an arrangement of Qani vour jan im (So long as I live), a song by Sayat-Nova, an outstanding Armenian ashugh (poet-musician) of the eighteenth century.

James Ross
Landscape to Light
For my next featured piece, we turn to the rugged landscape of Caithness, the northernmost point of the Scottish mainland as illustrated musically by composer James Ross. Landscape to Light is a fantastic new release with a unique Scottish flavour. And again there is a an exclusive video premiere created by Scottish-Finnish filmmaker & photographer Minttu Mäntynen to accompany the album’s title track. Conventional chord progressions are given colour through close harmony. This sets the scene for some really lovely Celtic string playing.

Red Hot Org
Maji
I must admit to being a little baffled by who this artist is or what the true message behind the music is, but nevertheless, I was drawn to this recent release. Red Hot Org describe themselves as promoting social activism through music and pop culture since 1990. Whatever the story, I was curious about the immediately striking sound world here, starting with dramatic string lines only to jammed next to some rather unique percussion beats. I couldn’t quite work out in my mind if this could be considered classical (despite it being promoted as such!). I could imagine it being on a 007 film!

Monika Hanus-Kobus / Maciej Straburzýnski
Piesni Norwida (Norwid's Songs)
I’ve not been able to find out much about this release, but I was captured by the wonderful soundworld created by Polish composer and translator Katarzyna Kwiecień-Długosz born in 1978. Shamefully I was even able to find a libretto or lyrics. I’d be super interested if you do find it.

Jean-Philippe Rameau Nouvelles suites de pièces de clavecin
Suite in G major, RCT 6 – V. La Poule
Jean-Philippe Rameau was one of the most important composers of the Baroque period. Born two years before Bach and Handel, he is often overshadowed by those giants, but he wrote some of the finest operas of his era. Rameau had a significant role to play in the development of music theory in Europe and explored new tonal possibilities through his daring harmonies whilst retaining ideals of clarity and order in the Age of Enlightenment. This delightful release on Orchid Classics is a neat presentation of that effervescent Rameau style. I’d give my right arm to have the clarity of Juho Pohjonen’s articulation and clarity of phrasing. The careful, delicate and perfectly executed playing is a delight to the ear and shows that early music can be played outstandingly on a modern piano.

James Whitbourn
Son of God Mass: Lava me
British composer, conductor and producer James Whitbourn was an internationally renowned musician recognised by The Observer as “a truly original communicator in modern British choral music”. A graduate of Magdalen College, University of Oxford, his career in music began in the BBC, for whom he worked as a composer, conductor, producer, and presenter. Sadly James Whitbourn passed away in March this year at the age of 60. The Son of God Mass is an unusual scoring for choir, saxophone and organ. The haunting sound of the soprano saxophone, drawing on some interesting harmonic contours above serene choral writing is brilliantly meditative.

Eric Satie
Songe-creux
With such a natural flair for writing simple and haunting melodies, Eric Satie needs no introduction. Best known for his set of works Gymnopédie and Gnossiennes, he died in 1925 barely known beyond the suburbs of Paris. It was John Cage who took inspiration in his works in the 1960s which brought them to international fame. An extremely eccentric man, he moved to Paris at the age of 18 to study at the Paris Conservatoire. This didn’t last long as he clashed with his teachers about musical theory. Satie was the brains behind Les Six, leading the way with neo-classical ideals to make music simple. An eccentric man who lived in isolation, never letting anyone into his Parisien bedsit with only a hammock for sleep. The eccentricity continued in his music, asking performers to play music ‘as light as an egg’! Out of this eccentricity comes the most poignant and touching music – and this piece is a great example of that.

Julie Pinel
Sombres lieux
Héloïse Werner is a French-born soprano and composer, currently based in London. She is recognized for her multifaceted talents in the classical music world, both as a performer and a composer. Her latest album (of which this is a teaser) is a very unique sound indeed. Drawing from an all-female repertoire, the music is full of Werner’s flamboyant and inimitable style. Although Julie Pinel was an 18th century composer and harpsichordist, don’t expect a sound from that period! It’s a kind of modern mash up of contemporary techniques which lay the foundation like a good film score for the song which follows. It’s a very unique style and I can’t wait to hear what the rest of the album sounds like! If this has aroused your curiosity and you are free – her album launch is at the Queen Elizabeth Hall this evening (Friday 28 Jun 2024).

Takashi Yoshimatsu
Symphony No.2 – iii. Canticle from the south
Takashi Yoshimatsu was born in Tokyo in 1953, at a time when Japanese composers had embraced the trend towards avant-garde techniques. While absorbing these, Yoshimatsu opposed the general fashion, returning to popular rhythms and romantic melody and coming to be regarded as the standard-bearer of Neo-Romanticism in Japan. Earlier this year I featured another of Yoshimatsu’s pieces. It’s my pleasure to include another – totally different. The driving and hypnotic mallet percussion builds and builds from beginning to end in this final movement of the symphony. A jazz imbued melody is introduced and repeated again and again. You just can’t help but to go with it by the end of the movement which is rousing. How amazing would this be live?

Tamacun
As I pondered the rather wonderful mallet playing in the last item, I wanted to finish with something refreshing for marimba. I rather liked this arrangement for no less than four marimbas (and a few other percussion instruments!). It’s a great piece and performed rhythmically by The Wave Quartet.