Page 90 - BBC Music (January 2020)

Instrumental Reviews

Autheurs’; de Rippe (I paraphrase Saram’s potent musical personality
O’Dette here) had a bit of a blind spot shines through. Helen Wallace
A life’s work:
when it came to composing high- Rohan de Saram PERFORMANCE HHHH
quality dance music. celebrates his 80th RECORDING HHHH
This is a fascinating, well-
structured interweaving overview American Rage
of de Rippe’s musical world, Copland: Piano Sonata; Rzewski:
immaculately played by the North American Ballads – Which side
expressive O’Dette, from the are you on?; Winnsboro Cotton Mill
evocative L’Eccho, in which the Blues; Julia Wolfe: Compassion
lutenist ‘echoes’ him/herself Conrad Tao (piano)
by switching position on the Warner 9029535477 57:85 mins
fingerboard to produce a sound Conrad Tao’s
akin to an offstage echo, to the biography
anonymous, touching Pavane from creaks under the
Morlaye’s Premier Livre de Tabulature weight of awards
de Leut. These are the works which (Gilmore Young
really sing, and O’Dette brings this Artist; Avery
same moving, introspective quality Fisher laureate): at 25 he’s already
to the Fantaisie II, the scordatura an acclaimed pianist-composer
tuning giving it its unusual chordal (and occasional violinist) and has
tonalities, while the clarity of sound been on every ‘one to watch’ list
is throughout matched by that of the for years. This is his third release
recording. Sarah Urwin Jones for Warner; a recording that once
RECORDING HHHH again demonstrates Tao’s jaw-
PERFORMANCE HHHH appealing, at the same time bringing composer friends and colleagues dropping pianism and aptitude
to mind the English virginalists. The over his six-decade-long career. His for programming.
Sweelinck Toccatas and Fantasias, on the other is a distinctive legacy, with several The inspiration behind American

Praeludium Toccata; Phantasia hand, perhaps more often recall the works referencing his Sri Lankan Rage is thinly veiled. The disc is
à 4; Paduana Lachrimae; late 16th-century Italian composers. heritage as well as exploiting his bookended by two works from
Toccata Primi Toni; Fantasia Egarr’s playing is full of fearless technique. Rzweski’s North American Ballads
cromatica; Toccata; Est-ce energy and insight, his rhythmic The Calcutta-born John Mayer’s and the opening ‘Which side are
Mars; Fantasia; Mein junges sense is invigorating and his Sannyasin was inspired by the you on?’ sets out key themes of
Leben hat ein End; Ut re mi fa enjoyment of the music evident Hindu ritual of renouncing the moral struggle and solidarity. For
sol la in his often exuberant virtuosity. world, appropriate for this artist the extended improvisation at the
Richard Egarr (harpsichord) The full-bodied sound of his who has dedicated his life to the end of the piece, Tao uses a riff from
Linn CKD 589 76:13 mins harpsichord, a copy after Ruckers, road less travelled. It’s perhaps the Pete Seeger’s 1967 recording of the
Sweelinck’s music is sympathetically captured, and most conventionally rhetorical work song from which Rzweski’s
does not enjoy Sweelinck’s almost ever-present of all the works, inflected with ballad takes its name. The result
the frequent counterpoint is argued with clarity Mayer’s indo-jazz fusion style. Hilda is a brilliant, slightly bewildering
appearances on and an assured feeling for the Paredes’s pungent, tightly-focused outpouring of cross rhythms and
disc that it merits. idiom. My only regret is that, in the essay Zuhuy Kak incorporates stacked melodies that rise to a fury,
He was one of course of an engaging essay, Egarr Khandyan drumming patterns from before reaching clattering snippets
the most celebrated organists of his has managed to avoid any mention the ‘Elephant Vannam’, a Sri Lankan of tune – and an abrupt stop.
day, as his recitals at Amsterdam’s at all of the pieces he plays so well. entertainment. De Saram, a long- That hint of resolution is
Oude Kerk testify. Additionally, Nicholas Anderson time exponent of the Khandyan explored throughout Copland’s
he was a noted teacher, numbering PERFORMANCE HHHH drum, delights in its expressively craggy Sonata, a work written
Samuel Scheidt among his pupils. RECORDING HHHH dragged pizzicato and ghostly during the Second World War, when
Of greater note, in the context of 20th Century British cantilenas, though the martial both domestic and international
Richard Egarr’s harpsichord recital, rhythms could be more elastic. humanitarian crises were on
is Sweelinck’s fluent knowledge Works for Solo Cello This piece vies with James Dillon’s the composer’s mind. Tao draws
of English styles, partly acquired J Dillon: Eos; Drakeford: Cello Eos as my favourite discovery here: out the contrasts, his Gouldian
through his acquaintanceship with Suite No. 2; D Matthews: Songs and Dillon sustains a taut, expressive vocal expressions clearly audible
John Bull and Peter Philips, both of Dances of Mourning; John Mayer: trajectory, whose muscularity and in this recording. Although
whom lived in the Netherlands. This Sannyasin; H Paredes: Zuhuy Kak poise is beautifully realised by initially distracting, with repeated
influence can be felt, intermittently Rohan de Saram (celllo) de Saram. listening they become part of the
throughout Egarr’s programme, First Hand FHR045 70:03 mins Perhaps not surprisingly David phrasing. Julia Wolfe’s Compassion
which consists of a well-contrasted Rohan de Matthew’s Songs and Dances of is exquisite; in Tao’s hands the
miscellany, including Toccatas Saram, former Mourning (1976/98) evokes Britten’s repeated dissonant fragments
and Fantasias. cellist of the cello suites, written as they were become meaningfully ferocious.
The best-known pieces on the Arditti Quartet in the year of his death: a poignant The closing Winnsboro Cotton Mill
disc are the Fantasia cromatica, and a tireless lament, scurrying presto a chaconne, Blues (Tao’s reading benefits from
the Pavana Lachrimae based on adventurer in new and even a final flowering of motifs. neater sound than Ralph van Raat’s
Dowland’s song ‘Flow, my teares’ music, marks his 80th birthday with It’s well done. These recordings were 2007 library favourite) sounds an
and the Est-ce Mars variations on a very personal collection, almost made in 2015 and are perhaps not as historic alarm. Claire Jackson
a secular song. The art of variation a musical ‘This is Your Life’. Each effortless as they might have been PERFORMANCE HHHHH
often reveals Sweelinck at his most of the works was written for him by in earlier years. Nevertheless, de RECORDING HHHH

92 BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE