SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

SEEN AND HEARD UK CONCERT REVIEW

Bax, Glazunov, Lowell Liebermann, Mathias, Jacob Thompson, Fauré and Debussy:  Debussy Ensemble - Susan Milan (flute), Matthew Jones (viola) and Ieuan Jones (harp) - Purcell Room, London, 31.3.2010 (BBr)

 

Bax: Elegiac Trio (1916)

Glazunov: Elegie in G minor, op.44 (1893)

Liebermann: Sonata for flute and harp, op.56 (1997)

Mathias: Zodiac Trio, op.70 (1976)

Jacob Thompson: Two Triptychs (2010) (world première)

Fauré: Impromptu, op.86 (1904)

Debussy: Sonata for flute, viola and harp (1915)


Ever since Bax and Debussy, almost simultaneously and unbeknownst to each other, created works for flute, viola and harp, many other composers have written for this combination of instruments and this was a good concert to celebrate the trio and the various instrumental combinations splintering from it.

The Bax Elegiac Trio is quite impressionistic, a rather unusual thing for him, and while playing for only about half the duration of the Debussy, it contains many different moods. Ultimately of course, the brazen romantic wins out and the work is awash with amorous and idealistic soul. Glazunov’s Elegie was written with piano accompaniment but it works just as well for viola and harp. There’s not really a lot of 'Elegie' here, it’s more a song without words and the two Joneses played it for all it was lyrically worth, making it a real find in the concert hall.

Lowell Liebermann’s Sonata for flute and harp is a different kettle of fish entirely. In one movement, dividing into three sections, I found little of interest in it musically, the material being far too light weight for his rather grand idea of a Sonata: nor were the musical ideas especially memorable. The disappointment in Liebermann’s Sonata was quickly dispelled by William Mathias’s delightful Zodiac Trio, written for Marisa Robles, Christopher Hyde-Smith and Frederick Riddle. This work, whilst not showing Mathias at his very best, contains a really heart warming slow movement between two jokey, fast ones. It made a happy conclusion to the first half of the show.

The music in the second half had more meat to it. Jacob Thompson’s Two Triptychs – so called because the two pieces each have three sections – is a welcome addition to the flute, viola and harp repertory. Thompson described the first movement as being “mournful and reserved”, yet the middle section contained a viola solo of such passion and range that this was obviously incorrect. The second piece is “ecstatic, hyperactive and brittle.” The first two elements worked well but not the brittle for two reasons – firstly we’ve heard this kind of music far too often over the past forty years and secondly, Thompson is a lyrical composer and the brittle music didn’t sit well on his musical shoulders. But this is a good piece and with a little tweaking it could be  fabulous. Fauré’s impossibly virtuosic Impromptu was a real winner with the audience because one seldom hears the harp in solo music, and it’s a wonderful piece of impressionism and skill in execution. Ieuan Jones rose to the challenge with aplomb.

To end, the work everyone associates with this combination of instruments - Debussy’s own Sonata for flute, viola and harp. Written after Debussy had been diagnosed with the cancer which was ultimately to kill him, and with the sounds of the war round him, this is a work of obviously repressed emotional content. The eponymous trio gave a restrained, somewhat understated, performance, which brought out the longing of the music. As an encore, we were treated to a miniature by Théodore Dubois which brought the evening to a serene close.

I look forward to hearing the Debussy Ensemble in more repertoire for this combination of instruments for if anyone can create interest in it, these are the people to look to.

 

Bob Briggs