The EMI Debut series has now been successful in drawing a number
of exceptionally promising young artists to public attention, amongst
them Thomas Adès and, more recently (and currently particularly
newsworthy) the bass-baritone Jonathan Lemalu, hailed by some as the next
Bryn Terfel and having just picked up a Gramophone award for best debut
disc.
Anyone who happened to be listening to the Prom on
the 19th August with the Australian Chamber Orchestra will already have
heard Alison Balsom in Shostakovitch’s Piano Concerto in C minor,
partnering Olli Mustonen and those with a particularly good memory may
recall her winning the brass final of the BBC Young Musician of the
Year in 1998. Indeed for a young brass player her pedigree already speaks
for itself having appeared as soloist with the Philharmonia, Bournemouth
and Ulster Orchestras as well as playing with the LSO and LPO amongst
others.
Balsom explains in her booklet note that EMI gave her
considerable freedom in choosing her programme for the disc and thereby
lays my only real reservation. The objective (a daunting one as Balsom
readily admits) was to seek out new material although what we get is
a slightly uncomfortable blend of one vast original composition in the
Eben, that whilst well coupled with the shorter Tomasi work seems rather
ill at ease with the likes of Shenandoah and George Thalben-Ball’s
well-known organ Elegy. It may be that Balsom was conscious of
not duplicating works with Håkan Hardenberger’s release of music
for the same combination that appeared on BIS earlier this year (also
reviewed by the writer) although in fact it is only the Tomasi that
is common to both discs.
It is Eben’s Windows that is the undoubted highlight
of the disc, a weighty, dramatic tableaux in four substantial movements
inspired by Chagall’s twelve stained glass windows at the Hadassah Medical
Centre in Jerusalem (The same windows that in 1974, also inspired John
McCabe’s orchestral piece Chagall Windows). Balsom mentions the
unforgettable experience of recording the work at midnight in Paisley
Cathedral. The silence and grandeur of the surroundings must have made
an impression for this is an evocative performance of a characteristically
deeply felt work. Anyone familiar with Eben’s music will know his brilliance
as a composer for organ and the writing for the instrument here is every
bit as demanding as the trumpet part, both Balsom and the young organist
Quentin Thomas acquitting themselves with considerable aplomb.
In the Tomasi, Balsom may not quite have the spectacular
security in the highest register of the piccolo trumpet that Hardenberger
possesses but gives a slightly less hard-edged performance, with beautifully
lyrical playing in the tranquil central section. Indeed it is Balsom’s
lyrical playing that in many ways impresses most, a combination of her
superb clarity of both tone and articulation, producing a seamless legato
sound that truly shines in the Sweelinck, the most effective of the
arrangements of early music on the disc. Whilst the Bach violin Partita
is a fine vehicle for her virtuosity the genius of the original writing
is such that any arrangement will always leave me slightly cold. The
playing is, nonetheless, sympathetic.
Alison Balsom is a player we are likely to hear considerably
more from in the coming years and this debut disc will do much to galvanise
her already growing reputation.
Christopher Thomas
Alison Balsom (trumpet)
Quentin Thomas (organ)