This double CD gives
us a rare opportunity to catch up on
John Casken’s instrumental and chamber
music composed over the last twenty
five years. All of the pieces are at
the handy length of between fourteen
and eighteen minutes, ideal for concerts
where contemporary music may not be
the entire raison d’être and
ideal for busy lives and home listening.
They encompass a wide variety of instrumental
combinations so that the whole project
is a pleasure; consistently interesting
and challenging.
The CD title, Night,
Fire, Sun, Silence is connected
to several of the pieces recorded here.
Night is the most elusive but
relates to the atmosphere that pervades
much of the music. Fire is more
direct being related to Firewhirl
inspired by night-time revelry around
a Bonfire at Midsummer in Finland. Salamandra
is also fire-inspired with its link
with the Salamander and its home "around
the rocks of a volcano’ allowing the
subtitle Fire-haunt. Sun
is obviously alluded to in the desert
landscape of Salamandra but also
in Distant Variations inspired
by "Sunset in the silent canyon;
the clear sharp contrast ... is shattered
by the sun’s first rays". Finally
Silence is a reminder that many
of these inspirations have come from
the silent places of the earth, a canyon,
and a desert for instance. There is
also the obvious linkage with two versions
of Après un Silence. These
were written in 1997 after a period
of "almost a year of not composing".
Another element which might have been
part of the title is Water. Infanta
Marina was inspired by a Wallace
Stevens poem concerning Marina, daughter
of Pericles, who was born in a storm
at sea.
John Casken comes from
the North. He was born there and for
much of his life has resided there.
He did however spend a short period
in Birmingham where he was a pupil of
John Joubert, who, incidentally, thinks
very highly of him. I mention the Northern
connection because it seems to me that
there is something ‘northern’ about
the sounds he conjures up. Piano Quartet
seems to breathe the air of fells and
lakes and yet is purely abstract. There
is - and this is purely personal - a
sort of greyness about his music. I
don’t mean ordinariness, but the music
carries the sense of a grey sky and
of wind hovering inside the sound-world.
Certainly it carries a true sense of
the natural world despite the titles
of these little ‘symphonic poems’ or
perhaps one should say, ‘chamber poems’.
Some of these works are directly connected
to the natural world. Casken in his
accompanying notes acknowledges this.
Only in Firewhirl is there an
explicit connection with the North.
Let me guide you briefly
through each piece, beginning with the
Piano Quartet. This, like other works
is a ‘chip from the block’ of his large
scale opera Golem (1989). Some
ideas relate to the opera closely. Like
his orchestral work Maharal Dancing
(which also uses opera material),
now available on the NMC label, it is
in one movement. There is a complex
contrapuntal opening which gradually
unwinds into stillness and calm. A very
sensitive ending ensues.
I remember in the 1980s
an LP recording of Firewhirl.
I was very impressed; again I feel the
same way. Using a poem by George Macbeth,
Casken creates a whirling atmosphere
of unleashed sexual tension exemplified
by the soprano soloist. This is played
out against the instrumental background
as the erotic image of a semi-naked
dancing girl is watched by the spell-bound
men.
After not composing
for a year any composer will recognize
the terrible psychological tension that
can build in contemplating the demise
of the art to which he felt born. In
Après un silence this
tension uncoils into an extraordinary
convoluted kaleidoscope of counterpoint.
Although I normally find Casken’s orchestration
fascinating, I must admit that on this
occasion my ears tired of the harsh
sounds. The monotone version for violin
and piano helped capture the elusive
form and concentrated the mind on the
main argument.
In Infanta Marina’s
more impressionistic sound-world, water
is evoked. This is a piece in three
sections. They flow imperceptibly into
each other. The cor anglais, that most
melancholy of wind instruments, intertwines
with the ensemble as if searching for
a home. The sudden ending leaves you
wanting more which is no bad thing.
Talking of Casken’s
instrumentation leads me to Amarantos.
This was inspired by an e.e.cummings
poem. It is quite a tough nut in many
ways but redolent of the grey colours
I mentioned earlier. Nevertheless, light
and shadow, sun and rain pass across
the scenery as if we are experiencing
an April day. One’s imagination can
run riot.
Salamandra,
inspired by a lizard in a hot canyon,
is typical of the kind of ‘chamber-poem’
as opposed to the ‘symphonic poem’ of
years gone by. The subject is just a
starting point for an evocation of a
desert landscape, heat and of the human
confusion which goes with such an alien
environment.
You need time and patience
with this music but it has its rewards.
You can sit back and let some parts
of this music wash over you. However
to be an active listener is more rewarding
and to go out to meet these pieces more
than half-way is vital.
The recordings are
close and analytical which feel is a
good thing. The performances, as far
as I can tell, seem perfect and totally
involving.
I recommend this disc
to anyone interested in contemporary
British music.
Gary Higginson
for details
METIER MSV CD 92076 [64.32 + 67.16]
