In
recent years Andrew Sparling has forged a reputation as one
of the most energetic clarinettists of his generation. His orchestral
credits include The Philharmonia and the BBC Scottish Symphony
Orchestra although it is for his work in the field of new music
that he is best known. A regular member of the ensembles Lontano,
Apartment House and Ensemble Exposé he can also often be seen
as guest performer with the London Sinfonietta, Gemini, Ixion and Music Projects/London. Solo projects
have seen him involved in concerts and festivals around the
country and on the continent. He is also actively involved in
music education both in schools and universities.
This
NMC project was recorded in tandem with another release on the
Metier label entitled new work. In both cases the composers
represented have enjoyed a close working relationship with Sparling,
the Metier disc concentrating on works for solo clarinet whilst
the NMC recording introduces the ensemble Double Image together
with colleagues including flautist Nancy Ruffer and pianist
Thalia Myers. The latter will be known to followers of the NMC
label through her excellent work on the educational project
Spectrum. This was pioneered in conjunction with the Associated
Board and has introduced new piano music to a whole range of
young and amateur pianists.
The stylistic compass
of the composers represented on this NMC recording is wide,
from the ultra simplicity of Howard Skempton to the cutting-edge
ultra complexity of Roger Redgate. The conductor of Ensemble
Exposé and a former Brian Ferneyhough pupil, Redgate’s +R
is an astonishingly virtuosic study for solo B flat clarinet
constructed around the transformation of two contrasting strands
of musical material. Sparling responds to the extreme technical
demands of the music with playing of incredible facility. Along
similar lines Michael Finnissy’s solo B flat clarinet
piece Uzundara takes its inspiration from traditional
Azerbaijani music and once again pushes technique to the limits,
exploiting in particular the extreme upper register of the instrument.
Nick Hayes’ Tongue-Dog is a jazzy study in syncopation
for bass clarinet, cello and piano that makes a particularly
effective opening number. Timothy Salter’s Mondrian
Pictures occupies more conservative territory than the Redgate
and Finnissy whilst retaining a clear contemporary language.
The work comprises three contrasting responses to Mondrian paintings
that span thirty-one years of the artist’s creative life and
attempts to recreate in music the stylistic changes inherent
in the paintings. Alongside Howard Skempton, Michael
Parsons was a co-founder of The Scratch Orchestra in 1969
and worked closely with Cornelius Cardew in the field of experimental
music. His Two Macedonian Songs, Kucinata and
Nani Mi Marice are scored for bass clarinet and clarinet
in C respectively, both accompanied by percussion and drawn
from a collection of music from Southern Greece. Diana Burrell’s
impressive ensemble piece Double Image is cast in two
movements and scored for flute, B flat clarinet, violin, cello
and piano. Although the composer describes each movement as
“of itself” the second takes up a number of ideas laid down
in the first in an imaginative and convincing ten-minute work.
Chris Sansom’s Music from the Heart of a Dog
is the only piece that utilises electronic media; in this case
a tape of pre-recorded sounds (both human and otherwise) that
accompany solo bass clarinet. The result comes across as somewhat
quirky if not without the occasional ear-catching sound. More
memorable is Gabriel Jackson’s The White Bird.
Cast in twelve short continuous sections the piece is a tribute
to the pioneering French pilots Charles Nungesser and François
Coli whose apparent failure to cross the Atlantic for the first
time by air in 1927 has recently been cast in doubt by the discovery
of wreckage in a forest in Maine suggesting success prior to
their untimely deaths. Jackson’s language is broadly traditional
and makes effective use of the E flat clarinet with piano accompaniment,
alternating sections of relative calm with flightier, fresh
material often higher in the instrument’s register. The title
of Laurence Crane’s Sparling may initially imply
something celebratory. What transpires however is a sparing,
contemplative piece for B flat clarinet and guitar akin to the
simplicity of Skempton, that sets two long and constantly repeated
clarinet notes against a slowly changing backdrop of spread
guitar chords.
It’s
a surprisingly subdued conclusion to a disc that offers much
worth exploring and forms a useful showcase for Andrew Sparling’s
considerable talent.
Christopher
Thomas
