Judith Weir is "the Gabriel Garcia
Márques of song", writes
Ian Burnside. She's probably the finest
story-teller among British composers,
for her gift is to write intriguing
miniatures that expand outwards into
vistas accessible only in the imagination.
For example, "On buying a Horse"
gives seemingly straightforward advice
about what to look for when buying a
horse. If its markings are wrong "tear
off his hide and feed him to the crows".
But why and why such savagery? Weir
compounds the mystery by fragmenting
the repeat of this striking phrase,
when, after the words, "feed him
to the …", she jumbles dislocated
words "Foot, feet, nose" before
returning to the obvious "crows".
It's as if the song fragments before
your ears. It's highly disturbing and
might be vividly expressed in film.
An even better example is In the lovely
village of Nevesinje from the three
Songs from the Exotic. Of the three
short songs that make up this small
group, it is outstanding because it's
so full of drama and mystery. Why is
the village of Nevesinje so lovely?
Bucolic the song is not because it's
about a violent curse following what
appears to have been a murder. The Serbian
names and place names are pronounced
very arcane. The curse, which has something
to do with changing sex, is sent in
a letter to Bey Pivlyanahin, who receives
it and starts to dictate a reply. But
then the song ends, leaving us hanging,
at a critical moment. Almost equally
well known is The Romance of Count Arnaldos,
set to a 15th/16th century Spanish text.
The Count spies, quite by chance, a
ship at sea, whose commander can sing
the winds calm. The sailor tells him
that he only tells the secret to those
who sail away with him.
The songs in Scotch Minstrelsy may not
have that same under-current, pulling
them towards distant, unknown territory.
Nonetheless, Weir intuits the fey beneath
the dour exterior of Scottish ballads.
Two nice middle class ladies build a
bower in the open air to escape the
plague, but it gets them anyway. Bonny
James Campbell goes out on his horse,
but it returns without him. Similarly,
King Harald's Saga is a quirky update
on ancient sagas, mired as they are
in myth and mystery. It's interesting
because it's an early example of Weir's
work in music-theatre. She's gone on
to become one of the foremost, and most
idiosyncratic British opera composers,
her Blond Eckbert being very highly
regarded. King Harald's Saga, however,
is a self-contained star turn. It's
a one singer music-drama which places
huge demands on the solo singer. Bickley
demonstrates her acting as well as her
singing skills. Moreover, the songs
are technically demanding, stretching
Bickley to feats of technical agility.
The Voice of Desire is the most recent
cycle in this set, written only in 2003
for Alice Coote, a singer with a strong
personality and distinctive voice to
match. It's also in many ways the most
innovative of all the pieces on this
recording. The piano part is more dominant,
struggling against the voice and making
it respond more vigorously. It's also
more integrated musically and texturally,
and needs, more than the other cycles,
to be understood as a single unit. Mysteries
now aren't something beyond distant
horizons, but internal. In the last
section, the singer can't comprehend
why her pet dove had died in captivity.
After all, it no longer lived alone
in the forest, and she fed it and bound
its feet with silken thread. She just
can't figure out what the bird had to
grieve for.
Susan Bickley is something of a specialist
in new English song, and appreciates
Weir's idiom very well. Ailish Tynan's
diction is clear and pure, as is Andrew
Kennedy's. And of course, there are
few pianists as adventurous and fond
of new material than Ian Burnside. Thus
this is a thoroughly enjoyable recording,
even though comparative recordings are
thin on the ground. One day, though,
perhaps, this music might be re-interpreted
with less elegant, and more gutsy voices,
but until then, this will be the one
to listen to. Weir is far too significant
a composer not to listen to, in any
form.
Anne Ozorio
Susan Bickley
(mezzo); Andrew Kennedy (tenor); Ailish Tynan (soprano);
Ian Burnside (piano) 
