The common thread binding this enterprising
CD together is not so much the music
itself as the relationship between teacher
and pupil. Camden Reeves studied at
the University of Exeter with Philip
Grange whilst Paul Mealor was a childhood
pupil of John Pickard before university
studies with Nicola LeFanu in York and
later, in Copenhagen with Hans Abrahamsen
and Per Nørgård.
There are however fundamental
stylistic comparisons that can be drawn,
despite the fact that both Reeves and
Mealor have clearly developed musical
personalities outside those of their
teachers. The more adventurous language
of Reeves is closer to Grange than Mealor,
who’s lyrical and impassioned music
as demonstrated in Borderlands,
could be thought of as a sophisticated
extension of Pickard’s strongly characterful,
yet essentially tonal melodic and harmonic
palette.
At the tender age of
twenty two Camden Reeves was appointed
Composer Fellow with the Halle Orchestra,
a position which came to an end in 1998
although he still works in Manchester
as AHRB Fellow in Creative and Performing
Arts at Manchester University. A fascination
with the natural characteristics of
the squid, in particular the creature’s
ability to alter its colour and physical
shape, has resulted in several works
that draw their inspiration from the
sea creature. Amongst these are the
simply titled Squid (a Halle
commission of 1997) and the more alarming
Vampire Squid from Hell of the
same year, written for the chamber ensemble
Psappha. The brief piano trio Starlight
Squid, commenced in 1998 but not
completed until 2001, takes as its basis
the plainchant Ave Maris Stella
(Hail Star of the Sea). Reeves creates
a virtuosic single movement showpiece
of just under seven minutes, using the
plainchant to underpin the cascades
of notes that initially spark from the
piano before violin and cello become
more extensively drawn into the musical
fray. It’s a piece of high rhythmic
energy that gives the performers little
respite, the energy strongly replicated
in the response of the Chagall Trio.
Paul Mealor draws his
inspiration from the more conventional
source of W. B. Yeats, a poet whose
work has been close to Mealor for a
number of years. The composer states
that it is the "duality of Yeats’
poetic philosophy" that fires him,
with Borderlands drawing on the
poet’s search for images of another
world, images often marked by his involvement
in spirituality, séances and
other matters supernatural. Mealor’s
musical discourse progresses from an
eerily disembodied opening to music
of considerable dynamic intensity, expressing
the Irish poet’s duality in terms of
the growth of this more lyrically potent
material out of the relative simplicity
of the opening. Mealor makes a powerful
musical statement and one which whets
the appetite for hearings of his orchestral
works, amongst them pieces for the BBC
National Orchestra of Wales, Britten
Sinfonia and Northern Sinfonia.
John Pickard, Mealor’s
early compositional mentor, has also
made a significant contribution to the
field of orchestral music including
four symphonies and numerous high profile
orchestral performances, including that
of The Flight of Icarus at the
1996 Proms. Chamber music takes equal
measure however and his four string
quartets form a significant contribution
to the genre. Pickard’s own studies
were initially with the late lamented
William Mathias before further studies
with Louis Andriessen in the Netherlands.
Although fleeting, there are very occasional
and intriguing glimpses of Mathias in
Pickard’s 1990 Piano Trio, written
to a commission for the North Wales
Music Festival. Formed in one continuous
sixteen minute movement, the music’s
pulse remains constant for the work’s
entire duration with Pickard’s rigorous
musical argument being deceptively clothed
in a structure that whilst not wholly
unconventional in its sonata like basis,
is tailored to suit the composer’s needs.
The result is a work that is entirely
engaging in its integrity and command
of material.
The language of Philip
Grange is possibly the most challenging
of the composers represented although
as with Pickard, Grange demonstrates
convincing and audible musical argument
within the four movement structure of
his Homage to Chagall. As the
title implies, the work stems from a
Chagall Trio commission with Grange
principally exploring Chagall’s broader
working methods more than the subject
matter of individual paintings in themselves.
Consequently a good deal of the musical
material is heard across the four movements
in varying guises and degrees of foreground
and background in common with Chagall’s
own tendency to reproduce certain images
across numerous canvasses in varying
contextual situations. The weight of
the musical substance is initially borne
in the substantial opening moderato,
with the ensuing mercurial, muted Scherzo
preceding an adagio of considerable
gravity and a Con fuoco finale that
unites elements of the opening movement
in conclusion.
Formed at the Banff
Centre for the Arts, the Chagall Trio
have commissioned several pieces that
draw musical inspiration from the paintings
of Marc Chagall, amongst them works
by David Matthews and Paul Archbold.
Their earlier recording of chamber music
by Ethel Smyth on Meridian brought considerable
critical attention and judging by the
vibrancy and commitment of the performances
given here it is to be hoped that their
further, valuable dedication to new
music can be captured on disc in a similar
manner.
Christopher Thomas
Chagall Trio (Nicoline Kraamwinkel (violin);
Tim Gill (cello); Julian Rolton (piano)) 
for
details
