Never... Never... Never... (2003) [19:36]
Lament (2009) [21:48]
Hallelujah (2003) [16:55]
RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra/Gerhard Markson; Gavin Maloney
rec. National Concert Hall, Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin, 2004, 2008, 2009.
RTE LYRIC FM CD141 [58:19]
Belfast-born Stephen Gardner studied music at the Universities of Ulster
and Wales from 1984 to 1990. His catalogue so far is sizeable and substantial.
More about the composer and his music may be gathered from his own website,
as well as from that of the Irish
Contemporary Music Centre. He has composed in many genres so far and
this new instalment in RTÉ's invaluable series of composer portraits
provides an opportunity to hear three fairly recent and substantial orchestral
works.
Never... Never... Never..., completed in 2003 is a portrait
of Ian Paisley triggered - curiously enough - by the triptych Three
Screaming Popes by Francis Bacon. The composer “wondered what
Bacon's take on 'Big Ian' Paisley would be”. He concluded that the
piece is “a musical interpretation of an imaginary painting”.
The piece falls roughly into two sections played without a break. The
work opens with an almost static section of somewhat menacing power that
slowly gathers intensity when other instruments introduce more animated
material. The music unfolds by way of a layering process. Layers of different
density pile upon each other sustaining a slow, constantly ominous pace.
The music nevertheless pauses to allow for the accumulated tension to
ease away a bit. The brass introduce a section which is clearly less static,
more aggressive, almost warlike by comparison with the first one. Again
the various episodes eventually create an irrepressible tension released
by a formidable duet played by the snare drums, an effect not unlike a
similar episode in Carl Nielsen's Fifth Symphony. This rushes the music
toward its emphatic conclusion: a siren call from the trumpet over a slowly
fading pedal note.
Lament for string orchestra was composed in memory of the
composer's niece Sharonah. Although rather more concentrated than Never...
Never... Never... this deeply moving and strongly expressive elegy
is obviously from the same pen. Here too the music unfolds slowly throughout
in dense carpets of sound moving stepwise up and down marked by long-held
notes , thus creating a rather dense counterpoint. The music, however,
is much too intense to be regarded as Minimalist in any way. The tension
is hardly relieved at all and there is no denying the grief as well as
the sense of loss that has triggered such gripping and often beautiful
music.
Stephen Gardner is obviously an artist showing much concern for what is
or has been going on around him at any time. The large-scale Hallelujah
was written “in response to the invasion of Iraq in 2003”.
So, again, this is highly dynamic, often tense and loud music, the whole
displaying - as it does in the other pieces recorded here - a real flair
for telling orchestral and instrumental gestures. The problem with works
such as this one is to succeed in keeping the music going without getting
lost in by-ways. Gardner's orchestral mastery is such that he succeeds
most of the time conveying as he does a number of contrasted moods. These
proceed from the ominous opening down in the depths to various episodes
in which the music opens up, most remarkably with a beautiful 'song' for
cor anglais over a muted counterpoint in the strings. Then other instruments
join in: menacing low brass always threatening to drown the other instruments,
some eerie percussion and panicking woodwind, all suggesting the impending
conflict. After some fairly animated episodes the music eventually fades
back into silence. Hallelujah is yet another impressive
achievement and a powerful statement although I for one find it a tad
too long for its own good.
What comes clearly through here is that Stephen Gardner is a most distinguished
composer who has things to say and who knows how to say them best. In
this he is undoubtedly aided by a remarkable orchestral flair. Some, however,
might find his music a bit single-minded in its relentless intensity,
as displayed in these three works but taken each at one time these superbly
crafted works cannot fail to impress through their unquestionable sincerity
and honesty.
These superb performances and recordings are simply first rank and serve
the music in the best possible way. RTÉ's Composers of Ireland
series of which this is already Volume 7 goes from strength to strength
and I am looking forward to hearing more of it.
Hubert Culot
And another review ...
This is more in the nature of a personal note to supplement Hubert’s
more substantial review.
In Never... Never... Never... a sense of catastrophe hangs in the
air. The episodes Gardner tracks through are impressive. There’s
a humming continuum of sound with bells, deep bass notes and an abrasive
angularity through which as marching song cuts through. This recedes and
is supplanted by a mysterious wonderland of quiet music still buzzing
though not with such high tension more a restful glimmer à la Hovhaness.
The work closes with a return to the first section but now more clamorous
and belligerent. A side drum beats out in fury but the rushing and shouting
subsides into a high piping iterative cell sound on which the work expires.
Lament is nicely planned as a centrepiece of the disc. Its rising
murmur of sound proceeds at an evolutionary pace which develops into a
writhing bed of layered intensity. This fades down a steady gradient into
music that is deeply baritonal and almost luscious. Penderecki meets Pärt’s
Cantus.
Hallelujah is a response to the invasion of Iraq. Again we encounter
that quiet tension. Here there is a feeling of forces on the move, of
gears and transmissions grinding remorselessly. Some relief is offered
by woodwind and celesta interjections before that anxious Pendereckian
buzzing returns. At 6:28 there are eldritch flute sounds and braying brass.
There’s a cruelty raspingly explicit in this writing. Ultimately
the music finds a quietude that is overcast and far from comforting.
Gardner can be tough going but that is to be expected when he is drawn
to such demanding subjects.
The disc is well documented and the recordings are good at dealing with
writing that is both spectacular and confiding.
Rob Barnett
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