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David Hackbridge JOHNSON (b.1963)
Orchestral Works - Volume 3
Ziggurats Op.251 (2017) [11.04]
Aspens Op. 362 (2017) [10.31]
Symphony No.15 ‘Where the Wind is Born Op. 361 No.3 (2017) [30.17]
Two Elegies for Strings and Harp Op.159 (2005) [10.27]
Valse Mérovingienne Op.77 (2000/2017) [6.12]
Liepāja Symphony Orchestra/Paul Mann
rec. 2017/18, Amber Concert Hall, Liepāja, Latvia
TOCCATA CLASSICS TOCC0456 [69.05]

I didn’t avail myself of volume 1 of Johnson’s works which includes his 9th Symphony played by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic but I did purchase volume 2 which has on it two symphonies, No.10 and No.13 played by the Royal Scottish Orchestra (TOCC0452) and I must say it practically blew me away. I was delighted therefore when volume 3 popped through the letterbox.

We have a different orchestra again this time, one I know nothing about, and possibly that applies to you also but I should say instantly that they acquit themselves wonderfully in what would surely be a new sound world for them. I also find myself wondering where this composer has been hiding all this time and am utterly amazed by his astronomically high opus numbers, even more startling than Alan Hovhaness.

Oddly enough I started listening by taking in the Two Elegies for Strings and Harp. In many ways unassuming but holding much of interest but if you already know the symphonies these pieces will come as something of a surprise, not least the fact that they are informed, as it were, by older music; the second, ‘Semper Dolens’, being clearly based via variations on Dowland’s ‘Flow my tears’. Perhaps however the introduction and coda are the most interesting part of the piece, harmonically. The first Elegy is an austere ‘Lochrian Ground’ based on a series of five consecutive fifths.
 
The first two tracks make a pair Aspens Op.362 and Ziggurats Op.251. They were both composed in 2017 and even given that Hackbridge-Johnson is very prolific there can’t be over one hundred opus number between them especially as the 9th Symphony of 2012 is just Op.295! I suspect then a misprint, Ziggurats I assume being Op.351; anyway putting pedantry to one side the composer describes them as “nature and landscape pieces” and the latter is certainly brooding, dark and oppressive. The composer explains that a Ziggurat is a massive raised structure from Mesopotamian cities and the music sounds ‘monolithic’. The booklet notes also quote a poem, adapted from a description by King Nebuchadnezzar II of such a building. The Eb clarinet is given a virtuoso part, screeching above the heavy textures in the middle section and the player is credited on the CD as Kärlis Catlaks.

The title of the composer’s detailed and fascinating accompanying essay, which also offers us rare musical examples is ‘Nature, Poetry, History - Refractions through music’ and this quote certainly applies to Aspens, no wonder the composer remarks that “This work is my own favourite from among my pieces” he seems to have been able to put on paper with precise truthfulness the inner voice that he heard and which came out of a dream of wind and light refracting and swaying through trees and fallen leaves at dusk. It’s a case, though, of did the music come first and afterwards the suitable poem discovered or, as the composer was already familiar with Edward Thomas’s ‘Aspens’, did it, manifesting itself in dream-form, then inform the music’s inspiration and progress that the composer then held throughout the entire composing process. Which ever it was it is a very remarkable example of orchestral colouring, which quite captures the listener’s imagination.

The three movement Symphony No.15 ‘Where the Wind is born’ is, as the composer tells us, related technically to Aspens but more significantly, as I said above, the orchestra used for this CD is the Liepāja Symphony Orchestra from Latvia and this is because the symphony was conceived in that coastal city in which the light and the natural enviroment in general so gripped the composer as he and his wife, with the conductor Paul Mann and producer Martin Anderson, visited it together. It also inspired the composer into writing an evocative prose description (almost poetic) of that day. The city is often known as ‘the place where wind is born’ and hence the symphony’s descriptive title. In addition Anderson suggested that the composer try to incorporate a Latvian folk melody into the work and this he did in the dying phases of the finale’s ending. The booklet again gives us musical examples. This original melody is for a text which begins ‘Blow wind, push the boat/push me home to Kurzeme”.

In the opening movement ‘Drifts’ one can see a similar idea as found in Aspens that is the holding of one harmony into the next just long enough to create a misty atmosphere of an overlapping tidal flow. ‘Storm’, which comes next, is interestingly orchestrated but storm music is far from uncommon and I’m not really sure if Johnson quite communicates what he sets out to achieve. Finally in ‘Chorales’ we are certainly wind blown but there is also an extraordinary chiaroscuro sound world especially in the passage, which the composer describes as ‘glassy orchestration’ of wind, harp and cello harmonics announcing the folk melody.

Over all I haven’t found this symphony to be quite as satisfying as either numbers 10 or 13, perhaps the composer took on a little too disparate an idea; even so, I would add before moving on to the final work, that if you are wondering where to start with this composer this disc would be my suggested introduction.

I found myself wondering as I listened to the Valse Mérovingienne if someone close to the composer had said “Look here David, you need to include a lighter piece on the disc which will show another aspect of your style” as this Waltz is in such pleasing contrast to these other works. It was to have formed part of a ballet called ‘Cilderic’s Dream’ with an unlikely plot set during the Merovingian dynasty and concerning a dream of Childeric III when he was locked up in a monastery. It’s probably best just to enjoy the main melody and the delicious orchestration.

The disc is wonderfully played and recorded and its presentation is ideal. Buy it !

Gary Higginson

 

Posted by David Hackbridge Johnson on June 15, 2019, 12:41 pm

I am most grateful to Garry Higginson for pointing out some baffling numbers on the 3rd volume of my orchestral music on Toccata Classics. Ziggurats should be Op. 251 composed between 2011 and 2013. I simply fed the wrong information to Martin Anderson when I was doing the notes - entirely my fault! Although I have been known to produce music fairly quickly, getting from Op. 251 to Op. 362 inside a year would be pushing it, even for me! Best wishes, DHJ




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