Liverpool: Adam Gorb's Clarinet Concerto Author(s): Ronald Weitzman Reviewed work(s): Source: Tempo, New Series, No.

211 (Jan., 2000), pp. 35-37 Published by: Cambridge University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/946758 . Accessed: 17/09/2012 22:38
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FirstPerformances35 waves of energy - 'a symphonic dramaabout the life and behaviour of the sun', as the composer puts it, and as suns do, it expands in increasing intensity until at last it collapses inwards. The obsessive tread of Gong makes a considerable contrast with the kaleidoscopic tapestry of Thomas Ades's Asyla, heard only four days later, also with the BBC SO, this time conducted by the composer. A basicallylyricalimpulse struggles to make headway over swirling textures that shift underfoot: Asyla is full of yearning melodies that rarely achieve their term; instead, they are broken off by unpredictable surges of sound from the orchestra. I couldn't join in the general chorus of critical ecstasya few yearsback when almost everyone who ventured into print seemed to describe Ades as 'the new Britten' though they didn't intend, of course, to identify a failing both composers share: a harmonic reticence which seems to keep the listener at emotional arm's length. But on the strength of Asyla Ades is developing fast:there's much more to this piece than anything of his that I have heard to date - and his handling of orchestral colour is well on the way to mastery.Even now there is little sense of something achieved at the end of Asyla - it seem to run on the spot for much of its 20 minutes - but the journey there engages the ear at almost every moment. It's difficult to imagine a starkercontrastwith Ades' teeming soundworld than the ritualstillness of Kurtag's Messages(1991-96), given its UK premiere on 20 August by Martyn Brabbins,the BBC Singers and ever-valiant BBC SO - six of them: brief, elliptical statements, harmonically static, rarely rising above piano, fractured across chamber-musical textures in the orchestra, as brittle as glass. Indeed, another starkcontrastfollowed only a day later, with the best of this year's six commissions, David Matthews's fizzing Fifth Symphony (1998-99), brought to leaping life by Nicholas Cleobury and the Britten Sinfonia. It is a very substantial achievement indeed, one of the best things Matthews has done yet, both in its structural command and in its manner:the scoring has a translucent, lapidary clarity, with much soloistic highlighting of instrumental timbre. The work bursts into instant activity with Tippett-like springing lines in a soundworld of Stravinskian classicality - and then displays an unflagging symphonic energy closer to Simpsonian momentum than those two gentlemen ever achieved. Its driving impulse is powered by contrapuntal muscle that is rarely distractedby lyrical elements (there will be time for that later) in its tumbling impetus. The scherzo, marked Prestoconfuoco (how often do you see that on a score these days?), is full of chortling menace, from which the Adagio third movement brings no relief; instead, its dark, uneasy lyricism proceeds over an implied funerealtread, interrupted by a spiky canonic fanfare in the trumpets that returns, over a long-held chord in the strings, as a call to arms that launches the finale, tickled into life by harp, clarinetsand solo oboe before Matthews's urgent counterpoint kicks in again and, with a brief pause for an innocent episode passed from winds to strings, surges on exhilaratingly until its close, when it simply stops: no coda, no triumphantperoration
- it's just gone.

MartinAnderson Adam Gorb'sClarinetConcerto Liverpool: Mahler's music continues to hold sway over many a composer. Its structuralimplications grip some (Schoenberg, Boulez); its indelible melfascinateothers (Shostakovich, odic idosyncrasies Britten, Schnittke). Among younger composers, Adam Gorb (bor London, 1958) is gradually emerging as a prominent original among the latter group. As a gifted teenager, he was quietly determined to discover how he could slip through the cage of what should be classified now as conservative avant-gardism.To defy the intellectual tyranny of its dogmatics - and Gorb was encouraged to apply himself impressively to just such dogmatics by one early teacher requires honesty, and no small act of courage. BenjaminBritten,two months before his death, read some of Gorb's early scores and took pains to advise and encourage him; not long after, Hans Keller, never a man to go in for flattery, immediately recognized the teenager's gifts. But even when he went up to Cambridge to study with Hugh Wood and Robin Holloway, teachers whose approach to composition is wholly dissimilar, Gorb was far from being able to find his feet. By way of earning a living as a repetiteur with Sadler's Wells and the Royal Ballet, working in the world of the musical - he is a Stephen Sondheim fan - his independent, varied voice is at last emerging. Contrast the ebullient wind (1992/3) and Awayday(1996), pieces - Metropolis both recorded, works of vibrant dynamism with his full-scale Violin Sonata (also 1996) where sustained integration of memorable lyricism combine with deep concentration of musical thought. Gorb's association with the Royal Northern College of Music (where he hasjust been appointed head of composition) led to his writing a

36

FirstPerformances head laughing at his executioners. The role of the clarinet is described as turning into that of 'master of ceremonies'. There is a skilful buildup of the orchestra, hammer thuds cocking a snook at those blows of fate in the closing movement of Mahler's Sixth. With surprise timing, six players from the orchestra (the side drum player, leaders of both violin sections, the player of the E-flat clarinet, a trumpeter, a trombonist) join the solo clarinettist himself and an accordion player. They make a procession to a place at the rear of the orchestra, and Gorb's splendid dance reflects the melodic and rhythmic features of such Yiddish dances as the Terkische (a very racy tango), the Hora and, finally, the Freylachs(dance in double time). Out of the banality- and Gorb surelyintends the banalityto be a positive ratherthan a corrosive element, as would be the case with Mahler or Schnittke - a prolonged theme surfaces,almost symphonic in scope, its rhythmicpropulsion maintainedby the rest of the string section who have remained at their desks. Four ominous strokes on two bass drums mark the transition into the last full movement. The figuration passage on the lower strings of the first movement returns, a soaring melody on the violins underscoring some outstandingly full-blown clarinet writing. Having steered itself away from the defiant humour of what had gone before, the solo voice is now one of succour and composure, growing sweet and even, for a couple of brief moments, schmaltzy. In a deferential gesture to a contemporary work Gorb clearly admires and has learnedfrom, he introduceson two occasions the scrape of a Lion's Roar, the percussion instrument reintroduced by James MacMillan in his own ClarinetConcerto, Ninian. Gorb's concerto is capped by a substantialEpilogue, its unforgettable lilting melody curiously marked con indifferenza. The composer writes that he is here imagining meeting Mahler in the afterlife.But we become aware not only of Mahler but of the Fourth and Eighth Symphonies of Shostakovich as well. The famous chord from Mahler's Tenth is followed by a brief reference to the third Lied von derErde. Gorb's haunting, 'indifferent' tune (its very lifeblood Jewish), is always playing enigmatically as the six bell tolls resound for the third and last time, the intimate fade-out not without a restorativebeam. The scope of Adam Gorb's Clarinet Concerto makes it a valuable addition to the repertoire, and will repay regular hearings. Nicholas Cox, the soloist and dedicatee, after a brief mishap, projected the amalgam of a dance-like abandon at the same time managing while

percussion concerto for Evelyn Glennie. The RLPO then commissioned what constitutes his most important work to date, a Clarinet Concerto in three interlinkedmovements, lasting 30 minutes. The concerto is in equal measure a tribute to Mahler and to different Jewish folk idioms. Like Shostakovich (and with a steadiness that Schnittke lacks), Gorb knows that the grinning through tears, which is part of what makes up 'Jewishness', lies at the heart of Mahler's music. In his Clarinet Concerto he is as if implicitly chiding the great man from Vienna for his uneasy relationship to his own Jewishness. Gorb's musical assuredness in his Clarinet Concerto shows in the way he weaves and extends the thematic ideas over a considerable span of time. Much is happening so as to make us put aside the passing of time itself. The emotional terraininhabitedby the firstmovement is so ambiguous that not only the partial-quotes from Mahler, but the injections of kletzmer influenced themes, are cleverly disguised downward slides are the only sign of the latterin the early stages of the concerto. No solo instrument is more appropriatefor kletzmerthan the clarinet. The calling motto of the opening, its trill inbuilt, recurs significantly throughout the work. Agitation dominates here, but sauciness cannot but help find itself intertwining with the overall feeling of upheaval and apprehension. Midway, a passage for full orchestra marked catastrophic repeats a significant figuration in the lower strings, the violins taking wing with impressive force. A col legnomotto eventually turs into something resembling a continuous, heavy footfall- though the singing of the violins refusesto be put down. That footfall,recallingthe funereal tread of the opening of Mahler's Sixth Symphony, is a crucial factor to this first movement. The opening motto buildsup to something grotesque, its tone then turning despondent. In a unique passage connecting the first two dominate, out of movements, free stringglissandi which appear six bell strokes. The knell occurs three times during the course of the work. Gorb does not dwell tortuously on horrors. As a Jew bor more than a generation afterthe Holocaust, his perspective differs invigoratingly from that of his forebears. The six bell strokes toll in remembrance of the six million Jews who perished in the gas ovens. The first70 or so barsof this second movement are a pas de deux between clarinet and dryly metallic percussion. Gorb is now ready to let the raw, vulgar elements of Jewish dance take command - conjuringup StepanRazin's severed

FirstPerformances37 to convey piercing trepidation without neurotically indulging in it. He was well aided by Vernon Handley and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. Ronald Weitzman The result was a tough and taut work which commanded attention. The Trondheim Soloists projected the entire programme with self-evident enthusiasm and virtuosity. It was good to be reminded that Norway has a vigorous, musical life of international interest. RaymondHead

Soloists Trondheim Cheltenham: The Trondheim Soloists' brief, but remarkable, tour of three cities (Cheltenham, Norwich and London), in October was noteworthy for three UK premieres. Compared to Finnish music, it is not often that contemporary Norwegian works are given here. In fact the pieces and their composers were completely new to me; but it was clear that, overall, the three composers shared a desire to be expressive, eschewing both minimalism and high modernism, while at the same time exploring new ideas in a contemporary manner. Dopo for solo cello and strings (1993) by Stale Kleiberg (b.1958) made a deep and lasting impression.It is a dark,passionatework (superbly played by 0yvind Gimse) provoked by events in former Yugoslavia in the early 1990s. Drawing upon a pessimistic poem by the Italian Eugenio Montale, Kleiberg weaves an angry, expressionistic line of immense power and virtuosity, a line 'cleansed' of any hope that humanity has learned anything from the Holocaust. Prior to 1980 Terje Bjorklund (b.1945) had a busy life as a jazz musician, receiving Norway's highest awardfor outstanding achievement from the Norwegian Jazz Federation in 1983. But in 1980, after he had begun to teach at the Trondheim Conservatory of Music, he moved towards more serious composition. Vandana for strings is a product of this shift. However in its treatment of harmony and its subtle development of nuances of chords we could sense jazz background.The overwhelming Bj0rklund's impression was of a deeply thoughtful composer who could synthesize varying elements into a lyrical whole. Altogether different was Bertil Palmer Johansen's On a SpringString (1996). Johansen (b.1954) has an instinctive understanding of writing for strings. But unlike the other composers he has explored the electroacoustic realm at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. This has led to the development of dissolving melodic lines which become textures; static tapestries of tone colour, out of which develop new melodic and rhythmic ideas. But what differentiates Johansen's work from similar ideas in the 1970s is his desire for expressivity.

WigmoreHall: Sidonie Goossens 100th Birthday Concert. The harp of Sidonie Goossens has been a feature of British musical life for much longer than anyone else can remember; remarkably, her own memory and personality remain undimmed by the century celebrated in the Wigmore Hall on 20 October. The concert was a sounding birthday present from the Park Lane Group, the programme of harp rarities chosen by her and performed by pupils and friends in her shining presence. Music by and for her relativeswas a given on such an occasion, though it began with excerpts from Norton's Chu Chin Chow, in which, in 1918, Sidonie began her professional career. Her brotherEugene's ratherDelian Suitein Three Movements, op.6, for flute, violin and harpshowed that with two harpistsisters,he understood how to write for the instrument from the beginning of his composing career (the arpeggiation, for example - a mainstay of harp texture, after all was refreshingly individual); it's an unassuming but charming piece, alternately restful and buoyant, that deserves resurrection more often. His 1958 ConcertPiece, op.65, for oboe/cor anglais,two harpsand orchestra(here in a piano reduction) was less successful: for no obvious reason Goossens avoids the wonderful sounds that two harps can make; he is reluctant to engage his soloists together and relies on unison and antiphonal exchange. (It is only marginally more effective in its orchestral guise, which can be found on ABC Classics 462 014-2, conducted by Vernon Handley.) Besides pieces by Hyam Greenbaum (Sidonie's first husband) and Delius (who heard her play), the major discoveries of the evening were three harp solos: a technically challenging Valseby Bax, Deux Extemporaires Bernardvan by Dieren, the first exploring dynamic contrast and the second suggesting considerable reserves of power, and, most rewarding of all, the Celtic Fantasy Cyril Scott which, paceits title, sounds by on (concluded p. 42)