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Fanfare

In Fanfare 41:1 (Sept/Oct 2017), Peter Burwasser reviewed a previous disc on Metier of music by St. Louis-born, London-based composer Kevin Raftery. He moved to London in 1989 after studying with Peter Racine Fricker at the University of California, Santa Barbara. This disc is entitled Second Child—the follow-up, then, to that first release.

There is a complexity to the string writing in the Second Quartet that is most appealing. The epithet “Serioso” has obvious echoes of Beethoven and that composer’s op. 95 Quartet; but the whole idea of “serioso” was influenced by world events at the time of composition of Raftery’s piece (2017): personal events (aggressive neighbors) and, as he puts it, “millions of deluded voters.” Raftery takes material (snippets, motifs, horizonal sonorities) from Beethoven and “transplants” them into his own vernacular. The music is complex, but gratifyingly so, to listen to at least. This is a superb performance from the Marmen Quartet, particularly in the elusive fragments of the second movement (marked cool,
poised, alert, or, as the composer puts it, a “classical frieze”). Beethoven previously influenced Raftery’s First Companion (found on that previous volume). The finale is a set of “three themes with variations,” a fascinating cornucopia of ideas. Raftery has the best possible interpreters in the form of the Marmen Quartet, who tackle the difficult, scampering lines with impeccable intonation.

The playing order works well, with Clare Hammond, who has proved herself an excellent musician on numerous recordings, bringing a bit of ice to Cook from Frozen (2006), which plays with a three-note motif and hexachordal structures that allow for tonal reference. An examination in the basics of composition (octaves, melody, rhythm), it is fascinating, as is Hammond’s remarkably sensitive performance. Constellations of sound, performed with such beauty, make this one of the most memorable of recent contemporary piano recordings. The ending is perfectly judged.

EXAUDI under James Weeks give a brilliant performance of Dimitte nobis (2006), a piece which highlights the middle voices of the vocal range. A big contrast again comes in the form of Musica Fermata (2018) for two muted violins, which the composer describes as “probably the simplest, quietest piece I have written.” Although the composer admits the title makes no sense in either Italian or Latin, he also says that no other title fits the bill for the piece so well. It’s no surprise to  hear fermatas in use here; and while the musical processes are simple and designed to be audible, this remains one of the most effective pieces on the disc, ephemeral and beautifully performed by two members of the Berkerly Ensemble (Sophie Maher and Francesca Barritt).

The Three English Poems (2004-05) set words by Gerald Manley Hopkins, Robert Devereux,  and Richard Lovelace using just three harmonies. Raftery includes some improvisation for the performers (here Emma Tring, Lucy Goddard, and David de Winter). Raftery enables a trajectory from what he describes as discursive to focused; EXAUDI understands this perfectly. The whole is beautifully managed, the sonorities of the final Lovelace, “From Prison,” being particularly haunting (and a massive technical challenge for the choir as well). Elegy Upon Elegy (2019) is the final piece. Intended as a companion piece to either Beethoven’s Septet (a much under-rated work), Schubert’s Octet, or Stravinsky’s Septet, the composition is also a response to the dearly missed composer Oliver Knussen. It exudes elegy, and in turn takes further inspiration from “Olly’s” Elegiac Arabesques (themselves in memory of Panufnik). Knussen’s music is quoted in Raftery’s beautiful piece.  There is life in this elegy, although the bassoon’s sudden monologue tugs at the heart srings (beautifully done here by the superb Andrew Watson). The ensemble is terrific, but perhaps a special mention for David Cuthbert’s clarinet is also in order. This is a superb, touching piece and the perfect close to a significant disc This is a very carefully planned program, and beautifully executed on all fronts. Wants Lists are all about highlighting the special, and this may well head to my next one.