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Clarinet and Saxophone Magazine

The Gemini Ensemble has been at the heart of new music in the UK and beyond since 1974, not only building a vast and invaluable catalogue of commissions and highly acclaimed recordings by numerous composers including Howard Skempton, John White, Sadie Harrison, Dave Smith and many more but also performing music from the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. Lead by Ian Mitchel, the ensemble has initiated educational and community projects and notably instigated the festival ‘Hidden Sounds’ – a celebration of women’s music, out of which grew the influential organization Women in Music.

This album focuses on four chamber music works by the composer Nicola LeFanu (and there is more to read about her life and music in the article on page 11).

The connection between Nicola LeFanu and the Gemini Ensemble came about via the ensemble’s founder, Peter Wiegold. Through composer David Lumsdaine, Wiegold’s composition teacher at Durham University, Gemini became friendly with Nicola LeFanu and familiar with her music. In 1979, LeFanu conducted the first recording on LP of The Same Day Dawns (featured on this CD) and from here the collaboration has continued and evolved. She has been working with the Gemini Ensemble for over forty years. Of this longstanding collaboration she writes, *It is precious for a composer: having the kind of relationship with players where you know each other very well and they in turn know one’s music so well”.

During one of those grey, windy days in July, I listened to this recording on a gloriously empty and very slow train between Euston and Birmingham. Id’ accidentally forgotten the interesting-looking CD booklet and was a bit miffed as ‘the path above the dunes’ has such an inviting and poetic wondering about it, I wanted to read whilst listening. But, in the end, I’m glad I forgot the liner notes as the music speaks so clearly on its own.

The Path Above the Dunes unfolds as seamless weavings of colour, sounds, words, space and textures, performed with meticulous quality and sensitivity by all the musicians who always allow the music to speak with crystal-clear clarity. There seems to be an almost understated brilliance in their playing and the direction from lan Mitchell that communicates a genuine respect for the powerful music of Nicola LeFanu.

Two works for voice bookend the programme. First The Some Day Dawns (1974) for soprano, flute/alto flute, clarinet/bass clarinet, percussion, violin and cello. The text here incorporates verses from Tamil, Chinese, Japanese, Kannada, and Akkadian writing and explores love, loneliness, distance and death. Nicola writes, “despite their disparate origins the poems share many common images. Drawn mainly from the natural world, they are images of great intensity from which Ihad to find an equally vivid music.”

The closing work of the album is The Moth-Ghost (2020) for soprano voice and piano which seems the most directly dramatic work explored on The Path Above the Dunes. Described as a ‘dramatic scena’, LeFanu sets to music poetry by James Harpur, which tells the story of Thetis mourning her son Achilles. Soprano Clara Barbier Serrano and the stellar Gemini musicians create such intense atmosphere in these works – I listened intently, wanting to hold as much of the music in my ear as possible.

The first of the two instrumental works is Sextet (1996) for flute/piccolo/alto flute, clarinet/bass clarinet, percussion, piano, violin and cello. And this instrumentation leads to some fascinating textures and fusion of contrasts. There are some particularly beautiful solo lines – often featuring the most brilliant clarinettist Katriona Scott – woven round more rhythmic, dramatic passages lead by equally brilliant percussion playing.

LeFanu writes: “As I wrote the sextet, I had in my mind images of some of my favourite wild places in Ireland: Roundstone bog and the Connemara coast, for example. To the outsider they must seem bare and empty, but if you explore them they are teeming with luxuriant growth.”

Piano Trio (2003) for violin, piano and cello seems to be music of transformation; from the opening harmonics to the lyrical ending this piece is one l’ve returned to many times and I’m so glad to have discovered it.

My short descriptions of these works don’t necessarily do justice to all there is to be found and heard in this album. And these four works are just a snapshot of the composer’s output.

It’s a beautifully curated programme of thought-provoking words and music which transports the listener to other, very lucid worlds. The links and connections between the composer and the ensemble makes for fascinatingr reading in the liner notes for anyone who wants get a clear sense of moving across time and through different soundworlds.