Igor Stravinsky Three Japanese Lyrics
Isabella Gellis I wish I could speak to you
Maurice Delage Quatre poèmes hindous
Jack Sheen Hollow propranolol séance (II)
Maurice Ravel Trois poèmes de Stéphane Mallarmé
Manchester Camerata make a welcome return to London with an all-too-short but exquisite exploration of early-twentieth-century and contemporary song, showing composers revelling in the creative possibilities of rigorously applied concision.
Manchester Camerata in chamber ensemble form squeezed on to Wigmore Hall’s stage — complete with cut-down percussion, piano and soprano Eleonore Cockerham — for a much-too short near hour-long lunchtime performance, conducted by Jack Sheen: a programme of song that sizzled, shimmered, and shone.
At little over four minutes, Stravinsky’s Three Japanese Lyrics from 1912 are an arresting listen. Concision in the score affords us the time to revel in the marvels of Stravinsky’s orchestration choices. In Akahito where line between the white flowers and the falling snow is difficult to distinguish, the ultra smooth legato in the luxurious meandering woodwind line is delectable. Mazatsumi is an energetic explosion of rapid fire scales casting from the piano keyboard to the upper woodwind and back again, celebrating the arrival of spring. The concluding Tsaraiuki sees a more sinister edge with a creaking viola, a clarinet that seems to hinge from one position to another, over which melody and counter-melody between soprano and flute entwine themselves. The efficiency of the writing in this miniature delights the detail-oriented listener, though it might leave others wanting. Concision is one thing, but the truth is I would like the opportunity to linger a little longer, if only to spend a little more time in this awkward and reassuringly concentrated world.
Composer Isabella Gerlis is new to me in this concert. Amongst a great many other performances, her work Many Fruited Dog Tooth appeared at the BBC Proms with 12 Ensemble in August of this year. I missed that. Hearing her I wish I could speak to you (2020) today at Wigmore Hall prompts me to dig a little deeper into her growing catalogue. This performance is an expansive contrast to the opening Stravinsky. After an eerie opening with plenty of tremalando and pizzicato, the musical narratives moves at pace towards a blissful momentary climax at the end of the first line where Eleonore Cockerham’s crystalline voice melds with the woodwind. A technicolour cascade follows, after which we settle into an intense sound world that is at once lush, sparse and sonorous. There’s a taste of Gellis’ intriguing musical palette available on Bandcamp in The Dissolute Society Comprised of All Sorts. Her opera The Devils Den receives its staged premiere in a joint production between Opera North and Shadwell Opera on 15th November in Leeds, featuring Lotte Betts-Dean.
Where Stravinsky left me wanting something a little longer to indulge in, Maurice Delage writing a year later in 1915 delivered four songs that lingered sufficiently for me to get comfortable, with concise settings of poetry by Bhartrihari, Heine, and one anonymous writer. The harmonic and melodic palette is more conventional, less an imitation of the Eastern tradition the material is rooted in, more a celebration of it. At its heart is a touching melismatic cadenza in L’Adorée: A lonely fir-tree in which Eleonore Cockheram delights with a cherry blossom melody and a breathtaking staccato. Here there is a delicate and affecting stillness that makes us hold our breath.
Jack Sheen’s Hollow propranolol séance (II) from 2021 is an iteration of a longer form site-specific idea he’d already developed for Manchester Camerata. Here, the cut down version is all flickering flute, tense middle-of-the-chord stuff from the clarinet and whispering edgy strings. There is a sense of music disintegrated waiting for its component parts – performer and composer – to arrive and make the connections. In this way there’s a feeling that what we’re hearing is a threnody or anthem for the role the audience plays. A sort of musical depiction of the audience member devoid of the other members of the holy triangle, and the role they play. Towards the end three strummed instruments – guitar, harp and cello – shouldn’t really be providing as much as interest given how little they’re being asked to do. Yet, the ever shifting intonation between the three instruments makes this both unexpectedly and wholly satisfying and thought provoking a listen. When the piece arrives at its abrupt end we’re left with another voice: the sound of Wigmore Hall’s air conditioning, as though on cue reminding us that it too is, arguably, part of the soundscape.
Senses enlivened and appetite heightened, Ravel’s decadent Trois poèmes de Stéphane Mallarmé proved mesmerising on a first listen. Soupir is a ravishing act of symbolism, Cockerham’s self-assured delivery blending effortlessly with the upper woodwind. At three and a half minutes it’s one of the longer settings in the programme, yet Ravel still cycles through multiple textures and colours — a harmonic palette that hints at the scores later twentieth-century composers would take his work as inspiration for. In the concluding Surgi de la croupe et du bond, the familiar Ravel flourishes in the woodwind recall his larger orchestral works, but here, in chamber form, they reveal his remarkable knack for creating theatre from a single decorative idea.
Such detailed attention to the music shouldn’t overlook the mastery of the performers. The members of the Manchester Camerata, each squeezed on to the restricted space of the Wigmore Hall stage, are disciplined in their response to the sparse scores. Eleonore Cockerham is the star here — rarely have octave leaps and staccato articulation been quite so heartstopping.
Conductor Jack Sheen (when he’s not conducting) is a reticent presence on stage that unwittingly downplays the careful curation of the thought-provoking programme he’s put together. Ultimately, the performance is a feather in the cap for Manchester Camerata who not only understand the different audience segments they appeal to, but can satisfy them — sometimes with core repertoire, other times as here with something off the beaten track. In their visits to London they present as a nimble bunch both in planning and in execution.
