B O R G G R E V E

M A R C O

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P H O T O G R A P H Y

Kirill Gerstein and Thomas Adès join forces in a barnstorming account of the composer’s Piano Concerto (see previous page)

Birtwistle Gawain’s Journey. Responses, Sweet Disordera a Pierre-Laurent Aimard pf Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra / Stefan Asbury Neos F Í NEOS11729 (56’ • DDD/DSD)

Harrison Birtwistle’s creativity into his mid-eighties has seen numerous significant works, not least a second piano concerto. Responses, Sweet Disorder (2014) might seem a fanciful title but aptly evokes the interplay between methodical balance and playful anarchy characterising the dialogue between soloist and orchestra; this half-hour piece unfolds in a series of dual contrasts prior to the brief cadenza, then a final pair of contrasts whose manner feels pointedly unclimactic. Pierre‑Laurent Aimard sounds fully engaged in what is frequently a concertante part integrated within the texture, while Stefan Asbury (who recorded the revised version of Antiphonies, Birtwistle’s first concerto – Metronome, 10/15) presides over a secure premiere.

Gawain’s Journey (1991) finds this most unequivocal composer in more combative mood. As devised by Elgar Howarth from Birtwistle’s fourth opera, Gawain, it stands as both a cohesive paraphrase on that piece and a gripping autonomous work. Much of the discourse is strident, even violent, but several episodes focus on that fraught lyricism which has been a Birtwistle trait from the outset. It is here that Asbury’s more considered reading comes into its own next to Howarth’s account, with the playing of the Philharmonia marginally less assured than that of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, though the NMC recording’s decision to divide this piece into 12 separate tracks according to specific episodes is a definite plus.

The recorded sound has the focus and dynamism this music needs, and Paul Griffiths contributes typically laconic observations. Not for Birtwistle newcomers but a notable addition to his discography. Richard Whitehouse Gawain’s Journey – comparative version: Philh Orch, Howarth (7/93R) (NMC) NMCD088

Eötvös Halleluja – Oratorium balbuluma. Alle vittime senza nomeb a Iris Vermillion mez aTopi Lehtipuu ten a Matthias Brandt narr aWDR Radio Chorus and Symphony Orchestra / Peter Eötvös; bOrchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Rome / Sir Antonio Pappano Wergo F WER7386-2 (75’ • DDD) Recorded live at the aPhilharmonie, Cologne, April 28 & 29, 2017; bSanta Cecilia Hall, Auditorium Parco della Musica, Rome, October 14, 2017

Peter Eötvös’s Halleluja (2015) is styled ‘oratorium balbulum’ – a stammering oratorio – and subtitled ‘Four Fragments’. The latter does not indicate sections of a larger work, but rather that the whole is not a conventional choraland‑orchestral work with a linear narrative. This is apparent from the outset, with the choir’s opening, unresolved question ‘Who are we?’ and the at times sideways pronouncements of the narrator, deliciously delivered by Matthias Brandt, who makes it very clear that he is the narrator.

Halleluja – oratorium balbulum is, then, at least partially a composition about itself, about the relationship of words and music, and to silence. The ‘choir represents a society that says “hallelujah” to everything’, Eötvös has stated, while the stammering gramophone.co.uk

GRAMOPHONE SHORTLIST 2020 21