IF at 75 So it was a natural choice to combine Nyman MICHAEL NYMAN | and Purcell on this disc. Purcell never composed Is there a contemporary composer whose music vocal music with an accompaniment of , is more immediately recognisable than Michael but his magnificent set of Fantazias and In No Time in Eternity Michael Nyman Nyman? I can’t think of one: the insistent Nomines for viols demonstrated his interest in 1 To Music (I) [2.14] ostinanti, the bold, yet simply conceived the instrument; so it was but a short step 2 No Time in Eternity [0.50] harmony, the driving rhythms, the aggressive to realising Purcell’s original bass line and 3 Fortune [1.03] instrumentation, the heavy bass-line; all completing the harmonies with parts for four 4 The Definition of Beauty [0.55] have combined to make his music instantly or five viols. While all three on this disc are 5 Things Mortal Still Mutable [1.25] recognisable. He has been endlessly imitated, on ground basses - that is the same bass 6 The Watch [1.57] particularly by composers for moving images line repeated over and over again - each song 7 To Music (II) [2.29] - film, TV, adverts and so on; yet these are presented different challenges. 8 Balancing the Books Michael Nyman arr. Richard Boothby [9.50] pale imitations, not the real thing. O Solitude is a setting of the first and last From “The Diary of Anne Frank” Michael Nyman, arr. Richard Boothby While he might be known now more for the stanzas (plus half of the third) of the poem 9 If [3.32] music he wrote for Jane Campion’s award- La Solitude by Antoine Girard de Saint-Amant, 0 Why [4.20] winning film from 1993, , he initially translated by Katherine Philips, who was shot to fame a decade earlier with the music a remarkable literary figure in 17th-century q Music for a While, Z 583 No. 2 Henry Purcell, arr. Richard Boothby [3.53] for Peter Greenaway’s film The Draughtsman’s Wales and England. Its ground bass is w Music after a While Michael Nyman [11.51] Contract, set in 17th-century England. This unvarying, yet Purcell’s implied harmonies are e Evening Hymn, Z 193 Henry Purcell, arr. Silas Wolston [4.52] lurid tale was filmed with striking originality, exceptionally inventive. r The Self-Laudatory Hymn of Inanna Michael Nyman [13.17] and Nyman mirrored this with his music, most and her Omnipotence of it derived from one of England’s greatest The Evening Hymn is a setting of the poem t O Solitude, my Sweetest Choice, Z 406 Henry Purcell, arr. Richard Boothby [5.21] composers, Henry Purcell. Purcell’s music by Bishop William Fuller, friend of the diarists was well known to Nyman, as he had studied Pepys and Evelyn. The arrangement for viols Total timings: [67.51] under the great musicologist Thurston Dart was made by Silas Wolston. The ground bass at King’s College in London in the 1960s, and here moves to accommodate modulations IESTYN DAVIES COUNTER-TENOR had then produced the first modern edition of to different keys, as does that of Music for a Purcell’s Catches in 1967. While, which is from the incidental music to

www.signumrecords.com - 3 - Dryden and Lee’s translation of Sophocles’s translation of this Hymn. I was immediately taken (and his memorable Musica Britannica edition a setting of several poems by the great play Oedipus, revived in 1692. Alecto is one of with its tone of unashamed self-congratulation of Jacobean consort music) and the finest book 17th -century poet Robert Herrick: To Music, No the Greek furies, with snakes for hair, whose (very suitable, I thought, for James Bowman’s ever written on English music, English Chamber Time in Eternity, Fortune, The Definition of work is to castigate mortals for their moral crimes. voice) and its repetitive structure (very suitable Music by E H Meyer. Beauty, Things mortal still mutable, The Watch, for my music). To Music. All are from his Hesperides, published In 2017 Fretwork commissioned Michael Nyman Some time during the 2000s, I came across in 1648. His most famous verse is ‘To the (with funds generously donated by Mark In conversation with another friend I learned Nyman’s song If, scored for piano and strings Virgins to make much of time’, espousing the Reed) to write a new instrumental work for that Inanna was not an obscure goddess known and thought it could work for viols - I made an sentiment to seize the day, or carpe diem; them, and he responded with Music After a only to me and a few experts on Sumerian arrangement and sent it to the composer, who and we see similar sentiments in these While, which is based upon Purcell’s song, or civilisation, but a central focus of that approved. The calm simplicity of the harmonic epigrammatical works that Nyman has chosen more particularly upon its strikingly civilisation and a figure highly esteemed by pattern and melody makes for a compelling to set. He was highly sensitive to music and a original bass-line, with its insidious rising feminists. In Kramer’s works: ‘Female deities work, which expresses the child-like naïveté close friend of the Lawes brothers, Henry & William. chromatics. It was premiered in Milton Court, were worshipped and adored all though of the text. It was written, together with Why, to in London’s Barbican Centre in May 2018, just Sumerian history…but the goddess who texts by Roger Pulvers as part of an animated Michael Nyman was born in Stratford, in the before this disc was recorded. outweighed, overshadowed, and outlasted film by Seiya Araki, The Diary of Anne Frank. east end of London on 23rd March 1944. In them all was a deity know to the Sumerians addition to his current work as a composer, Fretwork had previously commissioned Nyman by the name of Inanna, ‘Queen of Heaven’, and And then, having seen my arrangement, Nyman he is also a film maker, conductor, pianist, in 1992 to write a work for James Bowman to the Semites who lived in Sumer by the suggested I look at a work he had written for musicologist, writer & photographer. He studied and us for the Spitalfields Festival. Nyman name of Ishtar. Inanna played a greater role the Swingle Singers, Balancing the Books, a at the Royal Academy of Music and, after his described the remarkable chance encounter that in myth, epic, and hymn than any other deity, wordless vocal-work in 8 parts. I arranged this, Ph.D studies with Thurston Dart, he went to led to the choice of text: male or female.’ but we didn’t find an opportunity to perform it Romania to collect folk music. until Fretwork were invited to take part in the The text of the Self-Laudatory Hymn came to light In the Self-Laudatory Hymn I have made no Minimalism Unwrapped festival at Kings Place While working as music critic for The Spectator, while I was browsing among the bookshelves attempt to evoke Sumerian music (or music of in London in 2015. he coined the term ‘minimalism’ in 1968. He of an Armenian acquaintance in February any other period). The opportunity to work with also wrote for The New Statesman, The Listener 1992. Opening, for no apparent reason, a fat the viols of Fretwork recalls my use of early No Time in Eternity was commissioned by the and Studio International. He seminal work on anthology entitled Ancient Near-Eastern Texts instruments in the first Michael Nyman Band, French counter-tenor Paulin Bündgen with new music - Experimental Music: Cage and Relating to the Old Testament, edited by which uses rebecs rather than viols; and also Ensemble Celadon in 2016 and first performed Beyond - was published in 1974 and has James B. Pritchard, I found S N Kramer’s my studies in the 1960s with Thurston Dart by them in Lyon in March of that year. It is recently been reprinted.

- 4 - - 5 - His preferred musical form is opera, and he TEXTS 6 The Watch *I’d blink my eyes has written several notable works in this form: Man is a watch, wound up at first, And wave my arms The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat, Facing No Time in Eternity but never wound up again: I’d wish a wish Goya and Many and Boy: Dada. once down, he’s down for ever. To stop all harm 1 To Music (i) The watch once down all motions then do cease; More recently he has focused on composing Begin to Charm, and as thou strok’st mine ears And man’s pulse stopp’d all passions sleep in If … at the wave of a hand soundtracks for silent films from the late 1920s: With thy enchantment, melt me into tears. peace. The winter snows would start Jean Vigo’s A Propos de Nice, Sergi Eisenstein’s Then let thy active hand scud o’er thy lyre, And if … you could just light a candle Battleship Potemkin and new soundtracks for And make my spirits frantic with fire. 7 To Music (ii) To change people’s feelings and hearts three Dziga Vertov films - Man with a Movie That done, sink down into a silvery strain, Music, thou queen of heaven, care-charming spell, Camera, The Eleventh Year and A Sixth Part of And make me smooth as balm and oil again. That strik’st a stillness into hell: I’d whisper love the World. Thou that tam’st tigers, and fierce storms that rise In every land 2 Time in Eternity With thy soul melting lullabies, To every child Richard Boothby By hours we all live here; in Heaven is known Fall down from those chiming spheres Woman and man No spring of time or time’s succession. To charm our souls, as thou enchant’st our ears. That’s what I’d do 3 Fortune Text by Robert Herrick (1591-1674) If my wishes would come true Fortune’s a blind profuse of her own, That’s what I’d do Too much she gives to some, enough to none. 9 If If my wishes could come true If … at the sound of wish 4 The Definition of Beauty The summer sun would shine Text by Hachiro Konno and Roger Pulvers Beauty no other thing is than a beam And if … just a smile would do Flashed out between the middle and extreme. To brush all the clouds from the sky 0 Why We ask our father why 5 Things mortal still mutable If … at the blink of an eye Why people can not love Things are uncertain and the more we get, The autumn leaves would whirl Why people hate all day and night The more on icy pavements we are set. And if … you could sigh a deep sigh Spoiling children’s dreams To scatter them over the earth

- 6 - - 7 - We ask our mother why q Music for a While r The Self-Laudatory Hymn of Inanna When I enter the Ekur, the house of Enlil, Why people can not live Music for a while and her Omnipotence The gate-keeper puts not his hand against my Why they won’t let the children be Shall all your cares beguile. My father gave me Heaven, gave me earth. breast, Crushing their belief Wond’ring how your pains were eas’d I the Queen of Heaven am I. The vizier says not to me: stop! And disdaining to be pleas’d Is there one God who can vie with me? Tell us why, Papa Till Alecto free the dead Heaven is mine, earth is mine. Your children want to know From their eternal bands, Enlil gave me Heaven, gave me earth, “Someday you’ll find out” Till the snakes drop from her head, I the Queen of Heaven am I. In Erech, the Eanna is mine, Leaves us lonely and cold And the whip from out her hands. In Zabalom, the Giguna is mine. He has given me lordship, Tell us why, Papa From Oedipus, A Tragedy by John Dryden (1631-1700) He has given me queenship. In Nippur, the Duranki is mine, Your children want to know He has given me battle, given me combat In Ur, the Edilman is mine. “You shouldn’t ask such things” e An Evening Hymn And he gave me flood and tempest. Leaves no rooms to grow Now, now that the sun hath veil’d his light In Girsu the Eshdam is mine, And bid the world goodnight He has placed Heaven as a crown. In Adab, the Emdara is mine. We ask our parents Why To the soft bed, my body I dispose, He has tied the earth as a sandal. Why children can not grow But where, where shall my soul repose? He has fastened the holy me garment In Kish, the Hursag Kalama is mine, Don’t look away from us Dear God, even in Thy arms, About my body. In Dev, the Amashkuga is mine. Don’t lie … please don’t lie And can there be any so sweet security! Your children need to know Then-to-thy-rest, O my soul! The Gods are my vassals: In Akshak, the Anzaka is mine, And singing, praise the mercy I, a Queen am I. In Agada, the Ulmash is mine. Tell me why, somebody That prolongs thy days. The Anuna scurry about. We children need an answer Hallelujah! Is there one god who can vie with me? Why adults fight over God I, a life-giving wild cow am I, Why adults fight over colour Text by William Fuller (1608-1675) The life-giving wild cow of father Enlil am I, Ancient Sumarian hymn, Why adults go to war His life-giving wild cow that walks at the head. translation by Samuel Noah Kramer (1897-1990)

Text by Hachiro Konno and Roger Pulvers

- 8 - - 9 - t O Solitude, my Sweetest Choice Because it needs must hinder me On the opera stage, he has appeared at the O solitude, my sweetest choice: From seeing, and from serving thee. Metropolitan Opera, New York; the Lyric Opera Places devoted to the night, of Chicago; Teatro alla Scala Milan; the Royal Remote from tumult and from noise, O solitude! O! how I solitude adore! Opera House, Covent Garden; English National How ye my restless thoughts delight! Opera; Glyndebourne Festival Opera; Welsh Original text by Antoine Girard de Saint-Amant (1594–1661), National Opera; Salzburg Festival and in Munich, O heav’ns, what content is mine, translation by Katherine Philips (1631-1664) Vienna and Zurich. To see those trees which have appear’d From the nativity of time, Concert engagements have included performances And, from which all ages have rever’d, IESTYN DAVIES at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan with Dudamel, To look today as fresh and green, the Concertgebouw and Tonhalle with As when their beauties first were seen. After graduating in Archaeology and Anthropology Koopman and at the Barbican, Théâtre from St John’s College, Cambridge, Iestyn Davies des Champs-Élysées, Lincoln Centre and at O, how agreeable a sight studied at the Royal Academy of Music, London. the BBC Proms in the Royal Albert Hall These hanging mountains do appear, with orchestras that include the New York Which the unhappy would invite An esteemed Handelian, he has astounded Philharmonic, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, To finish all their sorrows here, audiences globally with his vocal agility London Philharmonic, English Concert, Britten When their hard fate makes them endure in roles such as Orlando, Rinaldo, Ottone/ Sinfonia, Concerto Köln, Concerto Copenhagen, Such woes as only death can cure. Agrippina and David/Saul. His intelligent and Ensemble Matheus, the Orchestra of the Age considered interpretations have led to fruitful of Enlightenment, Academy of Ancient Music © Chris Sorensen O! how I solitude adore! collaborations with Thomas Adés, George and Scottish Chamber Orchestra. He has won a Grammy Award, 3 Gramophone That element of noblest wit, Benjamin and Nico Muhly. Awards for recital recordings, the Royal Where I have learnt Apollo’s lore A committed recitalist, his repertoire ranges Philharmonic Society Young Artist of the Year, Without the pains to study it. Iestyn received an Olivier Award nomination for from Dowland to Clapton and he has performed and the 2013 Critics’ Circle Awards for singing the role of Farinelli in Farinelli and the at Carnegie Hall, New York and enjoys a Exceptional Young Talent (Singer). In 2017 he For thy sake I in love am grown, King opposite Mark Ryalnce, a Globe Theatre successful relationship with the Wigmore Hall was awarded an MBE by the Queen for his With what thy fancy does persue; production that had successful runs on the where he has curated residencies. services to music. But when I think upon my own, West End and Broadway. I hate it for that reason too,

- 10 - - 11 - FRETWORK contemporary music. In 2008, they recorded In 2014 they continued to concentrate on the two tracks on ’s album Out music of with a major tour of the of Noise. UK with one of today’s greatest tenors, Ian Bostridge. They also spent a week in the They now tour the United States most years, and Britten Studio in Aldeburgh re-working Orlando made their Carnegie Hall debut in February of Gough’s The World Encompassed, to incorporate 2010. In that year, they also curated a weeklong a spoken narrative drawn from contemporary series of concerts at Kings Place, London. The accounts. culmination of this week was the world premier of The World Encompassed by Orlando Gough, Another new work by Nico Muhly was premiered a 70-minute piece describing in musical terms in 2015 at Kings Place, and they collaborated Drake’s circumnavigation of the globe in 1577-80. with celebrated actor Simon Callow in the revised version of The World Encompassed at In 2011, The National Centre for Early Music, in the Dartington International Summer School – collaboration with the BBC, hosted a competition this version was subsequently recorded and for young composers to create a four-minute piece released to critical acclaim on Signum in 2016.

© Nick White for Fretwork. They workshopped the shortlisted Asako Morikawa become known as pioneers of contemporary pieces at the NCEM in York in October, and They celebrated their 30th anniversary with Richard Boothby music for viols, having commissioned over 40 then the winning entries were premiered in Kings a star-studded concert at Kings Place in June Joanna Levine new works. The list of composers is like a role Place in December that year. 2016, and recorded four new albums including Emily Ashton call of the most prominent writers of our time: The World Encompassed. They made their longest Sam Stadlen George Benjamin, Michael Nyman, Sir John The following year, they premiered My Days for The tour of America, taking in the USA, Canada & Tavener, Gavin Bryars, Elvis Costello, Alexander and Fretwork by one of today’s Colombia. They are looking forward to further In 2016, Fretwork celebrated their 30th Goehr, John Woolrich, Orlando Gough, Fabrice most exciting young composers – Nico Muhly – tours of North America and concerts (as well anniversary. In these last three decades, they Fitch, , Sally Beamish, , in Wigmore Hall. While 2013 was their busiest as this album) celebrating Michael Nyman’s have explored the core repertory of great English Barry Guy, Andrew Keeling, Thea Musgrave, Simon year for a decade, they played no fewer than 75th birthday in 2019. consort music, from Taverner to Purcell, and Bainbridge, Poul Ruders, John Joubert, Duncan ten concerts in London’s major chamber music made classic recordings against which others Druce and Nico Muhly. The group now frequently halls: Wigmore Hall, Kings Place, Cadogan Hall are judged. In addition to this, Fretwork have presents programmes consisting entirely of and the Royal College of Music.

- 12 - - 13 - If (from “The Diary of Anne Frank”) Why? (from The Diary Of Anne Frank) Composed by Michael Nyman Composed by Michael Nyman Words by Hachiro Konno and Roger Pulvers. Words by Hachiro Konno and Roger Pulvers. © Copyright 1995 Michael Nyman Limited. © Copyright 1995 Michael Nyman Limited. Chester Music Limited. Chester Music Limited. All Rights Reserved. International Copyright Secured All Rights Reserved. International Copyright Secured. Used by permission of Chester Music Limited. Used by permission of Chester Music Limited.

Recorded in St George’s Church, Cambridge, from 29th to 31st May 2018 Producer and Editor – Nicholas Parker Recording Engineer – Andrew Mellor

Cover Image – © Chris Sorensen Design and Artwork – Woven Design www.wovendesign.co.uk

P 2019 The copyright in this sound recording is owned by Signum Records Ltd © 2019 The copyright in this CD booklet, notes and design is owned by Signum Records Ltd

Any unauthorised broadcasting, public performance, copying or re-recording of Signum Compact Discs constitutes an infringement of copyright and will render the infringer liable to an action by law. Licences for public performances or broadcasting may be obtained from Phonographic Performance Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this booklet may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission from Signum Records Ltd.

SignumClassics, Signum Records Ltd., Suite 14, 21 Wadsworth Road, Perivale, Middx UB6 7JD, UK. +44 (0) 20 8997 4000 E-mail: [email protected] www.signumrecords.com

Michael Nyman’s handwritten score for The Self-Laudatory Hymn of Inanna and her Omnipotence

- 14 - - 15 - ALSO AVAILABLE on signumclassics

Faure: The Complete Songs Vol. 1 Orlando Gough: The World Encompassed Malcolm Martineau piano, Iestyn Davies counter-tenor Fretwork Ann Murray mezzo-soprano, John Chest baritone Simon Callow narrator Nigel Cliffe baritone, Ben Johnson tenor SIGCD453 Lorna Anderson soprano, Janis Kelly soprano Joan Rodgers soprano “It’s the musical equivalent of being asked to make a raft out SIGCD427 of plastic bottles and paperclips, a challenge Gough meets with all his customary wit and invention. It’s also tremendous fun. “The common factor, and driving power behind the series, is This mixture of old and new, familiar and alien, really shouldn’t pianist Malcolm Martineau, whose softly probing pianism pulls work; but, stitched together by Simon Callow’s characterful together the miscellany of well-known singers, who range from narration, it forms an exotic tapestry – a vivid portrait of the the robust Nigel Cliffe, sweet counter-tenor Iestyn Davies, radiant age of exploration.” Gramophone tenor Ben Johnson and wholesome Ann Murray, to the restful mellowness of Lorna Anderson, and the experienced musicianship of Janis Kelly and Joan Rodgers. A series to follow with keen interest.” The Scotsman

Available through most record stores and at www.signumrecords.com For more information call +44 (0) 20 8997 4000

- 20 - CTP Template: CD_INL1 COLOURS Compact Disc Back Inlay CYAN Customer SignumClassics MAGENTA YELLOW Catalogue No.SIGCD586 BLACK Job Title: IF SIGNUM CLASSICS SIGCD586

IF

MICHAEL NYMAN | HENRY PURCELL NYMAN & PURCELL: IF FRETWORK / DAVIES

1 - 7 No Time in Eternity Michael Nyman [10.53]

8 Balancing the Books Michael Nyman arr. Richard Boothby [9.50]

From “The Diary of Anne Frank” Michael Nyman, arr. Richard Boothby 9 If [3.32] 0 Why [4.20]

q Music for a While, Z 583 No. 2 Henry Purcell, arr. Richard Boothby [3.53] w Music after a While Michael Nyman [11.51] e Evening Hymn, Z 193 Henry Purcell, arr. Silas Wolston [4.52] r The Self-Laudatory Hymn of Inanna Michael Nyman [13.17] and her Omnipotence t O Solitude, my Sweetest Choice, Z 406 Henry Purcell, arr. Richard Boothby [5.21]

Total timings: [67.51] FRETWORK / DAVIES / FRETWORK NYMAN & PURCELL: IF

IESTYN DAVIES COUNTER-TENOR FRETWORK

LC15723 Signum Records Ltd, Suite 14, 21 Wadsworth Road, Perivale, Middx UB6 7JD, United Kingdom. P 2019 Signum Records DDD SIGCD586 SIGCD586 © 2019 Signum Records www.signumrecords.com 24 bit digital recording 6 35212 05862 6 SIGNUM CLASSICS