MACMILLAN MAXWELL DAVIES BEAMISH

www.champshillrecords.co.uk GOULD TRIO FOREWORD

The composers represented here all have a connection with , as do many of their compositions. This Scottish theme probably wasn’t the main reason why we chose this programme, but rather we intended to contrast other contemporary works with a newly composed piece . After our long acquaintance with the riches of James MacMillan’s Fourteen Little Pictures, we were delighted when he agreed to write a second piano trio for us. Nothing could have prepared us for the contrasting nature of the new work – embracing high spirits and an element of comedy, as opposed to the emotionally moving and intense narrative of his earlier work. At the premiere it was programmed alongside ’ A Voyage to Fair Isle , an evocative piece where the simple traditional folk-inspired material germinates from a complex motivic background. It was an exciting experience to have both Jimmy and Max in the audience! The opening of Sally Beamish’s Piobaireachd immerses the listener in a luminous soundscape before more jagged gestures activate the ensemble. With relatively few notes on the page, it remains an exacting piece which has never failed to make its impact wherever we've performed it. Though each piano trio, then, has a powerful individual voice, we hope that a thread unites the whole, stimulating the imagination. TRACK LISTING PROGRAMME NOTE

The place where art is created may not influence its content. But the artist’s imaginary landscape, the visions, memories and half memories of an internal world more real than reality itself, surely does. With so much performed and consumed today in vast cities, by those whose lives revolve around the business – JAMES MACMILLAN (1959 –) and busyness – of urban economies, it can be difficult to connect with the remote 1 PIANO TRIO NO.2 13’25 places and spiritual sanctuaries that have inspired countless composers since before history’s dawn. The works on this album invite quiet contemplation of worlds far PETER MAXWELL DAVIES (1934 –) removed from the distractions and sensory overload of city life and, increasingly, of 2 PIANO TRIO - A VOYAGE TO FAIR ISLE 19’41 life lived before screens or behind screens. It will be for each listener to reflect on SALLY BEAMISH (1956 –) what those worlds might be, whether they transcend the mundane and open windows 3 PIOBAIREACHD 10’33 onto something other. In many ways they belong to a rich tradition of illustrative pieces of chamber music, compositions rooted in the deep cultural soil of place and JAMES MACMILLAN collective memory. Scotland’s monumental resource of visual and aural imagery, while 4 FOURTEEN LITTLE PICTURES 22’36 not the sole influence, clearly contributed to the creative forces behind each composition in the Gould Trio’s programme.

Total playing time: 66’16 James MacMillan’s Fourteen Little Pictures (also known as his Piano Trio No.1), completed in Glasgow in March 1997, is a set of miniatures ‘stitched together,’ as the composer puts it, to form a work of considerable scope and great expressive variety. MacMillan conceived its section as individual pieces, each with its own character and complete in identity; however, he recognised sufficient points in common to be able to create a larger frame to support a continuous sequence of Little Pictures . He extended several ‘common threads’ between the pieces, as he notes, ‘to establish references, resonances and recapitulations. This was to allow a Produced, engineered and edited by Patrick Allen sense of scale and unity to be projected onto a larger canvas.’ Recorded on the 3rd–5th September 2014 in the Music Room, Champs Hill, West Sussex, UK Cover image by Peshkova, tray image by Baltsars, both courtesy of Shutterstock library The first miniature opens in ferocious mood, propelled by an upward surging scale Photographs of the Gould Piano Trio by Jake Morley for violin and cello and buttressed by the piano part’s strident ninths. MacMillan Executive Producer for Champs Hill Records: Alexander Van Ingen scatters his score with abrupt dynamic and textural contrasts, lurching from fff to pp Label Manager for Champs Hill Records: John Dickinson and shifting registers from high to low and back again. The movement’s central violin and cello. Silence is broken by the distant rolling rumble of a rapid piano section projects dry staccato piano chords through a veil of string tremolandos, the scale, repeated many times over and becoming ever more present, ‘like thunder’, as tranquil yet unsettling preface to a brief echo of its opening bars. Traces of the MacMillan marks in the score. second ‘picture’ arise in a chromatic melody for violin and cello, slowly stated at first ‘The eleventh “picture”,’ notes the composer, ‘is the climax of the music’s progress before unfolding as an elaborate, lyrical duet for the two instruments. As so often in where the trio all play fffff , desolato , martellato , feroce , etc.’ Clangorous piano MacMillan’s work, the soaring violin melody is tinged with fleeting grace notes and chords dominate and drive the movement, although their momentum is finally the modal colours of Scottish folksong (although without trace of pastiche). The arrested by a long pause for silence and the arrival of pictures ‘twelve’, an austere violin’s song becomes more ardent, more insistent as it moves towards the third piano solo, and ‘thirteen’, with its slow-motion recollection of material from the ‘picture’, a movement in which piano and cello conduct a nervous dialogue beneath sixth movement. ‘The fourteenth and final ‘picture’ brings the music full circle,’ the haunting cry of sustained notes in the violin. The latter’s long dying glissando observes MacMillan in his programme note, ‘at first presenting some of the material intensifies the movement’s sense of mystery which in turn is challenged by an from the first ‘picture’ but quickly transforming it into a long piano postlude marked energetic link into ‘picture’ four, with its jaunty piano part marked to be played “teneroso , delicato , lontano e semplice ”.’ The piece, so rich in colour and contrast, ‘lovingly, childlike, with a lilt’. For all the movement’s rhythmic complexity, it remains evaporates into silence from a sequence of fierce pedal notes in the piano, punched childlike at heart, playful in the piano part’s closing bass riff. into life by the player’s fist. As in the first movement, the trio’s three instruments share equal billing in the fifth MacMillan’s Piano Trio No.2 was conceived as a single, through-composed ‘picture’; the cello’s plaintive song demands attention, however, while its companions movement, launched in celebratory fashion with an insistent sequence of piano provide a running commentary of countermelodies. MacMillan recalls the fourth octaves. The music’s vibrant nature and playful spirit are tempered slightly by what movement’s rocking bass line as a bridge to his sixth ‘picture’ and goes on to create a the composer describes as ‘short brittle phrases on the two string instruments, soundworld of violent contrasts, one in which the piano’s outbursts constantly subvert sometimes sul ponticello , other times pizzicato ; sometimes with little, sliding the violin and cello’s Shostakovich-like lament. Violin and piano gradually emerge as glissandi , other times in surging chromatic scales.’ MacMillan soon effects a duo partners in the seventh movement, appearing behind the violin’s tentative solo transition to another mood state, gentle and reflective, in which the violin’s and moving towards a cathartic explosion of energy as the eighth ‘picture’, an adagio expressive modal melody and lapping cello drones offer refuge from the opening for violin and cello, comes into view. The spirit of sacred chant, albeit in its most section’s skittish energy. The piano writing here remains connected to what has elaborate solo form, prevails here until the piano’s ‘eruptive’ return in the ninth gone before and, with the help of throbbing piano triads and a fanfare figure on the movement, unleashed as soloist following the string players’ fading glissando . Material strings, allows the composer to break away from introspection. He describes what from the first ‘picture’ launches and sustains the tenth movement, subtly varied and follows as ‘a very fast, rollicking “music-hall” idea, quite clownish in character’, developed, then capped by echoes of the opening movement’s chorale-like duo for which alternates ‘back and forth with a stately, theme.’ Shades of Shostakovich pass like clouds over the music’s surface, developing an unsettling sense of irony and impermanence. MacMillan strips his work down to bare essentials in its central largo, preserving the idea of a waltz in the piano accompaniment while the cello touches darker regions in its sustained melody. ‘This segues into a fuller version of the earlier modal theme, before an abrupt recapitulation of the clownish idea,’ notes the composer. He finally recalls the opening theme and develops its material in a coda of captivating power and élan. Sally Beamish, who spent the first part of her career as a professional viola player in London, moved to Scotland a quarter of a century ago to establish her new life as a full-time composer. The relocation made all the difference. She and her husband, the cellist Robert Irvine, founded the Chamber Group of Scotland in company with James MacMillan. Her work, like that of MacMillan, has contributed to the surging confidence of the Scottish arts scene. While the origins and influences of Piobaireachd belong to Scotland and the Gaelic culture of her highlands and islands, the work was commissioned by the London Smetana Trio and first performed by them in Lewes on New Year’s Day 1992. The term piobaireachd , known to many by its anglicized equivalent, , refers to a distinct genre within the bagpipe tradition, regarded as the repertoire’s ‘classical’ core. All pibrochs , whether ancient or recently composed, are cast in theme and variations form; the theme functions as a simple ground for increasingly elaborate melodic ornamentation. Beamish became aware of piobaireachd when she wrote a piece for schools inspired by Neil Munro’s The Lost Pibroch , the first of the Scottish author’s Sheiling Stories . She incorporated bagpipes into her work and had them play the piobaireachds mentioned in Munro’s tale. ‘For the legendary ‘Lost Pibroch ’ –a haunting melody which causes men and animals to desert their home and roam the world – I wrote my own full pibroch ,’ the composer recalls. She chose its melody as the basis of Piobaireachd . ‘There are various set types of [ pibroch ] variation, using a simple paraphrase of the permeated, through months of rehearsal, into the spirit of Fair Isle, to become a original melody, laced with ever more intricate ornamentation, so that the music part of its fabric in a way new music seldom can – affecting and even changing the builds to a frenzy of rapid gracenotes,’ observes Beamish in her programme note to lives of a very special community.’ Piobaireachd . The theme, she continues, is usually repeated. ‘I have done exactly A Voyage to Fair Isle stands as its composer’s ‘attempt to express my delight at, and this, but … have also used more contemporary methods of variation, experimenting appreciation of this … experience.’ The piece was created in September 2002 for with separation of ornament and melody into different keys, and even developing the Grieg Piano Trio and premiered by them the following January in Kongsberg, the ‘drone’, which extends downwards by a tone in each variation, so that in the Norway. Maxwell Davies built his work from the raw melodic material of the end it encompasses a complete whole-tone scale.’ Beamish dedicated Piobaireachd plainsong proper to the feast of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary (8 September), the to the piper Annie Grant, who guided her study of pibroch , offered advice about its composer’s birthday and the day on which he began writing his Piano Trio. The form and content and introduced her to the genre’s legend and lore. ‘It is thought chant, alluded to in the single-movement composition’s expansive slow by some that the Pibroch may have been brought to Scotland from Cremona in Italy introduction, underpins the entire work. It flows through the jagged contours of in the Fifteenth Century by the MacCrimmons,’ notes the composer, ‘and so [it] may the subsequent allegro, where it is reimagined as a jaunty folk tune. well have roots intertwined with those better-known baroque and classical variation forms, such as the Chaconne .’ ‘I have tried to capture some characteristics of the local dance music, in the course of rigorous isometric transformations,’ observes Maxwell Davies. He develops his Peter Maxwell Davies found inspiration for his Piano Trio in the remote and desolate material over the course of a slow central section; rather than recall the music of land of Fair Isle, midway between his home on Sanday and the Shetland Isles, the opening thereafter, the composer continues the process of thematic where changing winds and weather patterns can rule on matters of life and death. transformation in a helter-skelter scherzo. ‘Before and after the slow development, While the island’s barren landscape touched the composer, he was struck above all the flow is interrupted by short direct tributes to the indigenous musical tradition by the community spirit and resilience of its inhabitants. He discovered the place [of the Shetland Islands]; the tunes are mine, arising from, and returning to, the and its people in July 2002 when he attended Fair Isle’s first music festival. ‘The all-pervading plainsong – but fashioned “in style”.’ A Voyage to Fair Isle draws its physical remoteness and craggy beauty of the place are well-known,’ Maxwell Davies expressive power from the meeting of sacred and secular, a union celebrated and recalls, ‘but it was the involvement of the population of seventy or so souls in the intensified in the work’s closing section. mounting of a new work by Alasdair Stout, a Shetlander from there, which struck home most. This made demands on the island chorus and the folk musicians which Andrew Stewart would daunt professionals, but which, in performance, gave everyone concerned huge satisfaction. I was most of all moved through the extraordinary expression of a community’s essence – one felt that a challenging piece of new music had really GOULD PIANO TRIO BIOGRAPHIES

Lucy Gould founded the Gould Piano Trio in 1992 whilst studying at the Royal Recently compared to the Beaux Arts Trio by the Washington Post for their Academy of Music. Alongside her work with the trio she is also a member of the ‘musical fire’ and dedication to the genre, the Gould Piano Trio continue to bring Chamber of Europe and much in demand as a guest leader of many leading the masterpieces of their repertoire to an ever-widening public. in the UK. She has made concerto appearances with the BBC National After winning Melbourne’s inaugural International Chamber Music Competition, Orchestra of Wales, the Bournemouth Sinfonietta and the English String Orchestra. the Goulds quickly established a worldwide reputation with many tours As a much sought-after chamber musician, Lucy has collaborated with many artists, throughout Europe, the USA, South America, Far East and New Zealand. including Roger Vignoles and Leon McCawley. Her recordings include John ’s After their highly regarded rendition of James MacMillan’s Fourteen Little Pictures , violin sonatas with Benjamin Frith for Naxos ( BBC Music Magazine Chamber Music they commissioned a second piano trio from the composer, premiered at the Bath Choice), the premiere performance of violin works by Stanford for Naxos and the International Festival in May 2014 and subsequently toured in the UK. The Goulds Mendelssohn Octet with Daniel Hope and colleagues from the Chamber Orchestra of have performed complete cycles of the Dvorak trios at Wigmore Hall and the Europe (Deutsche Grammophon). A CD of chamber music by Bax, including the Beethoven trios at St. George’s, Bristol; this ‘live’ Beethoven appears on the premiere recording of the Trio for clarinet, violin and piano was shortlisted for a SOMM label. The trio’s discography is very far-reaching. Their Brahms cycle is Gramophone Award. unique in including both his early trios and those for clarinet and horn, and their Lucy has three children and lives in Cardiff, holding a teaching post at the Royal exploration into the works of the late British romantics such as Stanford, Ireland, Welsh College of Music and Drama. Bax, Scott and Milford (Chandos and Naxos) has brought critical acclaim. The Trio have always found the space in their musical lives to coach, principally Alice Neary was the winner of the 1998 Pierre Fournier Award, and won major prizes at the Royal Northern College of Music and the Royal Welsh College of Music and in 2001 Leonard Rose Competition, USA and the 1997 Adam International Cello Drama where they hold residencies. Their outreach work with school children and Competition, New Zealand. in the community brings a sense of added communication and perspective to their outlook. Alice’s performances have included concertos with the Ulster Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and Israel Symphony and recitals at Of particular pride is the creation of the Corbridge and the Royal Welsh College of the Wigmore Hall, Purcell Room and Bridgewater Hall. Festival appearances include Music and Drama festivals by the Gould Piano Trio with clarinettist Robert Plane, Santa Fe, Bath and City of London. She has broadcast extensively on BBC Radio 3 and where the collaboration with guest artists refreshes their musical inspiration. NPR (USA) and recordings include the Tovey Cello Concerto with the Ulster Orchestra, The Goulds enjoy a special relationship with Champs Hill Records. Ireland Cello Sonata and Paul Patterson Cello Concerto. G B w o A S a A o a c I T p m l c O s H B a n e o h h p u w f r r a l

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