Winter Fragments
Chamber Music by MICHAEL BERKELEY
Fleur Barron Berkeley Ensemble Dominic Grier mezzo-soprano conductor Winter Fragments Chamber Music by Michael Berkeley (b. 1948)
5–12 Catch Me If You Can (1994) Fleur Barron mezzo-soprano 1. Vivo [5:46] 5–11 & 13 Dominic Grier conductor 2. Mesto [4:02] 3. Presto [4:12] Berkeley Ensemble Sophie Mather violin 4 4. Clarinet Quintet (1983) [14:03] Francesca Barri violin 4–11 & 13 4–11 & 13 Winter Fragments (1996) Dan Shilladay viola 4–13 5. Winter fragments the earth [1:49] Gemma Wareham cello 6. Death lies on her [1:10] John Slack clarinet & bass clarinet 1–11 & 13 7. The reeling clouds stagger [3:40] Andrew Watson bassoon 1–3 1–3 8. Frozen s ll [1:31] Paul Co horn 9. A widow bird sate mourning [1:34] 10. Silent and so [2:04] With 11. Time that knows more [3:15]
1–3, 5–11 & 13 Luke Russell flute, alto flute & piccolo 12. Sonnet for Orpheus 1–3, 5–11 & 13 Emily Cockbill oboe & cor anglais from Three Rilke Sonnets (2010) [7:26] Sarah Hatch percussion 13 5–11 & 13 Helen Sharp harp 13. Seven (2007) [8:23]
Total playing me [59:03] About the Berkeley Ensemble:
‘[...] the high quality of the performances by the Berkeley Ensemble, a malleable group which [...] can adapt itself to different formats and plays as if it were truly inside the music’ The Daily Telegraph Michael Berkeley in Conversa on and densely argued, with the almost late-Mahlerian world of Seven. It’s Dan Shilladay: The pieces collected exhilara ng to hear all these strands together on the disc span more than of your work together. thirty years of work. How has your approach changed over this period? MB: As another example, in the Clarinet Quintet there is a medieval-like melody at Michael Berkeley: I came out of quite a the beginning, something I’ve always loved tonal tradi on with Lennox [Berkeley, from my days as a chorister at Westminster Michael’s father] (1903–1989) and Cathedral singing Gregorian plainchant. [Benjamin] Bri en (1913–1976), but then Plainchant is very important in my music; I got very interested in a more avant-garde the repeat of notes, the modal melodies. approach to music: I worked with But in the quintet, almost immediately [Harrison] Birtwistle (b. 1934) and talked there is very jazzy music. I don’t think to [Witold] Lutosławski (1913–1994). I the audience needs to sit and think ‘there’s would say as a result my music moved a medieval bit, now there is jazz’ – it just from being fairly tonally based to being needs to work for them, but each piece much more expressionis c. I o en seem needs an organic structure in the mind to be slightly at odds with fashion; as I of the composer. was becoming more expressionis c, music was going back to the tonal world DS: Could you elaborate on your aims of John Adams (b. 1947) and others. regarding your listeners? You’ve described But what is important in music is being your own music as having ‘a strong yourself. That’s something I discovered emo onal content, which audiences react to’. from being Lennox’s son – that if you feel you’ve got something to say, that’s MB: My mother had Lithuanian Jewish the most important thing, regardless of blood; I think there’s a part of me that what else is going on. I’ve always done responds to that in my wri ng, and to what I felt like doing at that moment. which audiences in turn respond in my music. I think for me, the catharsis of DS: That comes across very strongly – being moved in a piece of music is very on this disc one might compare Catch important. You men oned [Gustav] Me If You Can, which is very frene c Mahler (1860–1911)... DS: In rela on to Seven, yes, which reminded movement, not unlike a viola piece I wrote, me of the opening of the Ninth Symphony, Odd Man Out, about the child that is where Mahler’s simple two-note ques on excluded. Amongst all this swirling ac vity, finds some kind of interim ‘solu on’ at its you focus for contrast on the solitary close. Your harp figure similarly seems to individual. But the other aim of that pose a ques on – ostensibly a simple one, movement – as in Winter Fragments – is a ma er of the note-to-note tensions that less is more. The frene c ac vity within that phrase – but in its repe ons, stops and you have a very small, but it acquires something more. hopefully beau fully cra ed, touching, lyrical moment. MB: Exactly. The emo on can be very dis lled, in a way. It’s also a bit like DS: For me, the most touching and lyrical [Erik] Sa e (1866–1925) – a very simple moment of the disc is your Sonnet for thing has a kind of cumula ve effect. Orpheus [from Three Rilke Sonnets]. Similarly, one of the songs of Winter Fragments has a simple, folk-like MB: I think that’s one of the best pieces feel to it. I’ve wri en, because it’s stripped down; there’s no extraneous material. I adored DS: For the musicians, too, that movement the [Rainer Maria] Rilke (1875–1926) is a relaxa on, a contrast from the more poem, the idea of the almost-girl who heightened music around it. in a sense doesn’t exist. I’m really glad you recorded it, as that piece gets to the MB: This idea o en appears in my music, essence of what I can some mes do. There because I think it gives a moment of respite are pieces like that – o en fragments in in the middle of what is o en a very larger canvasses – where you feel that you turbulent landscape. Catch Me If You Can touch the bea ng heart of the music. is another example. It was wri en for the Haffner Wind Ensemble to take DS: That’s the subject of Rilke’s sonnet: the into schools, which immediately made nature of percep on, if I’ve understood it me think of Leoš Janáček’s (1854–1928) correctly. Mládi (‘Youth’), but also the rather cruel games that children play. So even that MB: That’s why I wanted to retain the piece has a very simple tune in the slow original German: partly because no transla on did it jus ce, but also because it lends the DS: – as in the Clarinet Quintet – and recreate it in their own image. If it’s process? Does it affect the composi on or piece the ethereal nature of the poem, perfect in its own way, what can you add reflect it? Is it an aid to listening? its untouchable quality. MB: Yes – you could ask whether that, as to it? You need to walk around the back a technique, is interes ng, but I think it is. of it, or start taking it to pieces – perhaps MB: By way of an example, I wrote a string DS: It’s clear that how your music is perceived Think of how one might talk of an ar st pulling the head off and pu ng it on a quintet with two cellos for the Chilingirian or its affec ve power is central to your work. and the way they use their pale e, or different way. That is a compliment to the Quartet, which I called Abstract Mirror. I how an architect creates or echoes lines poet: to try and get into their mind, or thought that was a completely valid use MB: And of course, a recording such as this in a building. We should give audiences as to rewrite poetry in terms of music. of a tle, because the extra cello could one represents an opportunity for listeners much as we can for them to hold on to join the upper or lower strings. The two to get a bit more under the skin of a without baffling them. DS: And this has led you to write your groups offered mirror images of each composer. Familiarity in contemporary own texts; there are some in Winter other in the composi on so I felt that music breeds the opposite of contempt. DS: But with regard to the actual technical Fragments and also Touch Light, another par cular tle worked. With Winter workings of your music: do you consider piece the ensemble has played and Fragments I just loved the play on the DS: As a broadcaster, and par cularly as these as legible, expressive and necessary, recorded. words: these are fragments of winter, director of the Cheltenham Fes val, as well as interes ng? (In contrast to, say, but winter also fragments. I suppose as you’ve done much to make the world of Birtwistle, whose techniques are o en MB: There have been some short pieces a broadcaster and avid reader I like to contemporary music more familiar. hidden or encoded.) where I just couldn’t find anything that play on words. Similarly, your programme notes for your encapsulated what I wanted to say. As own pieces o en allude to poe c or MB: I do, of course, have processes and in the case of Touch Light, which was DS: So, to press a point: why is your clarinet emo onal content, but also to some of thoughts that are not revealed. That is why inspired by the great baroque opera c quintet just the Clarinet Quintet? their technical workings, too. Do you the magic of music lies in its abstrac on. masters – Monteverdi and others – consider these details to be important whose arias set just a few repeated MB: To be honest, nothing sprang to mind. for your audience? DS: On the ques on of technique, you write words; why not just create your own? Titles can be useful, but they do take the in your programme note to Winter Fragments It doesn’t mean to say one is by any listener down a certain road, which one MB: People do respond to knowing a that ‘composers o en tend to destroy words means a poet, rather, just crea ng an should some mes avoid. With the Clarinet li le bit about how a piece is put before recrea ng them’. Could you describe addi on to the musical vocabulary. Quintet, I just wanted it to unfold in its together. When you take something this process of destruc on and recrea on? own way. apart for an audience and then put DS: One could view the tles you give it back together, there’s a gleam of MB: You can of course take a poem – Bri en to your pieces in a similar way. They are DS: But it’s a very illustrious field. In calling recogni on in their eye when they hear is superb at doing this – and just enrich it, o en poe c, but occasionally you’ve it ‘Clarinet Quintet’ did you feel the weight it in the concert. To point out how a just lay it out as its own rhythm suggests. chosen generic or abstract ones, such as of history? theme from a piece’s opening is restated But I think that very o en, when a composer with the Clarinet Quintet. Where does backwards at the end... sets a text, they need to destroy a poem the tling of a piece sit in your crea ve MB: I’ve never worried about that. People used to ask me if it was difficult being sad, in the laden-colour’d east, the moon Lennox’s son, and I would answer no, wears a bleak circle round her sully’d orb. because I feel I’m such a different animal. Then issues forth the storm, with loud control, We all have to stand up and be counted and the thin fabrick of the pillar’d air next to our famous predecessors. I just o’erturns, at once. wanted to write the piece I was going Thick clouds ascend, in whose capacious womb, a vapoury deluge lies, to snow congeal’d: to write. Heavy, they roll their fleecy world along; and the sky saddens with th’impending storm. DS: You’ve always done what you felt like Thro’ the hush’d air, the whitening shower descends. doing at that moment. See! Earth’s universal face is all one, dazzling, waste. MB: Yes – exactly. James Thomson (1700–1748) Texts & Transla ons (from Winter)
Winter Fragments 8. Frozen s ll Frozen s ll; a loud silence 5. Winter fragments the earth speaking, speaking so white, so bright – Winter, winter fragments the earth and light eye cannot see. s lls sheer space. Michael Berkeley Michael Berkeley (b. 1948) 9. A Widow bird sate mourning 6. Death lies on her A widow bird sate mourning for her love Death lies on her like an un mely frost Upon a wintry bough; upon the sweetest flower of all the field. The frozen wind crept on above, The freezing stream below. William Shakespeare (1564–1616) There was no leaf upon the forest bare, (from Romeo and Juliet) No flower upon the ground, And li le mo on in the air 7. The reeling clouds Except the mill-wheel’s sound. The reeling clouds stagger with dizzy aim, as doub ng yet Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822) which master to obey: while rising, slow, (‘Archy’s Song’ from Charles I) 10. Silent and so Und schlief in mir. Und alles war ihr Schlaf. Silent and so and slow descends the snow. Die Bäume, die ich je bewundert, diese The troubled sky reveals the grief it feels. fühlbare Ferne, die gefühlte Wiese This is the poem of the air. und jedes Staunen, das mich selbst betraf. This is the secret of despair, Now whispered and revealed to wood and field. Sie schlief die Welt. Singender Go , wie hast du sie vollendet, daß sie nicht begehrte, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882) erst wach zu sein? Sieh, sie erstand und schlief. from Snowflakes Wo ist ihr Tod? O, wirst du dies Mo v 11. Time that knows more erfinden noch, eh sich dein Lied verzehrte? – Time that knows more Wo sinkt sie hin aus mir?... Ein Mädchen fast... than we do has its own story to tell. And a girl, almost, departed that In good me we say, marriage of song and lyre, in good me all shining radiant through her spring veils that me has locked away and making a bed in my ear. in the realm of what is and will be will be And fell asleep in me. And everything was her sleep. revealed. We must not force it The trees I have ever admired, but in good faith abide landscapes vast and touchable meadow, ange
the telling, it is every wonder that affected me. tr out of our hands, but not out of hearts. She slept the world. Singing God, how did Season on season you complete her, that she did not desire the changes are wrought. Awake to be awake? Look, she arose and slept.
your faith now, and listen. y: Erick William Les
Where is her death? Oh, will you be this theme aph David Malouf (b. 1934) S ll inven ng before your song is consumed? – from the libre o to The Winter’s Tale Where does she slip away?... A girl almost ... Photogr Fleur Barron Dominic Grier 12. Sonnet for Orpheus (from Three Rilke Sonnets) Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926) Und fast ein Mädchen wars und ging hervor from Sonnets to Orpheus, (Part One, No. II) aus diesem einigen Glück von Sang und Leier und glänzte klar durch ihre Frühlingsschleier und machte sich ein Be in meinem Ohr. The Berkeley Ensemble provoking programming has received official recogni on with a Help Musicians Patrons: Michael Berkeley CBE & UK Emerging Excellence Award and Petroc Trelawny support from the PRS for Music Founda on. It enthusias cally champions Hailed as ‘an ins nc ve collec ve’ new music, having commissioned (The Strad) the Berkeley Ensemble was composers including Michael Berkeley, formed with the aim of exploring li le- John Woolrich and Misha Mullov-Abbado. known twen eth- and twenty-first- A frequent fixture of the fes val circuit, century Bri sh chamber music alongside the ensemble has performed at the more established repertoire. It now Spitalfields and Cheltenham fes vals, enjoys a busy concert schedule and curates the Li le Venice Music performing throughout the UK and Fes val in London. abroad, and is also much in demand for its inspiring work in educa on. Engaging new audiences, most importantly through educa on, is central to the The ensemble’s flexible configura on ensemble’s ac vi es. It is currently and collabora ve spirit have led to collabora ng with PRS for Music and Tŷ performances with leading musicians Cerdd on support schemes for emerging including Sir Thomas Allen, Gabriel composers. The group is also ensemble- Prokofiev and Nicholas Daniel. in-residence at the University of Hull and Ibstock Place School, and runs an annual Its recordings have a racted cri cal chamber music course in Somerset. acclaim, with Lennox Berkeley: Chamber Works selected by BBC Music Magazine www.berkeleyensemble.co.uk as ‘Chamber Choice’ (September 2015) and Lennox Berkeley: Stabat Mater nominated for a Gramophone Award in 2017 and praised in the magazine’s ini al review for ‘a performance of shimmering intensity’.
The group’s innova ve and thought-
Photography: Nigel Luckhurst Fleur Barron (mezzo-soprano) returns to Fes val d’Aix and the Aldeburgh Dominic Grier (conductor) On the concert pla orm and in the pit, he Fes val, and joining the Orchestre has worked recently with the Antwerp Bri sh-Singaporean mezzo-soprano Fleur Symphonique de Toulon for Chausson’s Dominic Grier is acknowledged as being Symphony Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra, Barron is a 2018 HSBC Laureate of the Poemes de l’Amour et de la Mer. Engagements among the most versa le conductors of the Orchestre Symphonique et Lyrique de Fes val d’Aix-en-Provence, the recipient in 2017–2018 included Fenena (Nabucco) his genera on, equally at home in opera, Nancy, the Orchestre de Limoges et du of the 2016 Jackson Prize for Excellence with Opéra Na onal de Montpellier; First ballet and symphonic work as well as Limousin, the Orchestra of the Royal Opera from the Tanglewood Music Fes val, Witch (Dido and Aeneas) with Fes val contemporary music and orchestral training. House, the Orchestra of Welsh Na onal awarded to one outstanding young singer d’Aix-en-Provence; Marguerite (La Damna on He was a permanent staff conductor at the Opera, the Tokyo City Philharmonic, and each year, and is mentored by Barbara de Faust) at St Endellion Fes val; and the Royal Opera House from 2008–10, affiliated the Orquestra do Theatro Municipal do Hannigan. tle role (cover) in the Ka e Mitchell with the Je e Parker Young Ar sts Rio de Janeiro, among others. He is Music produc on, Miranda, at Opéra Comique. Programme, and has since served as a Director of the Worthing Philharmonic In the 2018–2019 season, Fleur will sing Fleur was also the alto soloist in regular guest conductor with many of Orchestra. Olga (Eugene Onegin) with Opéra de Bernstein’s Songfest with the BBC the foremost ballet companies in the UK Toulon; Baba the Turk (The Rake's Symphony Orchestra, performed mul ple and Europe including The Royal Ballet, His performances have been broadcast on Progress) at La Monnaie; Maddalena recitals with Julius Drake, gave a recital Dutch Na onal Ballet, Ballet Vlaanderen, BBC Radio 3, France Musique, and (Rigole o) with Northern Ireland Opera; debut at the 2018 Aldeburgh Fes val with Birmingham Royal Ballet, Northern throughout the UK as part of the Royal and Balkis in Offenbach’s Barkouf with pianist Jonathan Ware, and presented a Ballet and Sco sh Ballet. Opera House’s live screenings, as well as Opéra Na onal du Rhin. She will be recital of Weill and Messiaen with Barbara having been released on DVD for the ar st-in-residence at the 2019 Ojai Hannigan and Stephane Degout for In the field of opera, he made a cri cally Opus Arte label. Also a respected teacher Fes val, performing works by Stravinsky France Musique. acclaimed guest conduc ng début at the of conduc ng, Dominic is currently Tutor and Ives with the LUDWIG Orchestra Opéra Na onal de Lyon in March 2010, in Undergraduate Conduc ng at the under the baton of Barbara Hannigan. Fleur was a 2017 Bri en-Pears Young Ar st with the French première of Copland’s Royal Academy of Music. and par cipated in the pres gious Mozart The Tender Land, and had formerly A dedicated recitalist, Fleur con nues Residency of the Fes val d’Aix. She holds worked as an Assistant Conductor there, www.dominicgrier.com her partnership with pianist Julius Drake degrees from Columbia University and from 2007–2010. He has also assisted on in recitals in Spain and the UK, and Manha an School of Music. Peter Grimes at the Aldeburgh Fes val performs addi onal recitals at the Oxford and for Bri sh Youth Opera, and has Lieder Fes val, Two Moors Fes val, www.fleurbarron.com served as rehearsal conductor to the Purbeck Chamber Music Fes val, Bri en-Pears Orchestra. He has Blackheath Halls, Resonant Bodies collaborated previously with the Fes val (US), and Sarasota Chamber Berkeley Ensemble as conductor for Music Series (US). Future seasons include Malcolm Arnold’s opera The Open a debut with Opéra de Monte-Carlo, Window. More titles from Resonus Classics The Berkeley Ensemble would like to Simon Over acknowledge with gra tude assistance in Margaret Rodgers Lennox Berkeley: Chamber Works various forms from the following, Tony Scotland Berkeley Ensemble without whom this recording would not David and Brenda Shilladay RES10149 have been possible: Paul Shilladay Peter Shilladay ‘Wit and polish: The Berkeley Ensemble do their namesake proud [...] The playing is superb The late Freda Berkeley Frances Slack throughout, the recording warm and clear’ Michael Berkeley CBE Kathryn and Nigel Slack BBC Music Magazine Richard Gunn Andrew Smith (Chamber Choice, 5 stars performance & recording) Robert McFarland David Thompson W.J.A. Nash John R. Veale The John Ireland Trust Victoria Ward Clarion Call: Music for Septet & Octet Michael Berman & Katharine Verney Linda Wareham Berkeley Ensemble Katherine Wareham RES10127 The ensemble is generously supported by: George Watson ‘[...] the ensemble gels cohesively, and the Jane and Stephen Ainger well-balanced recording shows the players in Katherine Arnold and Adrian Harris Berkeley Ensemble Trustees: their best light’ Julian Berkeley The Strad Michael Berkeley CBE Jan Bonar Jan and David Bonar Stacey Campkin Helen Burrluck Charlo e Castle
Charlo e Castle Simon Over © 2018 Resonus Limited Gavin Compton Richard Sisson è 2018 Resonus Limited Valerie Co Frances Slack Recorded in The New Maltings, Alpheton, Suffolk on 6–8 March 2018 Alexandra Cross Producer, engineer & editor: Adam Binks Session Photography © Resonus Limited Michael Freegard Recorded at 24-bit/96kHz resolution Susie Herman Cover image: Winter Landscape by Printeboek (www.pixabay.com) Hannah Horsburgh RESONUS LIMITED – UK Suzanne Iredale Martha Leigh [email protected] Elizabeth and James Mann www.resonusclassics.com Robert McFarland RES10223