I n T h e M i d d l e O f T h i n g s Chamber Music By MICHAEL ZEV GORDON
JULIAN BLISS CLARINET FIDELIO TRIO Fragments from a Diary (2005) 21. A Small Folly (2002/2016) [6:32] In the Middle of Things for clarinet, violin and piano for clarinet, violin, cello and piano Chamber Music by 1. br eakable objects [0:46] 22. In the Middle of Things (2014) [15:12] (b. 1963) 2. the me has come to have a home [1:08] Michael Zev Gordon 3. all too brief [0:26] for violin, cello and piano 4. ...And those who are beau ful, oh who can retain them?... [1:35] Total playing me [70:16] 5. elegiac [1:04] Julian Bliss clarinet 6. ...you can s ll catch the echo [2:28] Fidelio Trio 7. Listen my heart, as only saints have listened [3:45] Darragh Morgan violin Adi Tal cello 8. False Rela ons (1994) [10:22] Mary Dullea piano for violin and piano
9. Grace (1999) [3:22] for violin and piano
10. Roseland (2008) [8:56] for cello and piano
Three Short Pieces for Clarinet (2016) 11. A Lotus Flower [3:24] 12. Un canto di sospiri [2:44] 13. Freilach [1:15] About The Fidelio Trio: Diary Pieces 2015 ‘[...] the Fidelio Trio give a performance for piano 14. Long Time [0:48] of terrific impetus and refinement’ 15. Shining Day [0:33] Gramophone 16. Another Space [1:20] 17. Summer Waltz [1:06] About Julian Bliss: 18. A Line of Light [0:17] 19. Grilli [1:18] ‘Poise, agility and alertness permeate 20. Epitaph [1:43] these winning, infec ous performances’ BBC Music Magazine In the Middle of Things present, and ques ons what wholeness or unity in art is. But my overriding reason for One of my recurring aims as a composer bringing all these elements together is not has been to take the listener on different driven by stylis c experiment, but rather by kinds of musical journey that begin in a strongly expressive urge. The way my places perhaps quite known and familiar, music twists and turns, sways and churns, but move towards something which, I is about trying to embody the many strains hope, is less familiar, even strange. The of human passions. But equally, the journeys idea of ‘seeing the familiar as strange’, I make are, more o en than not, also to do stretches back to the Roman c vision with a desire to s ll the passionate. of the late eighteenth-century German philosopher Novalis (1772–1801). But The first work on this compila on, Fragments the wish to write music that li s the from a Diary, is a collec on of small, listener beyond the everyday is mine disparate pieces, and exemplifies my inclusive too – even if the twenty-first century aesthe c. The first piece, ‘breakable objects’, musical means and materials by which I is itself a collec on of even nier slivers, am trying to do this are rather different. star ng with something that recalls eighteenth-century classicism, but rapidly O en the star ng point of my work is dissolves into the contemporary. But most quite simple – short, graspable melodic of all this piece is expressive of a recurring phrases, harmonies that recall tonality character in my music: the fragile. The or modality, the feel of something second piece, ‘the me has come to have gradually unfolding. But as the ideas a home’, is a quota on from a poem by are elaborated, they move into choppier, the Italian writer Primo Levi (1919–1987), harmonically ambiguous, and indeed, wri en just a er the end of World War 2. at mes, atonal waters. As well as this, His extraordinary tes mony to the horrors strangeness has to do with the way of the Holocaust is well known. Here, the materials can be sharply juxtaposed, poem is about an urgent need to find , fragmented or mul -layered. The wish security following those horrors; my to include the tonal and atonal in the musical analogy evokes Klezmer, originally
Michael Zev Gordon (Photography: Claire Shovelton) same work – to be lyrical but also to Eastern European Jewish music of break up singing lines – reflects celebra on, but from a post-war perspec ve, something, perhaps, of our pluralist it always has for me a nge of something James Francis Brown Photography: Liz Isles lost. No. 3, ‘all too brief’, is indeed over in also to its form. The music I quote is from False Rela ons, and its intended gracefulness Capturing in music an external image, or the less than a minute, a snatch of a folksong a Pavana by the Late Renaissance lutenist stems too from the lil ng metre in groups mood a ached to it, has been frui ul for me. of the imagina on, while No. 4, ‘…And those composer Robert Johnson (1583–1633), a of three, a predilec on of mine. Gentleness But as with a favourite work of mine, Claude who are beau ful, oh who can retain them’, piece itself arranged for keyboard by also lies at the core of Roseland for cello Debussy’s (1862–1918) Preludes for piano – comes from another favourite poet of Giles Farnaby (c. 1563–1640) and found in and piano. But its series of fragments, in which the tles are placed in brackets at mine, Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926). The the keyboard collec on known as the the stops and starts, the deflec ons from the end – I see my music poised between line suggests flee ngness and loss, and Fitzwilliam Virginal Book. My work is in one kind of material to another, tell more the figura ve and abstract; this is also my the music, for piano solo, at first dances part a kind of dreaming of this early music, of an ongoing search for tranquility, rather favourite kind of art. In the first of my Three on the spot, then gives way to a ny, some mes quite clearly, at other mes than a straigh orward expression of it. Short Pieces for Clarinet, the lotus flower repeated, lyrical moment. Such poignancy more murkily, always fragmentarily. But Some of these materials allude to other of the tle gave me a star ng image, a sense is given another kind of inflec on in No. 5, as the ancient increasingly rubs shoulders music, and there are three direct of delicacy and also a Buddhist symbol of ‘elegiac’, while No. 6 responds again to a with the modern, the music takes ever quota ons – from the jazz standard My enlightenment sprou ng forth from darkness. quote from Rilke, ‘…you can s ll catch more unstable turns. The tle might be Funny Valen ne, from a Jewish liturgical But once the piece was begun, it was as the echo’. This is the fastest and most seen to refer, then, to apparent tensions chant, and, at the end of the piece, from much the musical pa erns, growing, varying, elaborate piece of the set, opening up, between these two worlds. Yet it is also the first song of Robert Schumann’s morphing, that I worked with. This worked as I see it, like a flower bud, giving rise the term given to an especially beau ful, (1810–1956) Dichterliebe. This last similarly with the idea and shape of a sigh to a kind of vigorous dance, only to bi er-sweet kind of dissonance, much emerges out of the mo f heard at the in No. 2, 'Un canto di sospiri' – also a nod to close down again, ending where it favoured in music of the English very start of the piece, as though a Luigi Nono’s (1924–1990) Il canto sospeso; began, on a simple triad. The final Renaissance; and the exquisite example memory, long lost, is for a moment while the final ‘Freilach’, a type of Klezmer piece, ‘Listen my heart, as only saints of this from the Pavana creates an recovered. Such thoughts about the dance, starts in that world, but the modes have listened’, another Levi line, gives underlying link to the harmonic flavour emo onal power, yet flee ng fragility, and shapes that the music goes through are focus for me to the whole work. A very of my work. Perhaps the rela ons between of memory has been a recurring theme more of my own. The Diary Pieces 2015 for slow chordal litany leads to music of great, these styles and iden es are closer, in my music. But, as here, it o en also piano are rooted s ll more in personal expressive intensity, but in that passion less ‘false’, than first thought. combines with the desire to se le into images and experiences. A hot summer something of the s llness I am searching calm – where memory ceases to be a spent in Italy contributes to Nos. 2, 5 and for is also touched upon. The over-riding harmonic colour of Grace restless tug. And the very close of the 6; No. 7 is a response to the death of a is also one that hovers betwixt and between piece indeed se les onto a triad, if in its rela ve. But the personal here is also about False Rela ons for violin and piano was – seemingly quite modal, but never quite not-quite-resolved second inversion my love of other music, and the wish to my first piece deliberately to mix together fully resolving and spiced with occasional voicing. This moment of serenity chimes juxtapose different musical sources: a music of different styles, and the darkening chroma cism. But this piece – with my personal experience of a strip Bach-like inven on in No. 1, minimalis c movement between my ‘new’ music originally composed for a Faber Music of land in Cornwall, which gives the piece stasis in No. 3, a ‘popular’ waltz in No. 4 – and the quota ons of the ‘old’ was central educa onal publica on – aims for a more its name. the modern and the tradi onal, the classical not only to the expression of the work but delicate character of musical speech than and the non-classical all in the same basket. The interlocking of ‘high’ and ‘low’ art is by turns medita ve, yearning and turbulent. that much more elaborate in A Small Folly, Eventually the piece returns to its opening, the arrangement of this piece made only for it to become part of a longer, especially for the performers on this album. ongoing line, which winds simultaneously Its unfolding results from how a modernist ever higher and lower. And in all these ebbs haze slowly coalesces into a La n jazz and flows, there is another subject that I bossa nova, Insensatez, by the Brazilian want to engage with and shape, at the Antonio Carlos Jobim (1927–1994), via heart of music, but also deeply connected Frédéric Chopin’s (1810–1849) E minor to perceiving the world anew: me. How Prelude, Op. 28, No. 4 – to which Jobim’s can I shape music to appear to make me falling harmonic sequence strongly rush forward or to stretch out, to be relates. What do these different parts something close to our sense of clock- add up to? A dream-world? A web of measured me, but then appear as if memories swirling in my head? A madness unmoving and meless? That final, or absurdity, in other words a ‘folly’, contempla ve idea – of a temporal the transla on of the Portuguese tle? serenity – is, for me, at the heart of All of these. But also, I hope, these turning the known into the unknown of strange, expressive, unexpected elisions which Novalis speaks, even if it is only may also transport the listener to seeing, occasionally glimpsed. and hearing, the apparently known anew. © 2019 Michael Zev Gordon In the recording’s tle piece, In the Middle of Things, I again explore, on a more extended canvas, the effects of mixing, eliding and juxtaposing materials of quite different hues and manners – only here they are all of my own inven on. The concept of In medias res also, quite literally, launches the piece, with my musical journey beginning as though entering into a passage of rich, modal lyricism in mid-flight. There are Thanks are due to the University of Birmingham subsequently leaps to very different ideas, for their support in making this recording. Fidelio Trio Piano Trios for MN Records; mul ple releases on NMC, Delphian Records The ‘virtuosic Fidelio Trio’ (The Sunday including portrait albums for composers Times) is Darragh Morgan, violin, Adi Tal, such as Luke Bedford and Michael Zev cello and Mary Dullea, piano. Shortlisted Gordon. Their previous release of French for the 2016 Royal Philharmonic Society Piano Trios for Resonus was a Gramophone Music Awards, the Fidelio Trio is an Editor’s Choice. enthusias c champion of the piano trio genre, performing the widest possible range The Fidelio Trio has given masterclasses of repertoire on concert stages across the at Peabody Conservatory, Cur s Ins tute, world; it has broadcast regularly on BBC NYU, NAFA Singapore, and Stellenbosch Radio 3, RTÉ Lyric FM, WQXR, and featured Conservatorium South Africa. They have on a Sky Arts documentary. been ar sts-in-residence at St. Patrick’s College, Dublin City University, University Since their debut at London’s Southbank of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, and the Centre, the trio has appeared at the Wigmore State University of New York. Hall and Kings Place, at fes vals including Spitalfields, Cheltenham, St. Magnus and The Trio has premiered music by composers Huddersfield. In Ireland it regularly including Toshio Hosokawa, Charles performs at Na onal Concert Hall, Dublin, Wuorinen, Johannes Maria Staud, Kilkenny Fes val and Belfast Fes val at Michael Nyman, Gerald Barry, Donnacha Queen’s as well as overseas in Shanghai, Dennehy, Joe Cutler, Evan Ziporyn, Simon Beijing, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Porto, Paris, Bainbridge, Judith Weir, Alexander Venice, Florence, Johannesburg, Harare, Goehr and Kevin Volans. New York City, Princeton, San Francisco and Boston. The three members of the trio are Ar s c Directors of the annual Winter Chamber The trio’s extensive discography includes Music Fes val at Belvedere House, Dublin Ravel and Saint-Saëns for Resonus Classics; City University and con nue to be Philip Glass Head On & Pendulum on passionate in advocacy for the piano Orange Mountain; Korngold and Schoenberg trio across the world. (Verklärte Nacht arr. Steuermann) for Naxos; the complete Michael Nyman www.fideliotrio.com
Julian Bliss (clarinet) King of Swing, Benny Goodman, and La n music from Brazil and Cuba that have gone Julian Bliss is one of the world’s finest on to be performed to packed houses in clarine sts excelling as a concerto soloist, fes vals, Ronnie Sco ’s (London), the chamber musician, jazz ar st, masterclass Concertgebouw (Amsterdam) and across leader and reless musical explorer. He has the U.S. inspired a genera on of young players as guest lecturer and creator of his Conn-Selmer Album releases receiving rave reviews from range of affordable clarinets, and introduced cri cs, album of the week spots and media a substan al new audience to his instrument. a en on, include his recording of Mozart and Nielsen’s Concertos with the Royal Born in the UK, Julian started playing the Northern Sinfonia. The latest chamber discs clarinet age four, going on to study in the include a new piece for clarinet & string U.S. at the University of Indiana and in quartet by David Bruce – Gumboots – Germany under Sabine Meyer. The breadth inspired by the gumboot dancing of miners and depth of his ar stry are reflected in in South Africa and a recital album of Russian the diversity and dis nc on of his work. and French composers with American In recital and chamber music he has played pianist, Bradley Moore. at most of the world’s leading fes vals and venues including Gstaad, Mecklenburg Recent highlights include an exci ng new Vorpommern, Verbier, Wigmore Hall concerto by Wayne Shorter, with the Argovia (London) and Lincoln Center (New York). Philharmonic, extensive USA tour with his septet, and chamber concerts with the As soloist, he has appeared with a wide Carducci Quartet. range of interna onal orchestras, from the Sao Paolo Symphony, Chamber Orchestra www.julianbliss.com of Paris, and Auckland Philharmonia, to the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, London Philharmonic and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
In 2012 he established the Julian Bliss Septet, crea ng programmes inspired by
Photography: Ben Wright More titles from Resonus Classics Michael Zev Gordon contemporary discs in its year of issue. Winter Fragments: Chamber Music Born in London, Michael Zev Gordon Gordon is also strongly commi ed to by Michael Berkeley is a composer of highly cra ed, richly working with students, amateur and Fleur Barron (mezzo-soprano), Berkeley Ensemble expressive works. Influences from his younger players. He has led composi on Dominic Grier (conductor) wide range of teachers – Robin Holloway, teaching on the Contemporary Music for RES10223 Oliver Knussen, Franco Donatoni, Louis Amateurs summer school, and was ‘The Berkeley Ensemble, directed by Dominic Grier, Andriessen and John Woolrich – have Director of the Cheltenham Fes val of are excellent throughout – entirely at one with coalesced into an eclec c, individual Music Composer Academy during the music of their namesake composer.’ voice. 2016–2018. He has taught composi on Gramophone at the universi es of Southampton and In Gordon’s music, an inclusivity of Durham, the Royal College of Music, Ravel & Saint-Saëns: Piano Trios different styles is o en present, and the Royal Northern College of Music, Fidelio Trio memory and me are recurring subjects. and has been invited to work with RES10173 Gordon has been performed by many composers and performers interna onally, leading performers, including Birmingham including at Juilliard in New York. Since ‘Throughout the disc, the players show easy Contemporary Music Group, London 2012, Gordon has been Professor of interpretative confidence and surefootedness’ Sinfonie a, BBC Sco sh Symphony Composi on at the University of The Strad Orchestra, The Choir of King’s College Birmingham. Cambridge, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Huw Watkins, Nicholas Daniel, Toby Spence, www.michaelzevgordoncomposer.com Richard Watkins and Alina Ibragimova.
© 2019 Resonus Limited The BBC Symphony Orchestra have è 2019 Resonus Limited commissioned him twice – for Bohortha, Recorded in Elgar Concert Hall, Bramall Music Building, a large-scale orchestral work, and a University of Birmingham on 17–18 July 13 December 2016 Producers: James Carpenter & Michael Zev Gordon Violin Concerto with Carolin Widmann Engineer: James Carpenter and Sakari Oramo. Gordon has twice won Editors: James Carpenter & Michael Zev Gordon the choral category of the Bri sh Executive producer: Adam Binks Recorded at 24-bit/96kHz resolution Composer Awards, a Prix Italia for his Cover image: Tree of Life by Dan Leap (iStock) radiophonic work A Pebble in the Pond; and On Memory, a piano music portrait RESONUS LIMITED – UK disc on NMC, was in The Times top ten [email protected] www.resonusclassics.com RES10237