Contact: A Journal for Contemporary Music (1971-1988) http://contactjournal.gold.ac.uk Citation Anderson, Virginia. 1985. ‘Almeida 1984’. Contact, 29. pp. 42-44. ISSN 0308-5066. ! 42 Richard Bernas. Sopranos Linda Strachan, Jenny Albon, and Rosamund Sykes among them took the Virginia Anderson roles of the four characters. Satie called Socrate a 'drame symphonique avec voix'; it is an attempt to Almeida 1984 capture the qualities of an ancient music and the soloists are instructed to sing as if reading. This understated style (reinforced at the festival by the Almeida Festival, London, 14 June-8 July 1984 stark performance space of the Almeida Theatre, with its three brick arches framing the soloists) The Almeida is a strange festival, more a festival of results in an almost completely flat landscape of festivals. This one, the fourth, included series of feeling-so restrained, in fact, that the power of the French and Russian music and film, a weekend event last scene (Socrates' death) is almost surprising. The presented by the Electro-Acoustic Music Association work lacks the immediately endearing character- of Great Britain (EMAS), experimental and avant- istics of much of Satie's music, the noises of Parade, garde English music and film, and even a musical and the wit and charm of many of the piano pieces, but is a concert of 19th-century spirituals (given, approp- nonetheless impressive. riately enough, on 4 July). I can speak only of those The second half of the concert consisted of some of events that I attended, which were by no means all as I Satie's shorter works. John White, who considers arrived in London only on the 23rd, in time for some of Satie a major influence upon his own music, accom- the Satie Weekend, and was later involved in panied Michael Chambon in several cabaret songs rehearsals for the final concert, Cornelius Cardew's and the violinist Alexander Balanescu in Choses vues The Great Learning. a droite et a gauche (sans lunettes) (1914), then Vexations (1892-3) dominated the Satie Weekend performed the solo piano works Prelude de la porte of 23-24 June, if only through its length. The 840 heroY.que du ciel (1894; used by White in his own repetitions of the work were performed at crotchet = Sonata no.53, 1972), Le deMeduse (1913), and 60, which resulted in a 24-hour version. 1 21 pianists, the early Ogives (1886). It was refreshing to see the with few exceptions all major figures in English piano pieces performed in a deadpan manner, experimental and avant-garde music, each took at without the emphasis on the humorous elements that least an hour's shift; they included John Tilbury, Elliott other pianists seem to feel the need to introduce; Schwartz, Richard Bernas, Tim Souster, Phillip Mead, White certainly understands his spiritual mentor and Michael Nyman, Susan Bradshaw, Stephen Montague, should record these works. Christopher Hobbs, Andrew Charity, John White, The retrospective concert of Tim Souster's music Howard Skempton, Dave Smith, and Keith Potter. The on the 26th highlighted Souster's concern about performers seemed to be divided between those who political and social events. 3 His subjects are worthy of made the repetitions as alike as possible and those treatment, but a serious subject does not guarantee who chose to vary their interpretation for the sake of musical quality. Spectral (1972) was written at a time interest. All the experimentalists were of the former when almost everyone in popular and art music persuasion and even took the purist approach so far seemed to be using whale-song as source material. as to avoid the use of the pedals. Among those Souster adopted a different approach by transcribing looking for a personal style, some opted for a variety the whale-song into coloured graphic notation to be ofpedallings, some for alternating dynamics. It would realised by viola, leaving the tape part to provide have been interesting to hear a performance un- watery echoes. However, as the American composer cluttered (as far as possible) by personality, but Barney Childs said in a concert review, no one would perhaps this is irrelevant. John White interprets have written these pieces 'if, in common belief, Satie's instruction, 'Pour se jouer 840 fois de suite ce malevolent whales were wantonly slaughtering motif, il sera bon de se preparer au prealable, et dans millions of innocent plankton'.4 The Music Room le plus grand silence, par des immobilites serieuses'' (1976) is a theatre piece about the British army's use not as an injunction to play the work 840 times but as of white noise in the interrogation of prisoners an instruction to be followed if one were to attempt suspected of being members of the IRA. In this per- such a thing. 2 However, while it is possible to give a formance the doctor/interrogator Stephen Montague performance of Vexations that consists of a single forced a hooded James Fulkerson to stand to attention rendering of the 'motif', there is no escaping the fact and play the trombone while a tape provided white that the work has come to be regarded as consisting noise; this seemed to me a silly evocation of a serious of 840 evenly and expressionlessly played repeti- problem. tions. Measured against this standard, the Almeida The only one of these works in which the musical performance failed. interest matched the gravity of the issues that The topics dealt with in the Satie symposium that inspired it was Zorna (1974), Souster's response to followed, given by Wilfrid Mellers, Patrick Gowers, the problem of heroin traffic. It uses a subtle Antony Melville, and Gavin Bryars, were changing pageantry of three drummers in white, who march attitudes to Satie's music, an appraisal of Socrate from the rear of the hall to the front, where a soprano (1918) in the light of contemporary reactions, trans- saxophonist plays in conjunction with a tape-delay lations of Satie's writings, and the Rose+Croix music. system, imitating the sound of the Turkish oboe or To have scheduled the symposium after such a long zurna. All elements are uncoordinated until a given and draining work as Vexations was the only point, which results in an unrelenting, high-energy thoughtless decision taken by the organisers of the music. Also enjoyable was a work with resonances in festival; even Dr Mellers's dancing during a musical Souster's own past, Heavy Reductions (1977) for tuba example did little to rouse the audience. Possibly in and taped tubas, based on the opening of Das consideration of flagging stamina, the promised open Rheingold. Its title and use of source material are discussion did not take place, despite the fact that reminiscent of 1970s 'readymades' and the systems methodological differences seemed to indicate a used by the PTO (Promenade Theatre Orchestra). possible divergence of thought between the partici- The Contemporary Chamber Orchestra's concert, pants. given on 27 June, consisted mostly of works by On the evening of the 24th Socrate (1918) was the English mainstream avant garde. In Harrison performed by Music Projects/London, conducted by Birtwistle's Carmen Arcadiae mechanicae 43 perpetuum (1978) the compositional mechanisms represented southern Californian music; it was circumvented any possibility of exploiting the written in a tonal, quasi-popular style and formed a characteristic sounds of the low instruments scored pleasant contrast to other events of the day, which for. 5 Nigel Osborne's Concerto for flute and chamber included the presentation of a delightful play-it- orchestra (1980) offered a little more, but Sebastian yourself installation by Hugh Davies. Much hoopla Forbes's Sonata for 21 (1975-6) was full of academic surrounded the closing performance, the London cliches such as long notes ending in a flurry of strings. premiere ofXenakis's Bohor (1962). As it turned out, Newcomer Steve Martland's Lotta continua is all the drama concerned th,e multitrack tape machine influenced by Glass, but unlike most minimal or and whether it would be fixed in time for the concert. systems works it runs into some rather surprising and The music, as promised, was very loud, with over 20 delightful corners, including a lovely jazz-like section. speakers in the room, but it was not worth risking Interestingly, Martland describes this work as one for one's hearing for. student orchestra; from this I must conclude that The only part of the Russian festival I attended was student orchestras in England (at least in Liverpool the concert of Soviet music given by Capricorn on University, where Martland was a student) are Tuesday 3 July. The interest of the programme lay not incredibly competent, as this work is not easy to in the works of Edison Denisov, who writes in a kind coordinate and the high brass parts are not easy in of cosmopolitan avant-garde style and who, in any any respect. event, is fairly well known in the West, but in Sofiya On Saturday evening 30 June at the Bloomsbury Gubaydulina's Garden ofjoy and Sorrow (19), which Theatre works by Marius Constant and Iannis had a haunting flute ritornello and used mildly Xenakis were performed by Constant's ensemble extended harp techniques, and Gabriel Popov's Ars Nova, with the soloists Silvio Gualda, Elisabeth Septet (1926-7), a delightfully mismanaged mixture of Chojnacka, and Patrice Fontanarosa. Constant's 103 Hindemith and Milhaud. regards dans l'eau (1982-4, being given its British Gavin Bryars's concert on 6 July consisted of three premiere on this occasion) groups small sections into older works, My First Homage (1978), Out of four 'movements'; its echoes of the traditional violin Zaleski's Gazebo (1977), and Hi Tremolo (1980) with concerto-ordering of contrasts, tempos, cadenzas, The Vespertine Park (1980), played by Bryars and etc.-were brought out by Fontanarosa and the others, including former members of Garden chamber orchestra.