Otaka BBC NOW Huw Watkins and Rachmaninov

Tadaaki Otaka, photo: Masuhide Sato, courtesy Askonas Holt

Huw Watkins The Moon at the Proms, Tadaaki Otaka conducting BBC National Orchestra of Wales, tyhe BBC National Chorus of Wales and the Philhamonia Voices.  It's real music, thank goodness, not made-to-order to fit BBC obsessions with non-musical targets. To prepare, Tōru Takemitsu's Twill by Twilight, a very good choice since it worked  with Watkins’s The Moon.  The programme, however, didn't at first seem to cohere. The Polovtsian Dances from Borodin's Prince Igor and Rachmaninov's The Bells on the surface bear little relation to the refined sensibility of Takemitsu and Watkins, but Otaka's performance showed why the two parts combined : bell-like sounds, obviously, but also more, of which, please read below.
Watkins is so well known that he hardly needs an introduction. And neither does Takemitsu, revered by many, including Oliver Knussen. Watkins has established a strong track record, as performer as well as composer.  Read his bio here from Schott,  his publishers. The Moon is a new venture in the sense that he's done lots of work for orchestra and chamber ensemble, but relatively little large scale work for chorus and orchestra. "Inspired by the fiftieth anniversary of the moon landing this year, my
new work for chorus and orchestra uses favourite poems by Percy B.
Shelley, Philip Larkin and Walt Whitman to explore the sense of wonder we identify with the moon and space. The piece tries to capture our experience of viewing the moon from Earth, and is also somehow about looking back at us here on Earth from above."  Bright, face-moving rivulets of sound - winds used to good effect - , introduce and illuminate the first choral section, where text is set so the words are occluded, in darkness, so to speak, suggesting mysteries. If the setting also evokes ancient hymnal, that, too, is reasonable : man has always revered, and feared, the unknown. I liked the way the highest voices in the choir "took off", so to speak, ascending over the mass. In the central orchestral interlude, bell-like percussion  and clear-toned winds created atmosphere, but there's more to this piece than impressionism. Forceful, dominant chords suggest the power of invisible forces - the moon may be distant and small but it controls the tides of the oceans on Earth. The music waxes and wanes, pulsating with a steady flow.  Zig zag figures (strings) dart : liveliness against a darker background. The instrumentation includes celeste, glockenspiel, and organ, for deeper resonance.  An attractive part for piccolo!  The chorus returned, in full force, before subsiding, slowly to hushed silence. As the voices faded, shimmering, magical bell-like sounds animate the orchestra. An affirmative coda - voices and full throated orchestra, in union.
In Rachmaninov's The Bells op 35, it's not just bells that ring out.  Oleg Dolgov's tenor rang out, magnificently, immediately establishing that the piece is about human beings, at different phases of life, the bells ringing out changes.  Natalya Romaniw (not Romanov, as the BBC had her down) is actually Welsh. She's regal, though not royal, and  a good choice for Otaka and the BBC NOW.  I have no idea how fluent her Russian is, but she sang with great clarity : a strong, operatic performance, bringing out the undercurrents of heroism that infuse the piece, which possibly meant more to Rachmaninov and his appreciation of Russian history than it might have to the poet Edgar Allen Poe. The third movement, The Loud Alarm Bells with its rousing choruses and high drama belong to a distinctly Russian sensibility.  In the last movement, the bells tolled with funereal gloom, for now the bells are iron, mournful and full of portent. Iurii Samoilov's baritone had the near-bass timbre this section needs to come over well.  The BBC NOW didn't need to have a "Russian" sound, Otaka drawing from his players brighter and more magical, even fairy tale lightness, which does, in fact, connect to Russian genres much better than heavy handed noise for its own sake. hence the connection between Rachmaninov, Takemitsu and Huw Watkins!  And so to the fantasy world of Polovtsian Dances from Borodin's Prince Igor.

.  

Huw Watkins Day, Wigmore Hall

Huw Watkins Day at the Wigmore Hall, 9th February. It's a good retrospective of Watkins's music.

 I'd recommend the 1130 recital because it features Watkins's Four Spencer Pieces, one of the .loveliest pieces by a contemporary British composer. Watkins himself weill be playing. When I reviewed the NMC Recording, I wrote "Four Spencer Pieces (2001) for solo piano, played by the composer himself . Each of these miniature tone poems was inspired by a specific painting, like "Shipbuilding on the Clyde" and "The Resurrection of Soldiers". Stanley Spencer's paintings show ordinary events but lit by preternatural light, every detail crystal clear. The "pictures" are framed by a Prelude and a ravishingly beautiful Postlude in which cascading cadences suggest light, clarity, contemplation. Watkins isn't "illustrating" the pictures so much as expressing the earthy surrealism of Spencer's work, so the rapture of the Postlude is extraordinarly perceptive. This exqusite miniature is the highlight ofthe whole recording."

Alina Ibragimova plays Partita for solo violin at the 3pm concert. "Despite the allusion to Bach, it's not baroque. As Bayan Northcott says in his notes "no double dotted rhythms, no courante, sarabande or gavotte". Alina Ibragimova, the dedicatee, negotiates its tricky turns gracefully, so the wayward molto allegro sounds vivid, even humorous."  Carolyn Sampson sings Watkins's Three Larkin Songs. Watkins is joined by Guy and Magnus Johnston for his Piano Trio.

The main evening concert features Stravinsky's The Soldier's Tale for violin, clarinet and piano (Laura Samuel, Matthew Hunt) and Watkins's Trio for horn, Violin and piano, where he'll be joined by yet another Watkins scion, Richard Watkins, the horn player. Mark Padmore will be singing In My Craft or Sullen Art, an ambitious piece that might come over better live than it did, for me, on the recording. It's a setting of texts by Dylan Thomas on the nature of creative art. "Thomas's craft was poetry. Watkins's setting suggests that poetry, like alchemy, has the power to transmute base material into magic, "exercised in the still night when only the moon rages". A strange unworldly cello entices us in, and the first voice setting is relatively straightforward.

A second, longer section where the quartet plays without the voice."Perhaps this is an interlude, but it feels central to the piece, sparking off a completely different setting of the same poem. This time the mood is agitated, insistent. The words "In my Craft or sullen art" are projected like a cry. Mark Padmore adapts his usual smooth urbanity so it captures the surreal nature of the piece. At times he sounds uncannily like Ian Bostridge. This isn't a work for voice and string quartet so much as a work for string quartet with additional voice. In the final strophe of the second setting of text, the strings subsume the human voice, and take over where it leaves off.  That's Huw Watkins's "Craft": singular and very original."

Music Theatre Wales - Watkins MacRae double bill

"Oner Night, two Operas", as Music Theatre Wales describes its current double bill, Huw Watkins In the Locked Room and Stuart MacRae's Ghost Patrol. This week at the Linbury, ROH2. Next : Cambridge, Basingstoke, Manchester, Cardiff and other places in Wales. The production premiered at the Edinburgh Festival (reviewed by Juliet Williams  here), so I was delighted to get a chance to hear it too.

The operas are new works jointly commissioned by Music Theatre Wales and Scottish Opera, giving two bright young composers an opportunity to write for the stage. Writing for theatre is different to writing vocal music, so it helps composers develop. We all benefit.

Huw Watkins is well known as a pianist and was picked by Thomas Adès who got him a composing commission in 1998. NMC has just issued a Huw Watkins Debut Disc (review here). Although it's hard to label any composee with style while he's in his mid-thirties, Watkins' music is accessible and open, potentially well suited to opera. In  the Locked Rooom is based on a story by Thomas Hardy. A couple arrive at lodgings where one room is permanently left locked, for the exclusive, unpredictable use of a poet, Pascoe (Håkan Vramsmo). The woman, Susan (Louise Winter) adores poetry and is unsatisfied by her venal materialist partner Stephen (Paul Curievici). As a metaphor, the "locked room" is obvious. What's less obvious is why drop-dead gorgeous Vramsmo, who sings with as much character as he looks, is having an on-off affair with the mature landlady Ella (Ruby Hughes), but this is fundamental to the outcome. . 

The libretto is by David Harsent, whose work with Harrison Birtwistle (The Woman and the Hare, The Minotaur) is exquisite. Harsent's poetry is so subtle that its simplicity is deceptive. It's close to conversation, where meaning is expressed by more than words. Thus the composere has to find a way of filling in meaning around text. Perhaps Watkins is so in awe of Harsent that he doesn't dare, yet, hold his own against him. A plot like this doesn't need illustrating so much as being undermined, creating deeper levels of tension. There are good set piece moments (particularly for Susan) which let the singers shine. All sing well, but Vramsmo and Curievici steal the show because they're both natural actors, and can expand their roles beyond singing. They are directed by Michael McCarthy. Wonderful set, designed by Samal Blak which tells the story remarkably well. When Music Theatre Wales does things, it does them with style.

Stuart MacRae's Ghost Patrol is far more demanding as music, and as such much more satisfying. The text (Louise Welsh)  is clunky and the ideas fairly incoherent, but MacRae writes with the flair of a born dramatist. A drifter Sam (Nicholas Sharratt) breaks into a bar whose owner Alasdair (James McOran-Campbell) recognizes him as a former comrade in the Army and hires him. MacRae uses the tensions to develop a psychologically adept portrayal of posttraumatic stress syndrome. The two ex-soldiers are deeply conflicted,  and their suppressed memories boil to the surface. We can hear the guilt and violence in MacRae's music, crackling with menace and fear. The orchestra springs into vivid action,  so even the rough edges feel right for the subject. Pre-recorded voices and film footage show the civilans the soldiers killed. They haunt Sam and Alasdair, who gradually fall apart emotionally. Perhaps they are even aspects of one another? That shows how perceptive MacRae's music is, for it suggest so much beyond the plot. Alasdair's girlfriend Vicki (Jane Harrington) has lovely music written for her but the part isn't all that integral to the narrative . Harrington just gves it weight by her performance.

Although also in his mid thirties, MacRae is extremely experienced, with several Proms behind him. His Violin Concerto has been recorded by Christian Tetzlaff, no less, and NMC has a CD of MacRae's music. Ilan Volkov conducts the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, where MacRae was resident. If Ghost Patrol is anything to go by, MacRae has great potential.  The joy of Music Theatre Wales productions is that they allow composers to learn their trade as opera writers through practical experience.  Excellent performances, lucid stagings. For more information on upcoming performances, touring to 11th November, please see here.
 photos courtesy Music Theatre Wales

Huw Watkins NMC In my craft or sullen art

Huw Watkins's opera In a Locked Room starts at the Linbury at the Royal Opera House this week. (Read about the Edinbugh premiere here). Huw Watkins is a famous pianist, but as composer he's best known to those who've heard live performances and read his scores. He's a significant composer, so this new recording, on NMC, will establish his reputation in wider circles.

Watkins's Sonata for Cello and Eight Instruments dates from 1999, and was previously only available on CD in piano/cello transcription.  In this version (recorded 10/2010) Paul Watkins's cello is supplemented by the Nash Ensemble, conducted by Ian Brown. The woodwind parts are alluring, mediating between cello and piano.  Watkins's gift for clarity comes over well in Partita for solo violin (2006). Despite the allusion to Bach, it's not baroque. As Bayan Northcott says in his notes "no double dotted rhythms, no courante, sarabande or gavotte". Alina Ibragimova, the dedicatee, negotiates its tricky turns gracefully, so the wayward molto allegro sounds vivid, even humorous.

Four Spencer Pieces (2001) for solo piano, played by the composer himself . Each of these miniature tone poems was inspired by a specific painting, like "Shipbuilding on the Clyde" and "The Resurrection of Soldiers". Stanley Spencer's paintings show ordinary events but lit by preternatural light, every detail crystal clear. The "pictures" are framed by a Prelude and a ravishingly beautiful Postlude in which cascading cadences suggest light, clarity, contemplation. Watkins isn't "illustrating" the pictures so much as expressing the earthy surrealism of Spencer's work, so the rapture of the Postlude is extraordinarly perceptive. This exqusite miniature is the highlight ofthe whole recording.

Like so many British composers before him, Watkins turns to W H Auden. Three Auden Songs (2009) are settings of Brussels in Winter, At last the secret is out, and Eyes look into the well. Thorny text lines twist. The mood is menace. "Still waters run deep, my dear, there's never smoke without fire"...."There is always a wicked secret, a private reason for this". An understated refrain but naggingly persistent.

Dylan Thomas's craft was poetry, but Watkins's setting of In my Craft or Sullen Art (2007) suggests that poetry, like alchemy, has the power to transmute base material into magic, "exercised in the still night when only the moon rages". A strange unworldly cello entices us in, and the first voice setting is relatively straightforward. A second, longer section for the Elias Quartet, singing together with their strings. Perhaps this is an interlude, but it feels central to the piece, sparking off a completely different setting of the same poem. This time the mood is agitated, insistent. The words "In my Craft or sullen art" are projected like a cry. Mark Padmore adapts his usual smooth urbanity so it captures the surreal nature of the piece. At times he sounds uncannily like Ian Bostridge. This isn't a work for voice and string quartet so much as a work for string quartet with additional voice. In the final strophe of the second setting of text, the strings subsume the human voice, and take over where it leaves off.  That's Huw Watkins's "Craft": singular and very original.

I've been reading the libretto to In the Locked Room and will be writing more on Huw Watkins's new opera soon.

Huw Watkins In the Locked Room Edinburgh Festival

Huw Watkins's opera In the Locked Room is coming to the Linbury at the Royal Opera House soon. It's just premiered at the Edinburgh Festival. Juliet Williams reports

'In the Locked Room' sets an eternal story of a love triangle on the Sussex coast. It's based partly on a short story by Thomas Hardy and infused with the poetry of David Harsent, who writes the libretto. But the sum here is far, far greater than the total of the parts. This relatively predictable-seeming situation is wound into a gripping psychological drama, further enhanced by its music and staging. The psychological claustrophobia is mimicked by the use of a doll's house to represent the Sussex house where they all live.

Huw Watkins's music subtly enhances the story to further intensify its already powerful narrative. Scottish Opera's mini-series of mini-operas are all well worth seeing, but this is the jewel in the crown. Overstretched City financier Stephen negotiates the use of a seaside home with his wife Ella, who stays at home tending the garden and reading. Stephen becomes more and more wrapped up in his work, and his neglected wife turns for solace to poetry she has found, whch turns out to be written by a mysterious occupant of a room, which is always locked, in the buidling where they live. Ella withdraws further and further into her fantasies about the absent poet, eventually meeting him with predictably tragic consequences for all of them. There's a Shakespearian-style sub-plot where the greater similarity Stephen has with their business-like landlady than with the dreamy Ella is subtly pointed up from time to time.

Paul Curievici (raved in Chelsea Opera Group's La forza del destino here)  as Stephen has the least sympathetic character but a very enjoyable voice. In a generous double bill, this delightful and intense vignette is followed by a slower-moving enactment of the horrors of war. It's an updating of some of the messages of the War Poets of a century ago, and the use of Plato's words, “Only the dead have seen the end of war,” reminds us that this theme too is a perennial one for humanity.

Stuart McRae – a pupil of James MacMillan (whose opera Clemency was reviewed here) - is known for his writing for the cinema, and the music and staging here have strong cinematic elements. 'Ghost Patrol', like 'In the Locked Room' is also in many ways a love triangle situation, but not so much one between a woman and two men (although this is one plot element, it is overall a relatively minor one) but a man torn between his love for a woman on the one hand and the camaraderie and structure of military life on the other. Both Alasdair and Sam are former soldiers having difficulty adjusting to civilian life. Alasdair is apparently more successful than Sam, running a bar, where the action is set, in an unspecified garrison town. The more unfortunate soldier breaks in by night, and the opera opens on a very exciting scene where a man clad only in underpants wrestles with a masked intruder. After a brief struggle, they soon recognise each other though as comrades from army days.

The arrival of the bartender's girlfriend, Vicki, onto the scene quickly reveals though that he too is frequently awakened by nightmares, he too is affected by what might now be termed 'combat stress' or 'post traumatic stress disorder'. Both are torn between missing army life and being haunted by the horrors of war. Vicki, the girlfriend, is a strong and bitter woman, militantly (pun intended) opposed to war. Yet it is never explained why then she makes her life with an ex-soldier. She urges the men to embrace peace and make a new life, but she has only a rather limited life as a pub entertainer, which with further irony involves an act where she dresses up in military uniform as a forces sweetheart of the 1940s (again this device emphasises the timelessness of the opera's message). These unresolved issues, combined with her repetitive and at times unsubtle polemic, make this character less than entirely satisfactory. Jane Harrington, who has trained both as an actress and at the Royal College of Music, is very good in this role, notwithstanding its intrinsic limitation. As before, there is a generally high standard of performances from all the singers and musicians. There's another Edinburgh performance tomorrow (2nd September) on the final day of the Festival, but it's sold out and has been for some time. There's another chance to see this programme in Glasgow, and both operas will be in London later in the year.

Edinburgh International Festival, Traverse Theatre

'In the Locked Room'

Huw Watkins – music, David Harsent – libretto

Ruby Hughes – Ella, Hakan Vramsmo – Pascoe, Paul Curievici – Stephen,  Louise Winter – Susan

The Orchestra of Scottish Opera, Michael Rafferty - Conductor, Michael McCarthy - Director

'Ghost Patrol'

Stuart McRae - music, Louise Welsh – libretto

James McOran-Campbell – Alasdair, Nicholas Sharratt – Sam, Jane Harrington - Vicki, The Orchestra of Scottish Opera, Michael Rafferty - Conductor, Matthew Richardson - Director

Hue about Huw

It's Huw Watkins's big year ! This summer sees the World Premiere of his opera, In the Locked Room by Music Theatre Wales/Scottish Opera at the Edinburgh International Festival. It will also will be on in London at the Linbury ROH from 27/9. As they say on the Edinburgh site,  "A closed door sparks an obsession so strong that the boundaries between reality and fantasy begin to blur. A modern day bar where three people who are trying to escape their past collide, uncovering a terrible secret and unleashing inevitable tragedy."

Watkins is also doing a new work for the Schubert Ensemble at the Spitalfields Festival aand in September 2012 be begins a two-year appointment as Composer-in-the-House for the Orchestra of the Swan at Stratford-upon-Avon.


In June, the flagship for British composers, NMC records, is issuing a disc featuring Watkins and his brother Paul, the cellist and conductor. The centrepiece is In my craft or sullen art from which the album takes its name.  It is a setting for tenor and string quartet of Dylan Thomas’s defiant poem and was commissioned by Sir Nicholas Goodison and premiered by tenor Mark Padmore – also the tenor soloist on this album.