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Britten in America

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Britten Sinfonia at Queen Elizabeth Hall, review
There are few more thrilling things in British music than the Britten Sinfonia on top form - as they were in this concert. Rating: * * * *  
By Ivan Hewett, The Telegraph, 09 Feb 2010

Imagine two dozen or so players, all in black, all standing, making the pure monochrome sound of a string orchestra. An austere prospect, but there are few more thrilling and many-coloured things in British music than the Britten Sinfonia on top form.

They were certainly on top form in this concert. Their performance of Benjamin Britten's Les Illuminations with tenor Mark Padmore was a triumph; completely alive in every bar, the opening chords placed with the precision of a dancer and yet weightily massive. I've rarely heard the intoxicated revelry of Rimbaud's poetry so completely embodied in a performance.

But as always with this orchestra there was more to savour than just stellar performance. The programme was ingeniously shaped, leading from Purcell string fantasias and song through to Britten via another composer of Purcellian strangeness and ecstasy, Michael Tippett (the lament from his Divertimento on Sellinger's Round). Lending his wayward genius to all this was the guest solo violinist, Pekka Kuusisto. What an extraordinary sound he makes, tremulous as a reed, often folk-like in its flatness, and yet so expressive.

After the interval, things went transatlantic with music from Steve Reich, John Adams and the young New Yorker Nico Muhly – but with rich string psalmody still in our ears, the English ambience seemed to linger. Going from Britten to Reich's amiable Duet and the driving, intense Shaker Loops of Adams caused barely a jolt. As for that streetwise post-minimalist Nico Muhly, he has a passion for English 17th-century polyphony which is clearly rubbing off on his own music.

The first of his new pieces was an arrangement of Purcell's Let the Night Perish. Muhly's addition of new ornaments and an air of tremulous anxiety seemed apt at first, but by the end felt over-elaborate.

His own piece, a setting of six poems by Cavafy, was a rich melange of Reich-like minimalist pulse and plangent string chants (plus at one point a Purcell-like slow repeating bass) with Padmore's tenor soaring above. A rich palette, that caught something of Cavafy's "voluptuous tranquillity" as well as his anguished intensity. A sensitive ear and a fine response to the text were clearly there – what I missed were a few sharply etched ideas to bring Muhly's good intentions into focus.

To be broadcast on BBC Radio 3 on Feb 17.

Everything the Finnish violinist Pekka Kuusisto does is unexpected. Plus a premiere of Impossible Things by Niko Muhly
The Times, T2, Richard Morrison, 8 February 2010

Even by the Britten Sinfonia’s eclectic standards, this programme is a wacky affair — everything from 330-year-old Purcell fantasias to American music with the dots scarcely dry on the staves. Fittingly it is led by one of the wackiest young performers on the circuit: the Finnish violinist Pekka Kuusisto.

Everything he does — his Baroque bow-grip; the improvisational quirkiness of his phrasing; even his droll spoken asides — is unexpected and seemingly unhinged. Yet it is amazingly effective at drawing audiences into the music.

His effect on the Britten Sinfonia’s other 23 string players — no slouches themselves when it comes to displaying vigour and imagination — is mesmerising. Whether in Purcell’s ingenious Fantasia Upon One Note (with the one-note viola player wandering round the stalls), the cascading fanfares and eerily antique echoes of Britten’s Les Illuminations, the off-kilter cross-rhythms of Steve Reich’s Duet or the manic accelerations and febrile trills of John Adams’s Shaker Loops, I haven’t heard a chamber orchestra performing with such extrovert character and unflagging energy for years.

Indeed, so vivid was the string playing in the Britten that it almost eclipsed Mark Padmore’s lucid singing. The tenor, however, had another big orchestrated song-cycle to deliver: the British premiere of Impossible Things, by Nico Muhly.

The young American seems to be everywhere at present. I like his rich, nouveau-Romantic harmonies, his cultured allusions to music history and his craftsmanship. But these settings — of six poems by the early 20th-century Greek writer C. P. Cavafy (one of the first poets to write openly on homosexual themes) — pale when placed in such close proximity to Les Illuminations. Muhly hasn’t yet developed Britten’s knack for finding pithy but unforgettable musical gestures to enrich the poetry. His wall-to-wall lushness sounds waffly and indulgent after a while. Still, he is clearly a talent worth following.

Catch this, and the rest of an invigorating programme, at the Queen Elizabeth Hall tonight or on tour until Friday.

Matthew Tucker, muthatucker blog, 9 February 2010
Britten Sinfonia/QEH

Great concert at the QEH with the Britten Sinfonia who are on a real roll at the moment. They were directed by Pekka Kuusisto, a young Finnish violinist who clearly enjoys talking as much as he likes playing the fiddle which he holds with the same ease as a folk musician. Two works by Purcell (the second of which had been arranged by Nico Muhly) merged beautifully with a movement from Tippett's 'Sellinger's Round'. I know the Tippett from the time I played with an amateur orchestra about twenty years ago. We performed it on a tour of Romania which included a trip to Brasov in Transylvania. It was snowing so only three people turned up (two English tourists and our coach driver). Happy days. Anyway, great to hear it again. So too was it to experience Mark Padmore's very Gallic Les Illuminations, about as far removed from the taut Peter Pears version I was brought up with, and all the more enjoyable it was too.

The very English first half was followed by three American offerings, Duet by Reich (which never sounds as convincing in the context of other composers' works), Nico Muhly's Impossible Things, a very assured piece set to poems by C.P Cavafy and carried off beautifully by Mark Padmore again, and finally John Adams Shaker Loops that fizzed along.
Posted by Mathew at 09:59 

Tim's Zen Blog of Sparseness

During my violin lesson on Friday my teacher Gabrielle mentioned that she was off to see Pekka Kuusisto play with the Britten Sinfonia at West Road. Gabrielle’s great at discovering interesting players with vibrant technique, and remembering what she’d said about the last time she’d seen Pekka play with the Britten Sinfonia I was keen to go along, but pretty doubtful there’d be any tickets left. So I checked the the box office and the website, but it was too late – the few remaining tickets had been handed over to the venue. Given that Kate’s not a Britten fan I wasn’t hopeful, but the programme looked so amazing I was keen to try:

Purcell Fantasia VII in C minor
Purcell arr. Muhly Let the Night Perish (Job’s Curse)
Purcell Fantasia XIII in F ‘Upon one Note’
Tippett A Lament, from Divertimento on ‘Sellinger’s Round’
Britten Les Illuminations, Op. 18
Steve Reich Duet
Nico Muhly New work (World première tour)
John Adams Shaker Loops

To add to the excitement Pekka and Nico were down to do a pre-concert talk at 19:00. I knew that Nico’s pre-concert talks were liable to be entertaining from a blog post (or should I say blog rant) he wrote about naff questions at pre-concert talks: http://nicomuhly.com/news/2010/always-funny/

It worked out well. We dropped tochter and her friends at Bella Italia and then wandered over to West Road and brought one of the few pairs of tickets left 

The pre-concert talk was suitably amazing, Nico talked extensively about his responses to Britten and Reich and tried to get Pekka to reflect on the differences (and similarities) in his playing as he approaches the romantic repertoire he’s famed for and modern / contemporary pieces. I spent a (wonderful) week in Finland once, in Tampere, and one lasting memory is that the Finns aren’t big fans of small-talk. As a Quaker you’d think I’d be up for long silences but even I was challenged! Pekka’s impish wit was perfect for entertaining and informing us the audience, but a full answer to Nico’s interesting question would have been intriguing.

Pekka and Nico were planning to do the pre-concert talk over a musical backing and were playing some violin loops through a Line 6 DL4, but a mixture of strange electrical interference and us oldies inability to distinguish talking from background noise. Shame though, it may have been a fun happening!

The concert itself was amazing – I’ve been spoilt by some great concerts over the last year but this was a cracker. The Purcell was beautiful, Pekka’s technique is flamboyant but the resulting sound is very delicate.

One aspect of Pekka’s playing that did make me smile was his bow hold – he olds the bow some way up the stick, not adjacent to the frog. Earlier in the day Gabrielle had been correcting my hold as it kept slipping up the stick, towards Pekka’s 

The Tippett was a revelation, not the architectural eclectic Tippett I’ve heard before. A touching little piece inspired by Purcell’s Dido’s Lament. I’m going to keep an eye out for performances of the whole of his Divertimento on ‘Sellinger’s Round’.

Next up was Britten’s Les Illuminations. I’ve heard several recordings of this (Spotify has a Pears/Britten one, along with other recordings) but I wasn’t prepared for how beautiful it sounded live. Pekka and the Britten Sinfonia brought a haunting fragility to the playing that perfectly complimented Mark Padmore’s expressive narrative tenor singing.

The second half started with an exciting performance of Reich’s Duet. How Pekka and Jacqueline Shave kept their line as what they were playing wove in and out of each other is a mystery. Beautiful and high energy stuff.

Nico Muhly’s piece was great. It’s always exciting to hear the premier of a piece and this was so expertly written for Pekka, the Britten Sinfonia, and Mark Padmore that even Kate – not a fan of contemporary classical stuff – loved it. The programme really showed it off too, bringing out the Britten like evocative qualities and the Reichian energy. The end of the piece reminded me of Andrew Bird (the Line 6 box had put me in mind of him earlier) as it called for Pekka to play and to whistle.

If I had to criticise anything it would be the programming of Adams’ Shaker Loops. It’s a wonderful piece, and the string orchestra version gave us another opportunity to hear Pekka’s wonderful playing. But. After the Reich and the Muhly it would have been nice to have a greater change of scene – perhaps moving the Tippett to the end of the concert.

West Road was the first UK date for this concert (after performances across The Netherlands), but if you are near Dartington tonight, London’s Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall on Monday, Christ Church in Cockermouth on Tuesday, Southampton on Thursday, or Norwich on Friday, then do check it out.

Britten Sinfonia with Mark Padmore at Dartington (review)
whatsonsouthwest.co.uk 8 February 2010, Philip R Buttal

Even if the auditorium felt unusually chilly at the start, it would seem impossible not to award this outstanding concert a straight ten.

A Purcell String Fantasia isn’t exactly guaranteed to set the party going with a swing, especially with director, Pekka Kuusisto, perched on his high chair, observing proceedings rather like a Wimbledon umpire, since his players already appeared eminently able to get on with the job.

But the moment tenor, Mark Padmore, pictured, started Purcell’s Let the Night Perish, the whole experience suddenly came to life.

Two further short offerings from the Sinfonia maintained some impetus before Mark returned for a tremendous performance of Britten’s Les Illuminations, where perfect diction, outstanding vocal control and attention to detail were matched by the equally sensitive accompaniment.

From then on it was music-making of the highest level, with Steve Reich’s Duet showing these highly-talented string players having a real ball in music where one slip could nevertheless be catastrophic, and which continued again later with John Adams’s Shaker Loops.

Nico Muhly’s Impossible Things (2009) was a complete revelation, once more combining the glorious voice of Mark Padmore, the highly idiomatic, yet wonderfully vibrant direction and playing from Pekka Kuusisto, and the superlative Sinfonia themselves in this specially-commissioned work which fitted them like a glove, a tribute to all concerned, and to the venue for making it all accessible.

BBC Music Magazine
Performance on 3 Wed 17 February
Mark Padmore on taking Britten and Muhly on tour

Radio 3 is broadcasting the Britten Sinfonia’s ‘Britten in America’ concert this February…
The Britten Sinfonia is great at putting together programmes and I did one with them last year based on a ‘night’ theme. In this upcoming concert the centrepieces for me are Britten’s Les Illumintaions, and a commission of a piece by American composer Nico Muhly.

What are the challenges of singing Britten’s Les Illuminations?
The text is by Rimbaud and it’s quite complex. It’s very poetic and evocative with loads of images to get across to an audience, some of them pretty weird. It’s like a Bosch painting with very strange goings on, but set brilliantly by Britten.

Do you have a favourite moment in Les Illuminations?
The piece was written for soprano Sophie Wyss, but one of the movements, ‘Being Beauteous’, is dedicated to PNLP – Peter Neville Luard Pears. It’s a love song from Britten to Pears, and is the most beautiful of the movements. Also Britten sets up this lovely phrase ‘J’ai seul la clef de cette parade’ which appears three times and gives the cycle a through-composed feel even though it’s in separate movements.

And then you’ll be premiering a new work by American composer Nico Muhly with violinist Pekka Kuusisto.
I’ve got the first two movements – it’ll be very exciting to get to grips with. The piece is a setting of texts by Greek poet and the musical style looks accessible, not horribly atonal or difficult to make sense of. And we’ve got lots of performances – around 11 or 12 on this tour – so we can discover the piece and see how it works.

Which singers inspire you the most?
I listen to lots of different types of singer. The thing that excites me most is the real ability to communicate ideas through singing, it’s not just about beauty of voice. If you listen to a singer like Tom Waits or Bob Dylan they can really tell a story – that interests me hugely and is what I take inspiration from rather than the most beautiful operatic voices imaginable who can be slightly wordless.