I would divide this CD into three
sections or streams. Firstly, there are several works that were specifically composed
for the combination of flute and harp (or possibly with the composer giving
other instrumental permutations). Secondly, there are some arrangements of
music that were originally conceived for other forces. And, thirdly, despite
the performers being a duo, there are two pieces that showcase each instrument
as a solo.
The opening work is Bernard
Andrès Algues composed in 1987. It
was scored for a variety of instruments including oboe, flute or violin, but
always featuring the harp. It is a good introduction to this CD. This is easy listening at its best. Nothing
to challenge the listener, just the sheer pleasure of hearing this ravishing
sound. The title translates as ‘Seaweed.’ Not sure what the inspiration for
this label was, but these seven short movements all seem to conjure up an image
of the sea. Quite gorgeous.
I enjoyed Eira Lynn Jones’
playing of Claude Debussy’s ‘La fille aux cheveux de lin’ in its harp solo
version. I am old fashioned, and prefer my Debussy Préludes played on the piano, for which they were designed. Setting
this prejudice aside, it is beautifully played here.
Syrinx, originally called ‘Flûte de Pan’, was composed in 1913. It
served as incidental music for Gabriel Mourey’s play Psyché. This is an evocative piece of pastoralism, imbued with a
good measure of paganism. Its subtle mood is captured in this performance.
Still in France, Jacques Ibert’s ‘Entr’acte’
for flute (or violin) and harp (or guitar) was also incidental music, composed
for a 1935 French production of the 17th century tragedy, El medico de su honra (The Surgeon of
his Honour) by Pedro Calderon. Like many Frenchmen, Ibert was adept at creating
an Iberian influence in his music. Whirling Spanish dances and Flamenco-infused
music are balanced by a middle section which is a wistful serenade. The work
ends with a vibrant ‘stamping’ finale.
We are in a Greek landscape for Witold Lutoslawski’s Three
Fragments for flute and harp. This work dates from 1953 and was originally written
as incidental music for several Polish Radio Theatre plays. The first
‘fragment’ was drawn from The Spell based
on an idyll by the Sicilian poet Theocritus, whilst the remaining two were
derived from Odysseus in Ithaca, an
adaptation of a play by Jan Parandowski. The innocent ear may not clock that these
three ‘fragments’ were written by Lutosławski: they lack pitch organisation and
certainly do not include any form of aleatory music. If anything, the listener
will be reminded of Debussy, Ravel or
Poulenc.
Ralph Vaughan Williams’s Fantasia
on Greensleeves was one of my earliest musical discoveries. This was in the
ever-popular version (1934) devised by Ralph Greaves for string orchestra with
harp (or piano) and one or two flutes. Since that time, there have been several
arrangements for a wide variety of instruments: piano solo, organ, violin and
piano, cello and piano etc. The present version, by David Sumbler and Eira Lynn
Jones, is for flute and harp. The magic of this is that the listener gets the
full effect of the piece and hardly seems to miss the strings! A lovely version
to add to the 120-odd recordings of ‘Greensleeves’ currently available.
John Rutter is so well-known for
his Christmas carols and other choral music, that his orchestral repertoire is
often overlooked. The present harpist,
Eira Lynn Jones has arranged Rutter’s Antique
Suite work for flute and harp alone. The Suite has six movements: the
present appealing ‘Chanson’ is the fifth. There is also an edition of the work for
flute and piano.
Jules Mouquet has created a composition in the in the
image of Debussy – if not in actual sound, certainly in mood. The Danse Grecque (1907) is less of a dance,
than a little poem evoking the landscape of Arcadia. It is an original work for
flute and harp, although it can be played with piano accompaniment.
The Intermezzo by Dutch composer Hendrik
Andriessen was written back in 1950. It is a work that seems to be in a
trajectory from Ravel and Debussy. It creates a gorgeous hot summer’s day atmosphere
with shifting tempi and stunning figurations for both instruments. There is
just a hint of the Orient in several bars. For me, it is my favourite piece on
this CD.
I
have never explored the music of Alan Hovhaness. It seems to me that a composer
whose opus list extends beyond 400 and who wrote some 67 symphonies may be a
project too far. However, it is enjoyable to tinker around the edges of his
catalogue, as this present short work proves. The Garden of Adonis op.245 was composed in 1971: it was devised
for the current combination of flute and harp. The title is derived from a
canto from Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie
Queenie. The music mirrors the poetic conceit where Spenser imagines a
garden of reincarnation, with the souls of the dead appearing as flowers. Hovhaness permeated his music with an Eastern
sound, using an oriental scale. Each of the work’s seven movements imagines a
different flower. Three movements (I, II and VI) are played on this CD. It is probably best not to get hung up on the ‘theology’
of The Garden of Adonis and just
enjoy these sounds from the ‘mystical east.’
The final work on this CD is
extracted from John Marson’s Suite for Flute and Harp (c.1993). The third
movement is the ‘jaunty’, jazzy and slightly wayward ‘Can’t stop to talk.’ It
is a little gem that deserves to be better known. I would like to hear the rest
of what promises to be a charming suite. I understand that a full recording has
been issued on Cantilena Records.
The playing by The Juniper
Project - Anna Rosa Mari (flute) and
Eira Lynn Jones (harp) is superb. The sound recording is ideal, and the CD
liners notes always helpful. All in all, this is a great CD: It explores many
delightful byways of music that surely deserve to be discovered.
Track Listing:
Bernard ANDRÈS (b.1941)
Algues (1987)
Jacques IBERT (1890-1962)
Entr’acte (1935)
Claude DEBUSSY (1862-1918)
La fille aux cheveux de lin (harp solo) (1909-10); Syrinx (flute solo) (1913)
Witold LUTOSLAWSKI (1913-1994)
Three Fragments (1953)
Jules MOUQUET (1867-1946)
Danse Grecque (1907)
Ralph VAUGHAN
WILLIAMS (1872-1958) Fantasia on Greensleeves (arr. E. L. JONES (?) and David
SUMBLER (b.1937)) (1934)
Hendrik ANDRIESSEN (1892-1981)
Intermezzo (1950)
John RUTTER (b.1945)
Chanson (from ‘Suite Antique’) (arr. E.
L. JONES) (1979)
Alan HOVHANESS (1911-2000)
The Garden of Adonis (1971)
John MARSON (1932-2007)
Can’t Stop to Talk (from Suite for Flute and Harp) (1993?)
The Juniper Project: Anna Rosa Mari (flute), Eira Lynn Jones
(harp)
Rec. St Thomas’ Church,
Stockport, England, 6 November 2017 (Andrès, Lutosƚawski, Rutter &
Hohvaness); 27 November 2017 (Ibert, Mouquet, Vaughan Williams & Marson);
15 January 2018 (Debussy, Andriessen)
DIVINE ART dda
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