Melinda Maxwell Recital
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Harrison Birtwistle, Melinda Maxwell, Simon Holt
Label: NMC
Magazine Review Date: 10/1997
Media Format: CD Single
Media Runtime: 33
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: NMCD042S
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Pulse Sampler |
Harrison Birtwistle, Composer
Harrison Birtwistle, Composer Melinda Maxwell, Oboe Richard Benjafield, Percussion |
Banshee |
Simon Holt, Composer
Melinda Maxwell, Oboe Richard Benjafield, Percussion Simon Holt, Composer |
Elegy |
Melinda Maxwell, Composer
Jan Gruithuyzen, Piano Melinda Maxwell, Oboe Melinda Maxwell, Composer |
Author: Arnold Whittall
Music for solo oboe seems naturally to gravitate towards images of snake-charming and witches’ sabbaths, something that Simon Holt wittily and scarily acknowledges in Banshee. As in other night(mare) pieces by this composer (for example, Sparrow Night for oboe and ensemble, also available from NMC, 5/93) the atmosphere is all the more effective for being conjured up with such fine feeling for the unpredictable and the shapely, and the combination of oboe and percussion (the latter very much an accompaniment, but with not a single note wasted) is explored with unfailing skill and imagination.
Birtwistle’s Pulse Sampler may not have such a strong pictorial dimension, but its accumulating patterns are highly dramatic, as the oboe’s rivetingly flexible melody interacts with the stark, unresonant clackings of the claves, at once impersonal and hypnotic. Both these performances are excellent, Melinda Maxwell displaying that phenomenal range of colour and superfine technical control which inspired these composers to write for her in the first place. Her own Elegy for oboe and piano is less virtuosic, and indeed its principal virtue is an economy which, combined with a clear sense of line and direction, establishes a mood that is all the more effective for its restraint. This well-conceived and excellently recorded programme is an attractive introduction to much that is most appealing in contemporary British music.'
Birtwistle’s Pulse Sampler may not have such a strong pictorial dimension, but its accumulating patterns are highly dramatic, as the oboe’s rivetingly flexible melody interacts with the stark, unresonant clackings of the claves, at once impersonal and hypnotic. Both these performances are excellent, Melinda Maxwell displaying that phenomenal range of colour and superfine technical control which inspired these composers to write for her in the first place. Her own Elegy for oboe and piano is less virtuosic, and indeed its principal virtue is an economy which, combined with a clear sense of line and direction, establishes a mood that is all the more effective for its restraint. This well-conceived and excellently recorded programme is an attractive introduction to much that is most appealing in contemporary British music.'
Explore the world’s largest classical music catalogue on Apple Music Classical.
Included with an Apple Music subscription. Download now.
Gramophone Digital Club
- Digital Edition
- Digital Archive
- Reviews Database
- Events & Offers
From £9.20 / month
SubscribeGramophone Club
- Print Edition
- Digital Edition
- Digital Archive
- Reviews Database
- Events & Offers
From £11.45 / month
Subscribe
If you are a library, university or other organisation that would be interested in an institutional subscription to Gramophone please click here for further information.