Wood Symphony; Scenes from Comus
Davis and his forces are fiercely committed to Wood’s studies in passion and discipline
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Hugh Wood
Genre:
Orchestral
Label: NMC
Magazine Review Date: 12/2001
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 69
Mastering:
Stereo
DDD
Catalogue Number: NMC D070
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Symphony |
Hugh Wood, Composer
Andrew Davis, Conductor BBC Symphony Orchestra Hugh Wood, Composer |
Scenes from Comus |
Hugh Wood, Composer
Andrew Davis, Conductor BBC Symphony Orchestra Daniel Norman, Tenor Geraldine McGreevy, Soprano Hugh Wood, Composer |
Author:
Tough‚ intransigent and sincere‚ Hugh Wood has never been a fashionable composer. Things might have been different had Jacqueline du Pré been able to perform his Cello Concerto as planned‚Êbut he is unfairly traduced as an ‘academic’. Yes‚ his idiom is unashamedly postSchoenbergian‚ but its underlying discipline does not preclude a passionate and communicative surface. There are many ways into this very English music. Admirers of the later Tippett will be stimulated by the many echoes (and preechoes) of his world‚ while the less surprising influences of Mahler and Berg offer an alternative entrée. These are names which really mean something to Sir Andrew Davis and‚ in a fitting climax to his generally successful period with the BBC Symphony Orchestra‚ he elicits more fiercely committed playing than one has sometimes heard from this source.
The Symphony (197782) is Wood’s magnum opus‚ its four movements quoting from diverse musical sources without lapsing into feckless eclecticism. Setting the scene with blistering intensity‚ the Wagnerquoting ‘Tempesta’ comes closest to Hammer Horror expressionism. This leads without a break into the largescale ‘Elegia: Adagio’‚ its awkwardly contoured string lines here delivered with superb conviction and revealed as intensely emotive; the emergence of the March from The Magic Flute’s trialbyfire scene suggests the hero’s struggle against fate. In the work’s second half‚ Davis again scores over Rozhdestvensky‚ the work’s first conductor‚ by giving a lift to the Scherzo‚ avoiding any hint of rhythmic inertia‚ while bringing out unsuspected colour. The passacaglia finale‚ some way after the example of Brahms’ Fourth‚ draws in the threads to culminate in an ecstatic‚ blazing and eminently accessible climax in which Janá¶ek looms large. A traditional ‘darkness to light’ piece then‚ and one without a trace of postmodern irony.
Scenes from Comus‚ written for the 1965 Proms‚ was Wood’s big breakthrough‚ a cantata cum symphonic poem with sung elements‚ rather than an attempt to encapsulate the whole of John Milton’s masque. Some listeners may find the opening 12note horn theme more studied than beautiful‚ but the sumptuous orchestral evocations of nocturnal woodland and orgiastic dancing‚ not to mention Geraldine McGreevy and Daniel Norman’s sympathetic efforts‚ ensure that this too must be counted among the more significant revivals on the NMC label. There are helpful bookletnotes from Bayan Northcott and Stephen Walsh and venueflattering production work from Colin Matthews and friends. Strongly recommended‚ however remote from the values of today’s new music scene.
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