Rebecca Saunders
Curious Chamber Players
26 april 2009, Capitol, Stockholm
by Richard Craig
One would think that the association of colour in music to the extent that Rebecca Saunders proclaims is somewhat worn, and even a facile attempt to bring the audience to terms with a troublesome idiom. Since many of these works required a "dry" canvas in which all sounds, even those on the very edge of audibility, are intrinsic to the music, Capitol was the ideal venue for such a concert, although Curious Chamber Players didn’t follow their usual course in using the concert space and themes, but rather focused on delivering a more straight forward approach to Saunders. This did achieve the right “tempo” for the concert, but perhaps the sculptural aspects of the works could have been explored a little more?
Throughout the concert the focus of the musicians and attention to detail was unwavering; often performing at the very edge of silence and with a precision that brought the “live musique concrete” aspect of Saunders alive. The larger ensemble works were those which where most successful, especially Into the Blue with its caustic whistling and creaking, juxtaposing moments of brittle grace and finesse, again, brought to life by utter dedication from the group, expertly guided by Rei Munakata. Similarly, the addition of accordion in Quartet added yet more nuance in the way that the instrument literally breathed life into the ensemble; only to result in stammering blocks of sound, frequently punctured by silence or interjections from the clarinet and piano. In both works the piano writing belies an almost nostalgic reflection of the music, although Anna Christensson (piano) resisted any temptation to trivialize this, performing with luminous sensitivity.
Vermillion (for guitar, cello and clarinet) was the strongest of the smaller pieces with the electric guitar functioning as the source of most of the material and both the clarinet and cello deftly weaving around the resulting sound. Despite the sometimes dominant nature of the electric guitar, moments of repose did come about with the silken glissandi that Mårten Falk produced, although these were soon rectified with the turbulent combination of quartertones in the clarinet and cello, which created yet another unexpected layer of rhythmic tension between the instruments in an otherwise static and minimalistic work.
Perhaps the most challenging or even frustrating element for the audience in this concert was the stubborn refusal of Saunders to break beyond the fragmentary nature that dominates her work, although if one considers that she has been, and still is, strongly influenced by the Irish author Samuel Beckett and his severe reduction of language and forms, one realizes that Saunders has distilled her aesthetic in a similar way to Beckett: austere and concise.
In the Underside of Green, glissandi fell from instrument to instrument, although often disturbed by mechanical protests from the piano in the form of a series of heavy stamps on the pedals: an insistence which perhaps corresponds to the stubborn nature of Saunders’ aesthetic, and one which eventually led to the piano lid being abruptly slammed onto the keyboard- a little melodramatic, but effective when one heard the resonances from the piano afterwards. Duo for violin and piano favoured a much more virtuosic approach. Despite the fiendish quartertone writing throughout the violin part, Hellqvist delivered the work with the utmost ease and musicality, shaping the intricate writing in perfect synchronisation with the piano. Overall, the polished performances of Curious Chamber Players and guests brought music, which could have easily been overlooked as simplistic into a realm where colour and nuance take new meanings and forms.
Richard Craig
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