Krishna rides Garuda
Sound investment with interest
Birmingham Contemporary Music Group
CBSO Centre, Berkley Street
Despite occasional concerns about the whereabouts of the Emperor’s new clothes in other parts of its programme, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group unveiled another of its brilliant “Sound Investment” commissions on Tuesday.
Param Vir’s The Theatre of Magical Beings, a substantial four-movement quasi-symphony, conveys strong images of archetypal beings from various cultures in vivid, cinematic statements. Though there is no narrative element, Vir’s pictorial sound-world, the product of a cultured aural memory so accurately expressed on the page, pack a powerful communicative punch.
Teeming strings open “Garuda”, other instruments in the sizeable ensemble joining in gradually, biting brass to the fore. “Uroborus” has an appropriately serpentine feel with its slithering, intertwining strings and seductively-echoed warmly romantic horn sounds. “Elephant” celebrates the birth of the Buddha with delightful brayings and trumpetings and “The Simurgh” gradually moves towards a reflection of the very opening, busy percussion (two players, stereophonically placed) and piano now adding a seasoning of Messiaen to the original flavours of Tippett and Bartok.
With this piece Vir announces an important voice proud to make use of past models; perhaps this is a major feature of the best contemporary music (it was certainly true of Stravinsky, whose neo-“Brandenburg” Dumbarton Oaks Concerto brought the evening to a triumphant, coolly invigorating conclusion).
More than 50 supporters contributed a share in the commissioning of The Theatre of Magical Beings; they have the possibility of following it during the next few days on BCMG’s gruelling tour around the country. Last night was Manchester, tonight Durham, tomorrow York, Saturday Shrewsbury (Christ Church, Bayston Hill), finishing Sunday in Oxford.
Once cannot overpraise the dedication and stamina, as well as the impressive quality of these players, undertaking such an enterprise, and delivering, several times over, such adept performances under the awesomely authoritative beat of conductor Susanna Malkki.
The programme also boasts a UK premiere, with Magnus Lindberg’s own expert orchestration for chamber ensemble of his six Jubilees. Originally for piano solo, these fleet individual statements emerge as sonorously sculpted here, and make their own points without need of the gobbledygook programme-note.
David Sawer’s Tiroirs, jokily chaplinesque (plenty of slapsticks) filled a few empty minutes happily enough, the best thing about it being its perhaps unintended employment of Stackhausen’s Moment-form. Takemitsu’s Rain Coming reinforced my suspicion that this composer, relying here upon Debussyan timbres mixed with early Schoenberg gestures and not adding much to the mixture, is perhaps ripe for reappraisal.
Christopher Morley
· This concert will be broadcast on BBC Radio 3 on July 5.