Catalogue Connection: 25194

This is a mostly enjoyable mixed bag of short works; you probably won’t like them all but it’s a diverting collection of music.

In his sleeve notes, Stevens says that composing miniatures such as presented here can be liberating: if it doesn’t work, it’s less time wasted. They also add to a composer’s technical skills, he writes. We’d add that, for the listener, the ones you don’t like are soon over if you can’t be bothered to skip them.

He says the pieces fall into one of three categories: lyrical songs without words (a phrase he’s nicked from Mendelssohn), character pieces, and more ambitious “fledgling” tone-poems.

The opener, Oceanic Lullaby, is a song without words, and it’s immediately accessible, portraying someone peacefully floating on the water and being lulled to sleep by the rise and fall of the waves. The oboe portrays the surface of the water, piano the more complex aquatic motions below.

Concert Rondo follows and is more lively and is for recorder and piano; it’s also easy on the ear.

There are 25 pieces on this double CD so we’re not going to go through every one. Calming / easy pieces include Sicilienne for Gillian (clarinet, piano), written for his mum, while Reflections on a Scottish Theme for solo oboe is basically a McHovis advert; Jig is another Scottish style piece, switching between 6/8 and 2/2 time. The early music sound of Pandora’s Box is said to be include a degree of pastiche, so he’s got a sense of humour; it later goes jazzy then nautical; he had fun with this.

There are more demanding pieces including O Brave New World — this is the most experimental music on the disc, say the sleeve notes but we might argue with that, and it’s still a long way from modern cacophony — and it is dramatic and unpredictable, and includes playing on the cello bridge. Three Epigrams are “quirky” say the sleeve notes, the bassoon making them more palatable than if they were for strings, the music of a comedic Dracula film rather than a slasher-shocker.

A Soldier’s Prayer (French horn and piano) is a response to the centennial commemorations of World War I, and portrays a Flanders battlefield at dawn, and a combatant’s “fearful anticipation of the brutality and desolation”. Grief’s Portrait (French horn and piano) is another WWI memorial, depicting rapid mood-changes in grief.

Uneasy Dialogue for clarinet and piano is not too uneasy while At A Tangent is.

There must be some reason for the track order but there’s perhaps too much variation (a sombre WWI coming shortly after a jaunty jig, for example) for it to be listened to all the way through, and CD1 is more accessible.

It’s an interesting programme, though and fans of instruments that usually do not come to the fore will enjoy it. The players are John Bradbury (clarinet), David Jones (piano), Sarah Miller (flute and alto flute), Helen Peller (bassoon), Richard Simpson (oboe), Janet Simpson (piano), Lindsay Stoker (French horn) and John Turner (recorders).

Robin Stevens was born in Wales in 1958 but has resided for many years in England. This thoroughly enjoyable set of short pieces for various wind instruments will bring pleasure not only to wind players but to a great many general listeners. The music is quite varied, avoiding the possibility of listener fatigue from hearing too much of the same thing. The opening work, Oceanic Lullaby, is scored for oboe and piano and is in essence a lovely song without words (using the composer’s own description in the accompanying booklet). Immediately following is the upbeat Concert Rondo, with just enough rhythmic spikiness and mild dissonance to offer a striking contrast.

Stevens’s musical grammar is relatively conservative, but it is not lacking in originality or personality. Grief’s Portrait, for example, is a work for French horn and piano meant to honor the losses felt in World War 1, whereas Jig, a few tracks earlier, is a jaunty Scottish folk-style dance. Stevens is adept at alternating moods in this way, keeping the listener always alert and engaged. He does this within pieces, too, supported by a genuine melodic gift and sense of humor. I found myself chuckling along the way, but at times (An Uneasy Dialogue for clarinet and piano, for example) I got caught up in the musical tension Stevens has created.

A high level of musical imagination, combined with skilled and involved performances from all participants and a clean, well-balanced recording, all add up to a very enjoyable pair of CDs.

Robin Stevens composed numerous works for choir as music director of St Paul’s Church in York, England before he was sidelined by a debilitating illness for nearly two decades. In 2007 he returned to health and then composition.

This album is the first of his music to be released on Divine Art. These are all miniatures for winds, mostly for solo instruments with or without accompaniment, with a short wind quintet at the end. He sorts his pieces into three categories: “songs without words, character pieces, and more ambitious fledgling tone-poems”. I would further divide them between neoromantic and various modern styles. Taken all together, it can be overwhelming, moving rapidly between thorny, moody dissonance and sweet 19th Century romanticism. I advise listening in different sittings.

That said, most of these pieces are well written—a credit to Stevens’s versatility. Some of the unaccompanied solos are a bit too esoteric for my tastes, but other¬wise, I enjoyed this. I particularly liked the music with piano, as these pieces showed off his adventurous harmony.

These miniatures are bursting with ideas; I get the sense that he would be content to let some of these ideas unfold in larger-scale works. Ideally we won’t have long to wait—Divine Art is slated to release two string quartets and a quintet in the future. In all, an engaging, if scattered album.

‘Prevailing Winds’ is a two CD set presenting world première recordings of twenty-three woodwind miniatures by Robin Stevens (b. 1958). Stevens plays cello in four of his pieces as well as guitar in two numbers and piano in three items. The other eight performers are highly regarded professionals on their instruments.

Stevens divides his compositions into three categories, ‘lyrical songs without words, character pieces and more ambitious fledgling tone poems, with some overlap between these categories’.

The first and third works on the CDs represent the songs without words: ‘Oceanic Lullaby’ for oboe and piano and ‘Sicilienne for Gillian’ clarinet and piano. Both have instant melodic appeal. ‘Three Epigrams’ for bassoon and piano or ‘Waltz for Pierrot’ for solo bassoon are character pieces, more edgy, exploring the particular sound qualities of the instruments for which they are composed.

More fascinating are the two versions of ‘Concert Rondo’ descant recorder and piano on the first CD and oboe and piano on the second. The same music certainly, but quite remarkable in the differences of their impact.

There are two pieces, both for French Horn and piano, both inspired by meditations on the First World War ‘A Soldier’s Prayer’ (first CD) and ‘Grief’s Portrait’ (Second CD). These are really evocative tone poems.

Some of the pieces are as astonishing as they are attractive, ‘O Brave New World’ for flute and cello has the cello fulfil its partnership with the flute in a credible role as accompanist. The lively opening number on the second CD ‘Suite Ecossaise – Jig’ for descant recorder and guitar contrasts hauntingly with ‘Suite Ecossaise – Berceuse’ for flute and guitar, both very agreeable pieces.

We read that Stevens “Particularly relishes the challenge of writing for ‘Cinderella’ instruments and ensembles”. This comes across in his fine pieces for recorders including ‘Contemplation’ for bass recorder and cello, well married together, or in ‘Pandora’s Box’ for recorders (including at one point the tiny garklein) along with bassoon and cello.

This hugely revelatory parade of woodwind instruments culminates with ‘Sweet Soufflé’, a celebration of orchestral woodwinds, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and French horn all playing merrily together.

First, a few words about the composer will be helpful. Robin Stevens was born in Wales in 1958. He studied at Dartington College, the Royal Northern College of Music and finally at Manchester and Birmingham Universities. At the end of his education he was appointed Musical Director and Pastoral Worker at St Paul’s Church, York. For three years he was Head of Music at a comprehensive school on the West Riding of Yorkshire. Sadly, he suffered a ‘debilitating illness’ which meant that he could not work full time for many years. Restored to health, Stevens prepared for his PhD in Composition at Manchester University. It consisted of six large scale musical works composed in a ‘contemporary idiom.’

Stevens’ work would seem to balance traditional musical language with a more ‘modernist’ voice. He enjoys writing for ‘Cinderella’ instruments and ensembles which have a ‘low profile’ such as a euphonium duet, bassoon trio and tuba quartet. Major works include a Fantasy Sonata for violin and piano, Mourning into Dancing for symphony orchestra and Brass Odyssey for brass band. He is currently working on a Cello Concerto and a Clarinet Quintet.

I struggled to contextualise this new two-CD set of his music. It is not possible to listen to it chronologically as, except for three numbers, no dates are given. Bearing in mind that Stevens has been composing for many years, this music could have been written anytime since the mid nineteen-seventies; there is no way of knowing. Presumably, the composer has a rough idea when he wrote each work. That said, the lack of dates is a common omission on CDs these days.

I am not going to comment on all twenty-two works on this album; I’ll just provide a few general thoughts and a brief look at what to me were highlights. What I do recommend is listening to this album in short sections. It does not benefit the listener or composer to through-listen to 25 tracks (22 works) one after another without a break.

Robin Stevens does give a clue to the stylistic background into which the works fall. There are, he writes, three categories: songs without words, character pieces and ‘fledgling tone poems.’ Alas he does not say which ones are which.

The musical language of Stevens’ work is difficult to gauge as well. The listener does not know what to expect as they explore each track. The soundscapes vary from what I call ‘Suburban Sunday’ music of the kind that Philip Lane provided in his piano suite Leisure Lanes, through to a piece that pushes towards the avant-garde of several decades ago.

More demanding pieces include the lovely soliloquy for solo oboe Conversations, the Uneasy Dialogue (or is it an argument?) for clarinet and piano and the modernist O Brave New World. This latter piece makes use of extended techniques, such as playing on the cello’s bridge, artificial harmonics and flutter-tonguing on the flute. It is the most advanced piece on this album, and one of the best. Equally ‘expressionistic’ in mood is the Clarinetissimo! I thought that this would be jazz-infused, but discover it is a good old-fashioned piece of ‘contemporary’ music. Equally ‘mod’ is the bewitching Coquette for flute with its ‘fleet-footed’ music balancing more lyrical moments. It is satisfying to hear these ‘spicy’ numbers after some of the drivelling and anodyne music that some composers write these days.

Strangely, the promise of the Variations of a Twelve-Note Theme does not come to pass as this is an easy-going piece that owes absolutely nothing to Humphrey Searle or Elisabeth Lutyens. Examples of the lighter touch are the opening Oceanic Lullaby, An Interrupted Waltz and the wayward Concert Rondo. This latter piece is given in two versions: recorder and oboe, both with piano.

Early music echoes fill Pandora’s Box, which is scored for recorders, bassoon and cello. At nearly eight minutes, it is the most substantial piece on these two CDs. It would make a good film score for some Tudor drama, except when jazz takes over and it gets ‘into the groove’. I have never heard a cool, jazzy recorder before. Great stuff.

The Reflections on a Scottish Theme for solo oboe is not ‘shortbread tin’ music, but a truly contemplative little number that captures the numinous quality of the Hebrides. Still in Scotland, the Berceuse is a like a Celtic mother calling to her exiled children from across the seas -a really moving piece. Finally, sometimes ‘Les Six’ from France seem to oversee the stylistic proceedings with pieces such as Sweet Soufflé.

The liner notes present most of the relevant information required to enjoy this diverse and variable selection of wind music. The descriptions of each piece could have been more detailed, as they are all (I think) premieres and therefore unknown quantities. The usual biographies of the composer and the soloists are included, as well a series of photos of all the participants.

I cannot fault the sound quality here and the playing in every case is enthusiastic, committed and technically convincing.

This new release from Divine Art is typically very enjoyable but please note my caveats above. I do feel that a little more planning might have improved the value of this excellent introduction to Robin Stevens’ music.