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As usual with Tom Hammond and sound collective a recent work was included, here the Serenade Trionfale by Matthew Taylor. These performers have form on Taylor having premiéred his Third Symphony a few years ago. Serenade Trionfale was composed straight after the symphony and much of the confidence heard in the latter is transplanted to it, particularly in its luminous scoring. Early years of study with Robin Holloway have left Taylor with the ability to offer polish and sophistication that is unusual in much contemporary music.
Scored for the same instruments as Mozart’s K388 - pairs of oboes, clarinets, bassoons and horns - the sonorities captured by Taylor give the impression of a bigger ensemble thanks to a cascade-effect among the instruments heard to particular advantage in the first movement. The work’s narrative draws upon the story line of Nielsen’s Serenata in Vano. Loves labours lost and exit with a shrug, according to Nielsen. Taylor takes this further and to equally winning effect so that the lively finale completed a most enjoyable work.
Beginning with Mozart, without conductor, this concert never disappointed. How could it when the artistry of the players was so immaculate and two of the composers were Mozart and Dvorák. Some acerbity was heard in the Three Pieces for solo clarinet by Stravinsky well projected by Stuart King.
Hammond, the founder of sound collective, produced some ravishing sounds from the Dvorák, which caresses our ears in the most delightful way, banishing, even if only briefly, thoughts of recent natural and man-made calamities in the wider world.
Concerts for which musicians drawn from London's freelance pool commit to days of rehearsal, and for little or no pay, might sound like pie in the sky given the economic realities of the classical market. Yet sound collective, fronted by the charismatic Tom Hammond, achieved that last January with an auspicious debut at St John's, Smith Square. This January saw them ensconced at St Giles for a follow-up concert of demanding repertoire, performed with flair and skill. Would that one could say the same for all such events on the London calendar!
Elgar's Serenade might seem a gentle 'play in', but its amiable melodic contours conceal a true symphonic thinker in the making. It was this aspect that Hammond's taut but elegant approach, stressing continuity between movements and never killing the music with sentiment, conveyed in some measure. The pathos of the central Larghetto was astutely judged, and the Allegretto's recall of the opening music was deftly integrated so as to bring the work gently full circle.
40 this year, Matthew Taylor has for some years been a composer and conductor of note (q.v. - his recent concert for David Matthews's 60th birthday), and it was good to see revived one of his most spirited and outward-going pieces. Lasting 18 minutes, the Horn Concerto is cast in two parts, each of two movements: a vigorous and compact Allegro leading into a crepuscular Scherzo, then an eloquent Lento contrasting with a lively (if fractionally too concise) Fugue. Adam Walters need not suffer comparison with dedicatee Richard Watkins in his command of some tricky passagework, while the broad-spanned theme of the second movement's trio gave his mellow tone a chance to shine.
After a relatively short first half, the concert resumed with two substantial works. Although more often sung by a tenor, Britten's Les Illuminations was written with a soprano in mind, and takes on a greater sensuousness when performed as such. As well as the required upper range, Pamela Hay had the vocal presence to project Rimbaud's flights of fancy so that the audience 'feels' their potency without necessarily comprehending. Articulation was a little stretched in 'Villes' and the rhythmic delicacy of 'Royauté' rather ironed out, but the dying fall of 'Phrase' was spellbinding - as were the teasing prosody of 'Being Beauteous' and those varied recurrences of the initial setting which impart unity to the cycle as a whole.
Regulars on the London scene may have caught Thomas Zehetmair's inspirational account of Apollo with the Northern Sinfonia at last year's Proms. While Hammond's performance didn't quite match this level of excellence, it was full of incidental insight, at its best in the muses' dances, bringing out their contrasting characters to a telling degree. Apollo's variation had the right rhetorical grandeur, while the ensuing Pas de deux impressed with its chaste sentiment and subtly varied string colouring. Apollo's birth seemed a trifle restive (and a pause before the violin cadenza makes the preceding dynamic curve all the more eloquent), while the apotheosis - in which Stravinsky seems to contemplate the deception of his Arcadian vision - lacked gravitas. It would have helped also to proceed directly between numbers, ensuring continuity across this most seamless of ballet scores.
Such reservations should be seen in the context of the performance, and of the concert, overall. From which vantage, sound collective is as excellent as it is enterprising, and Hammond a conductor whose range of sympathies and interpretative convictions ought to win plaudits. Their next concert, scheduled for 7th January 2005, will include the premiere of Matthew Taylor's Third Symphony as well as Beethoven's Eroica. Make a note in your advance planner, and be there!
Tom Hammond has been active as a conductor for several years, his performances marked out by a judicious choice of repertoire and evident interpretive conviction - not to mention a positive and genuine rapport with musicians. An account of Nielsen's First Symphony showed a real appreciation of its tonal and harmonic originality, Hammond persuasive both in highlighting of detail and in his grasp of formal logic essential in the symphonic domain. The recent debut of his sound collective chamber orchestra featured subtle and sensitive accompaniments to some of Sibelius' lesser-known works for violin and orchestra, as well as assured accounts of Nielsen's 'Little Suite' and Dag Wirén's 'Serenade for Strings' - affecting and enjoyable in equal measure. Future concerts from this ensemble are eagerly awaited. All in all, Hammond undoubtedly has the technical skill and artistic flair to make his mark on the new generation of conductors now emerging.
sound collective is as excellent as it is enterprising, and Hammond a conductor whose range of sympathies and interpretative convictions ought to win plaudits. Their next concert, scheduled for 7th January 2005, will include the premiere of Matthew Taylor's Third Symphony as well as Beethoven's Eroica. Make a note in your advance planner, and be there!
SUPERB NIGHT OF MUSICAL TALENT
More often than not the best musical talents in the West Midlands are forced to earn their livelihoods in other parts of the country. So it was a real pleasure to see Tom Hammond return to his home village conducting his own ensemble. The former St. Edmunds and Tettenhall College Student has played with many London Orchestras and has now taken up the baton. On the evidence of Saturday's concert this self-taught conductor could well make a significant contribution to the music world.
He had the benefit of a superb group of players. Throughout the evening they demonstrated a commendable unity of ensemble and technical expertise, while displaying exciting dynamics and tonal colouring, especially in Elgar's Serenade for Strings and Robert Simpson's Allegro Deciso. A 16th century folk-tune forms the basis of Vaughan William's Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus and the lyrical qualities of the piece were carefully and precisely brought out.
It was interesting and unusual to have two double bass solo items, but Graham Mitchell played Bottessini's Reverie and Fantasy on 'La Sonnambula' with both panache and persuasion, well supported by an accurate and sympathetic accompaniment. John Tavener's Song of the Angel and Lament for Phaedra were the subject of elegant and controlled performances by soprano Pamela Hay.
...warmth exuded from the opening Carl Nielsen... A minor Little Suite. Tom Hammond's economic gestures elicited suave, sophisticated playing that proved a delightful aperitif before Sibelius...was courted sweetly by Mia Cooper....Robert Simpson's Allegro Deciso...received a fresh and incisive performance for a work hot on the heels of the English string writing tradition. Matthew Taylor's First Symphony...was very English with glorious wind writing, the horns countering the strings wonderfully in an excellent performance from the band, all perfectly accessible. Red Leaves, John McCabe's New England evocation, had two Oboes and two Horns floating their musical ideas over delicious string sonorities that left lingering orchestral colours engaging the mind.
Dag Wirén's Serenade for Strings was a good piece to end with, the ensemble bringing a lighter vein to the evening with a stylish yet fun performance. All the ingredients for attentive readings of appropriate repertoire within sound collective's grasp. I cannot commend them highly enough. This was a wonderful evening: they deserve to be heard more often than often.
Too many composers ooze obsequious gratitude from conductors whom perform their music. Yet, Tom Hammond has always shown a complete understanding of my music, having conducted several performances of the First Symphony and my overture 'The Needles' for which he gave the London Première. The insight he showed into these scores, with perfectly judged tempi, great attention to balance and a fine sense of overall architecture were quite remarkable. So many world premières are like final rehearsals. However I know that with the new Third Symphony, scheduled for first performance with Tom and sound collective in January 2005 will be a very special occasion.
...I had not expected a performance of such quality. The performers, all of them, were astonishing, and produced music of great power and beauty which excited everyone who was there...
sound collective's foray into London's musical scene last year was an admirable one, and their second concert... with a programme as uncompromising as that in St John's, Smith Square a year earlier, continued the quality of playing I expected from this ensemble. I sensed their ethic of performing 'great music in an environment that offers some extra nourishment for the musical soul' pervading Elgar's Serenade for Strings: distinguished by an extraordinary richness of sound... Britten's Les Illuminations was led by a brutally magnificent opening... Pamela Hay's sweet, delectable soprano...moments of grandeur and beauty, hastened by a tremendous energy from all... Stravinsky's impressionistic score Apollon Musagete... was an appealing antidote to Britten... Hammond's disciplined band produced the work's warm, soft glow through a rich, sumptuous string sound. Here is a band ready to do justice to any score.
sound collective... just about the most exciting new orchestra initiative around.
It's not often I attend a concert of contemporary music and leave thinking it is a complete injustice that we do not hear more music by the composers represented. On the occasions that I do, it is almost always the result of an excellent performance. I can safely say that sound collective's debut was one of the most enjoyable and worthwhile concerts I have ever attended.
sound collective have not only some of the most talented young players around, but they put on some of the most searching programmes too... three cheers for sound collective and their dedicated conductor Tom Hammond.