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NI 6420
Blackford: Niobe, Kalon & Blewbury Air
Label Catalogue Number:
NI6420
NI6420
Running Time: 00:59:07
Release Date: May 2021
Originally recorded in 2020
Originally recorded in 2020
Genre:
Classical
Orchestral & Concertos
Classical
Orchestral & Concertos
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About
Niobe is the story of a strong woman brought down by an even stronger woman, the goddess Leto. I have tried to portray in music Niobe's sensuality, feistiness, pride, arrogance, remorse, defiance as the story of her blasphemy against the goddess Leto and her extraordinarily harsh consequent punishment unfolds. The relationship of the violin soloist to the orchestra is inspired by the dramatic unfolding of the myth. I am indebted to Tamsin Waley-Cohen for her encouragement and support as we developed the concept for Niobe and her brilliance as a soloist and interpreter of my music.
Kalon is the Greek word for perfect physical and moral beauty, as conceived by the philosophers of Classical Greece. The three movements explore different aspects of kalon, also the context in which beauty can exist in ugliness and darkness. The two string groups (quartet and orchestra) frequently play in different tempi simultaneously, thereby producing complex and rich sonorities and textures. Each movement approaches the combined tempi differently, and each movement explores new antiphonal possibilities, new approaches to counterpoint, new definitions of rhythmic consonance and dissonance.
Blewbury Air, written in the summer of 2019, is a love song to the village of Blewbury, Oxfordshire, where I have lived for many years. Our house is on a small lake in the heart of the village, and is teeming with wildlife throughout the year, especially different species of waterfowl. The descriptive titles of the three movements reflect the contrasting moods of each movement. Blewbury Air was first performed by Raphael Wallfisch and Adrian Farmer and recorded in the Wyastone Concert Hall on June 5th 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Being the first time the musicians had been able to play together for months during the lockdown, it was a very special day of musicmaking for me, the performers, and the technical staff at Nimbus Records, to whom I am most grateful.
Richard Blackford
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Reviews
“… The sound is fine and performances are excellent… Cellist Raphael Wallfisch and pianist Adrian Farmer are terrific. This is compelling contemporary music that won’t send you away screaming. Recommended.”
Mark Novak – Fanfare – January/February 2022
“… this is an excellent introduction to Blackford’s varied soundworld.” ****
Jeremy Pound – BBC Music magazine – August 2021
“… For all its technical sophistication with polytempo and extended tonality, The Challenges of Kalon for string quartet and string orchestra is a highly expressive, immensely richly colored piece, heard here in a gripping interpretation. And so this monographic CD offers an interesting insight into the work of the 67-year-old British composer Richard Blackford.” *****
Remy Franck – Pizzicato.com.lu – 25 May 2021
“… Richard Blackford has been well served by the Nimbus label over the years, and this disc adds a further instalment to an impressive catalogue of recordings. The presentation is admirable as always (although for some reason “Phrygia” is persistently rendered as “Phyrgia”), and the sound recording is never less than exemplary. Those who already know and love the composer’s output, as I do, will need no further recommendation; those who have yet to make the pleasure of his acquaintance could do no better than to begin here.”
Paul Corfield Godfrey – MusicWeb-International.com – 28 May 2021
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