composer Arthur Keegan’s advanced net of music new and previous, atmospherically carried out by Lotte Betts-Dean, James Girling & Ligeti Quartet

In life, Thomas Hardy confirmed little persistence to his first spouse, Emma, however poured remorse, guilt and love right into a collection of poems after her loss of life. Keegan’s Elegies for Emma for voice and guitar, takes a sequence of those through which Keegan tries to offer Emma a voice (Hardy destroyed her diary after her loss of life), six songs and an interlude that play with no break. ‘Days to Recollect’ creates a splendidly evocative environment, with Keegan’s interesting guitar writing complementing Betts-Dean’s voice. ‘The Stroll’ remains to be evocative however extra disturbing in environment, while ‘Rain on a Grave’ is positively edgy with Betts-Dean virtually offended at first. The interlude ‘I look into my glass’ begins with Betts-Dean studying the poetry, with Girling’s guitar recalling the opening of the cycle. ‘The Voice’ returns us to the haunting sound of Betts-Dean complemented by Girling’s interesting guitar enjoying, capturing the melancholy wanting again, the sense of remorse that the poetry creates. ‘She, to Him’ returns us to materials from earlier within the cycle, but creates one thing disturbing which leads us to the ultimate part which returns to the opening poem, and we finish, in a way, the place we started, with nothing realized.    

Arthur Keegan and Lotte Betts-Dean on the recording periods (Picture: foxbrush.co.uk)

The next three songs all discover Hardy’s railway poetry, a pleasant instance of the best way Keegan’s collection of the works on the disc mines the varied preoccupations in Hardy.

Derek Holman studied on the Royal Academy of Music with Eric Thiman and York Bowen, and in 1965 moved to Canada to reside and work. Right here we hear his Midnight on the Nice Western, a poem finest identified in track kind from Britten’s model, in Keegan’s association for voice, string quartet and guitar. Holman’s track could be very completely different from Britten’s, appealingly direct however with imaginative colors and commentary within the accompaniment. Guitar and string quartet shouldn’t be the obvious mixture, however it works.

Muriel Herbert was inspired throughout her life-time by composer Roger Quilter, after which Herbert’s daughter, the creator Claire Tomalin, who wrote a biography of Thomas Hardy, would do a lot to make her mom’s songs accessible. Faintheart in a Railway Practice is heard in a model for voice and string quartet that makes the track one thing somewhat particular certainly.

With Britten’s On the Railway Station, Upway we come to Britten’s Hardy cycle, Winter Phrases. The track organized by Keegan for voice and guitar. It’s unusual how by shifting from piano to guitar, the track appears to grow to be completely different, but stays the identical. It’s partly, additionally, as a result of we’re listening to it with Betts-Dean’s touching mezzo-soprano efficiency somewhat than the same old tenor.

The following 4 songs flip from railways to that different British preoccupation, the climate, and its use as a metaphor. All are in Keegan’s variations for voice and guitar. Imogen Holst’s Weathers was written when she was simply 19, and has a distinctly folk-ish really feel to it, as should you had identified the tune for ever.

Gurney’s Within the Black Winter Morning, Milford’s If It is Ever Spring Once more and Finzi’s The Too Quick Time, comply with. The Gurney is touchingly melancholy, the guitar accompaniment bringing a distinctly lute-song-ish really feel to Gurney’s writing. Milford’s track is delightfully perky, the guitar enhancing its insouciant wistfulness. The Finzi returns us to extra sober melancholy, and darker depth.

Kerry Andrew’s The Echo Elf Solutions was written for the performers, Lotte Betts-Dean and James Girling, for this disc. This extremely haunting track feels because it has a folk-song at its core, however round this melancholy wistfulness Andrew weaves one thing advanced and interesting. The ultimate association is Finzi’s Shortening Days for Betts-Dean and the Ligeti Quartet, an evocative farewell.

We finish with Keegan’s String Quartet No. 1′ Elegies for Tom’. This takes Hardy’s poem Afterwards and creates a sequence of 5 actions impressed by strains from the poem, every motion titled with a line. Between these are possibility interludes for voice and string quartet based mostly on Philip Larkin’s poem The Mower which is itself a response to Hardy. ‘Delicate-filmed’ is simply that, considerate in really feel, clear and somewhat great in texture. ‘1st Interlude’ is edgier with Betts-Dean making Keegan’s jagged settings of Larkin reall inform. ‘An eyelid’ is extra rhythmic, intense at time, resulting in the bleaker, slower ‘2nd Interlude’. ‘Nocturnal blackness’ is sort of and intense, this darkish evening is mysterious and confounding. ‘third Interlude’ is once more edgy, while ‘Full-starred heavens’ returns us to an earlier sense of time suspended. ‘4th Interlude’ is stressed but melancholy, resulting in ‘A brand new bell’s increase’ which has Betts-Dean’s line persevering with.

I discovered Keegan’s quartet writing right here, very interesting and admittedly was pleased with it by itself with out the interludes. Maybe my method to the interludes is disturbed by the truth that for copyright causes, the phrases usually are not accessible within the CD booklet. However general that is an clever and memorable work, and it crowns a high quality recital. Keegan has crafted a extremely satisfying mixture of previous and new, along with his preparations making us see extra acquainted gadgets otherwise. My very own favorite stays his cycle for voice and guitar, however the entire recital is a beautiful one, benefitting from beautifully sympathetic performances.

Arthur Keegan (born 1986) – Elegies for Emma
Derek Holman (1931-2019) – Midnight on the Nice Western
Muriel Herbert (1897-1984) – Faintheart in a Railway Practice
Benjamin Britten (1913-1976) – On the Railway Station, Upway
Imogen Holst (1907-1984) – Weathers
Ivor Gurney (1890-1937) – Within the Black Winter Morning
Robin Milford (1903-1959) – If It is Ever Spring Once more
Gerald Finzi (1901-1956) – The Too Quick Time
Kerry Andrew (born 1978) – The Echo Elf Solutions
Gerald Finzi – The Shortening Days
Arthur Keegan – String Quartet No. 1′ Elegies for Tom’
Lotte Betts-Dean (mezzo-soprano)
James Girling (guitar)
Ligeti Quartet (Freya Goldmark, Patrick Dawkins, Richard Jones, Val Welbanks)
Recorded 28-30 November 2023, St Mark’s Church, Portobello, Edinburgh
DELPHIAN DCD34307 1CD [67:06]