Sheffield Chamber Music Festival (1) The Nostalgic Utopian Future Distance Ensemble 360 Firth Hall, University of Sheffield, 18.05.2025
Saariaho Petals (1988)
Boulez Dialogue de l’ombre double (1984)
Nono La lontananza nostalgica utopica futura (1988/9)
Ensemble 360 celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2025. Previous iterations of the Sheffield Chamber Music Festival have repeatedly proved the ensemble’s excellence. This tranche of concerts was no exception.
The venue is most often The Crucible, but here it was the venerable Firth Hall at the University of Sheffield. A creditable audience turned up for music that is by no means an easy listen: testament to the reach and reputation of Ensemble 360. It says much that the lightest music was by Kaija Saariaho: the spectral piece Petals. Dedicated to the cellist Anssi Karttunen (who gave its premiere in Bremen), the piece uses both live sounds and those electronically processed; at times, a grating cello can sound remarkably like its electronic counterpart. Saariaho explains about this piece:
Petals for solo cello was written abruptly in a few days, but evidently after a long unconscious preparation. The opposite elements here are fragile coloristic passages, which give birth to more energetic events with clear rhythmic and melodic character. These more sharply focused figures pass through different transformations and finally merge back to less dynamic but not the less intensive filigration. In bringing together these very opposite modes of expressions, I aimed to force the interpreter to stretch his sensibility
Gemma Rosefield was the fine soloist, negotiating Saariaho’s chiaroscuro superbly. From the whispered buzzing of the opening to moments that seemed to hint at dance, this was a spellbinding experience. Lighting changes added an extra dimension, but the real magic resided in the music itself. Through various bowing techniques, Saariaho explores the distinction between sound and noise on the cello, all somehow lodged within an overarching beauty that seems intrinsic to the cello’s very nature.
Here, for reference, is Anssi Karttunen’s recording on Finlandia:
No less virtuoso is Pierre Boulez’s Dialogue de l’ombre double for clarinet. Inspired by Paul Claudel’s Le Soulier de Sain (The Satin Slipper) of 1929, the actual moment of inspiration is when a man and woman are projected together onto a wall. So Boulez has the clarinet play with its ‘sound shadow’ (a pre-recorded clarinet the audience heard from various points around the hall via loudspeakers). Robert Plane’s control over his clarinet is simply extraordinary. Plane’s physical movements in space seemed themselves choreographed, very much part of the performance. For all of its effects (including finely controlled multiphonics), it was the sheer control Plane showed of his instrument and his innate understanding of the beauty of the music that shoe through. Extraordinary. This was another form of Henze’s imaginary dramas, or Birtwistle’s secret theatres; terrifically entertaining, and ultimately highly enriching.
Here it is performed by Alain Damiens with Andrew Gerzso on electronics – this is.full-score video:
The remarkable La lonnanza nostalgica uopica futura (The nostalgic utopian future distance) for violin and electronics by Luigi Nono is typically uncompromising music. Claudia Ajmone-Marsan was the intrepid soloist who took on this near-40 minute work. Nono creates a highly individual soundworld which seems rooted in electronica. While the work was written for Gidon Kremer (who produced what is surely the definitive recording on DG), Ajmone-Marsan’s fearless playing provided a mesmeric experience. Moving around the sound space, she created a whole world of sounds from the violin, from the powerfully assertive to singing, glassy high harmonics, The music is subtle and surprisingly gentle at times, perhaps a reflection of is dedicatee, Salvatore Sciarrino and his silvery, elusive scores. It was Sciarrino who posited that the work’s title could be read as “the past reflected in the present (nostalgia) brings about a creative utopia, the desire for what is known becomes a vehicle for what will be possible through the medium of distance”. That may or may not help the listener.
There is little doubt that Nono’s music is best explored live, and this was an all too rare opportunity to do so. The stunning concentration and virtuosity of Claudia Ajmone-Marsan was of course the major contributing factor.
An unforgettable experience. Just when you thought the Boulez and Saaiaho couldn’t be topped, Nono comes along.
Here is Gidon Kremer’s DG recording. It says a lot that Ajmone-Marsan’s achievement absolutely stands up to Kremer’s performance.
A phenomenal concert, full of revelations. The music might seem “difficult” on paper, but really the whole experience was maximally enervating.
