BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Jaime Martin, Martyn Brabbins conductors
Lyrita SRCD440 [2 CDs]
Born in 1983 in the Forest of Dean, Gavin Higgins has been composer in association with the BBC NOW. His multi-award-winning works are not part of the avant-garde but grow out of an English tradition from Elgar, through Britten and Tippett.
His 2023 Horn Concerto takes its inspiration from the natural world of the forest and its living organisms as apparent in the titles of the movements: Understorey, Overstorey and Mycelium Rondo. Soloist, Goldscheider is a leading British horn player and champion of new music with a fearless technique and beautiful tone in all registers. This is a truly magnificent addition to the repertory. It is easy to see why the work won Best Orchestral Composition at this year’s Ivor Novello Awards.
Goldscheider’s talents are on show in the three short solos which follow, all written during the COVID-19 pandemic and usefully combine to make a satisfactory suite. The final Flourish was written at the same time as the opera on disc two.
The tale for the The Faerie Bride, comes from over the border in Wales and the Red Book of Hergest, adapted by Francesca Simon. Llyn y Fan Fach, is about a lady of the lake, a water spiritwho agrees to marry a mortal man on condition that if he strikes her three times she will leave and take every gift she brings with her.
This live performance is from the 2023 Three Choirs Festival. The composer could not have hoped for a better performance. Roderick Williams, as the farmer, tells the tale in retrospect. He is as superb as we have come to expect with his rich tone and clear diction. Much of the baritone part however is delivered in recitative which after nearly fifty minutes I found quite wearing.
As the lady Marta, Fontanais-Simmons conveys a sense of otherworldliness, helped partly by using Welsh traditional tunes. These sorts of roles are usually given to stratospherically high sopranos, so it is good to hear a new substantial offering for the mezzo voice.
Composer and librettist had previously collaborated on the well-received opera The Monstrous Child, and once again Ms Simons has constructed a tight, understandable libretto. The inclusion of a chorus seems quite extravagant. Still, there is much to admire in the colourful orchestration, particularly in the wedding scene with some recognisable Welsh folk tunes.
The two discs seem to be being marketed as two for one but I can’t help feeling that if the solo horn works had been missed out all would have fitted happily on one CD.
Review by Paul RW Jackson