Adrian Sutton
Violin Concerto*; Five Theatre Miniatures; A Fistful of Fives; War Horse Suite; Short Story
*Fenella Humphreys (violin); BBC Philharmonic/Michael Seal
Chandos CHAN 20349 74:21 mins
Clip: Adrian Sutton: Violin Concerto - Life Force (Fenella Humphreys; BBC Philharmonic/Michael Seal)
Adrian Sutton’s natural métier is the theatre, and even the Violin Concerto has an external programme which concerns a seagull and its appearance around various coastlines. The first movement begins dreamily with an eloquent long line for the soloist over gently lapping orchestral textures, and there’s contrast later in more rhythmic passages: Adrian Sutton was himself a violinist, and the writing is idiomatic, but also tricky in its demands, both athletic and lyrical, which are effortlessly met by Fenella Humphreys.
The idiom is firmly tonal and British – the second movement reflects the composer’s invitation to write a response to Vaughan Williams's The Lark Ascending, and has something of the same repose, although with a more angular melodic line; and the finale is a boisterous affair, with snappy dancing rhythms.
In Short Story, the specifics of the story are left to the listener’s imagination, even though there’s a clear if sometimes discursive narrative arc, with musical characters interacting and changing, as the piece begins in an almost folklike manner, rises to a climax and then subsides.
A Fistful of Fives crackles with energy from the start: five themes, all in five time, are contrasted in instrumentation and rhythm. It’s a showpiece for orchestra and conductor, and comes across in a tight performance and really vivid sound.
The six numbers in the War Horse Suite are derived from the stage play, and are constrained to an extent by their original length as music cues. But the Theatre Miniatures are all the better for having been expanded from their original form, and make sense as a group of character pieces in various styles. Martin Cotton