From core to crust, Rebecca Franks enjoys the distinctive levels of ‘Strata’, Eleanor Alberga’s delightfully fresh First Symphony
Eleanor Alberga
Tower*; Symphony No. 1 ‘Strata’; Mythologies
*Castalian String Quartet; BBC Symphony Orchestra/Thomas Kemp
Resonus RES10340 66:21 mins
Clip: Eleanor Alberga - Symphony No. 1 'Strata', VI. Plumes
Contrary to popular belief, composers are still writing symphonies. And here comes a wonderfully fresh First Symphony from Eleanor Alberga, a composer in her seventies whose music is currently flourishing.
A pianist by training, she worked for many years at the London Contemporary Dance Theatre as music director, before turning more of her energy towards composing.
In recent years she’s focused attention on traditional classical forms: a Trumpet Concerto in 2021, this Symphony in 2022 and a Piano Concerto for the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra earlier this year.
Symphony No. 1, subtitled ‘Strata’, sprang from a commission in memory of a viola player, David Nash, for his Brandon Hill Chamber Orchestra in Bristol. The BBC Symphony Orchestra and conductor Thomas Kemp give a meticulous and colourful performance here, but Nash’s love of geology and sailing shape its six, titled movements.
Echoes of Bartók’s nature music give it rustling, flurrying energy; a love of Stravinsky surely shapes how Alberga handles tension. Like both composers, she always finds moments for the music to dance.
Earth’s processes are vividly depicted in ‘Core’, ‘Mantle’ and ‘Crust’: from rumbling, murky plate tectonics to the final eruptions of ‘Plumes’.
It’s tempting to think of Mythologies as a companion to Holst’s The Planets, in the way it paints mythological figures (including Venus, goddess of peace and Mars, god of war) in characterful strokes.
If this earlier work from 2000 has perhaps less of the confident fluency and sharp focus of the Symphony, her voice is still distinctive. Rebecca Franks
