In the Mirror
Music by Women Composers
Heather Tuach (cello)
Yoko Misumi (piano)
rec. 2022, Wyastone Concert Hall, Monmouth, UK
Divine Art DDX21123 [66]

Here is another adventurous recording. These composers may not only be unknown to you but new to the general catalogue. Heather Tuach and Yoko Misumi have really taken their music to heart: they play with amazing passion and commitment.

Of the better-known composers, Nadia Boulanger’s Trois pièces clearly show her indebtedness to Fauré, especially in the opening Modéré. Elizabeth Maconchy’s Vigil from her Divertimento is one of five miniatures composed for the great William Pleeth. This one is rather thoughtful, even introspective, as can often be the mood of several of these works. It also seems that Pleeth gave a broadcast performance of the rather forgotten Ivy Parkin’s Three Pieces for Cello and Piano. The Aria played here, a lushly lyrical work, is the middle movement.

I was much taken with Barbara Heller’s Lalai – subtitled ‘Lullaby which awakens you’ – based on a song written by a group of Iranian intellectuals executed in 1973. Dedicated to all Iranian women, it depicts a mother who sings to her baby explaining how its father has been arrested and imprisoned.

Esther Mägi was the senior lady of Estonian music until her death at 99. Her music tends to pop up on Radio 3 in the middle of the night! The Psalm builds beautifully to a bell-chiming climax, and the cello part is almost folk-like in the lyricism.

I imagine that you have quickly grasped how enterprising this disc is, and eight more composers are represented. I will just focus on three who especially interested me.

Liz Dilnot Johnson’s work gives the disc its title. The opening movement of In the Mirror is entitled For Hester, who was the composer’s mother. Its quiet melancholy, in a way, sets the mood for quite a large slice of the recording. The other movements are Jigbaredosh, a more quixotic piece dedicated to Johnson’s sister. Lacrimosa is an arrangement from a choral movement in her Requiem Mass When a Child is a Witness – requiem for refugees. It is in a slow but impassioned style. The whole work is diatonic and has no nasty tricks up its sleeve. It ends with the easy-going On the Malvern Hill (I wonder which one). This is very much in the English tradition of one hundred years ago. It has a very exciting and rhythmic section as it moves on, that could possibly be inspired by a folk-dance.

Misumi and Tuach have arranged two of the items. One of them, Peace by the American composer Jessie Montgomery, was written ‘after great sadness’ in the first Covid lock-down. It has a quiet intensity about it.

Canadian composer Jocelyn Mortlock was often inspired by birds. In Halcyon, she reminds us of the story of Alcyon and Ceyx who metamorphosed into kingfishers and could calm the waters (hence halcyon days). This beautiful, impressionist and evocative picture, again, is slow in tempo and of a melancholic nature.

And perhaps that is the problem with the programme. The moods, and possibly the styles, are not contrasting enough, even if each piece is worth its place and worth hearing, especially in these magical performances. The musicians are very vividly recorded, and the booklet is a good example of its kind. There are some colour photographs, and concise but noteworthy details about the composers and each of the pieces. Worth exploring.

Gary Higginson

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Contents

Liz Dilnot Johnson (b.1964)
1-4. In the Mirror (2022-202)
Jessie Montgomery (b.1981)
5. Peace (2020, cello version 2023)
Dobrinka Tabakova (b.1980)
6. Whispered Lullaby (2006, cello version 2022)
Jennifer Higdon (b.1962)
7. Nocturne (2006)
Jocelyn Morlock (1969-2023)
8. Halcyon (2003)
Ester Mägi (1922-2021)
9. Psalm (1991)
Barbara Heller (b.1936)
10. Lalai (1989)
Jean Coulthard (1908-2000)
11. When Music Sounds (1970)
12. Sarabande from Sonata for Cello and Piano (1947)
Elizabeth Maconchy (1907-1994)
13.Vigil from Divertimento (1941-1943)
Margaret Hubicki (1915-2006)
14. Lonely Mere (1936)
Ivy Parkin (c.1883-1963)
15. Aria from Three Pieces for Cello and Piano (1934)
Nadia Boulanger (1887-1979)
16-18. Three Pieces for Cello and Piano (1914)