Helen Grime (b. 1981)
Chamber Music
Hebrides Ensemble
rec. 2024, St Mary’s Parish Church, Haddington & Royal Hospital School, Ipswich, UK
Delphian DCD34318 [66]
When I first listened to this fascinating collection of chamber music by Helen Grime, I found myself developing a theory of compositional heuristics. Not having at that stage read the interesting booklet notes and so untroubled by small details such as chronology, I had a notion that by building on what had worked in the ‘earlier’ pieces, Grime had arrived at the magnificent assurance demonstrated in the final two pieces on the disc. So captivated was I both by the glorious writing for horn duo in Braid Hills and the thrilling flair and self-possession of the string sextet Into the Faded Air, that I was sure they represented the culmination of the composer’s writing for chamber groupings. Well, it’s true that Braid Hills is the most recently composed piece on the disc, but none of the rest of the dates in the chronology support such a theory. Indeed, Into the Faded Air, predates the first piece on the disc, Seven Pierrot Miniatures, by three years!
Listening again, somewhat chastened, I realised that this time through I had other favourites: the brittle, fragmented patterns of sound effected by the combination of clarinet, viola and piano in the Ted Hughes-inspired Snow and Snow; the highly imaginative reflections wrought by oboe and piano on paintings by John Eardley in Five North-Eastern Scenes; and the exquisite textures of Harp of the North, which made me wish Grime had written more solo piano music.
A third time I appreciated Grime’s droll take on the Pierrot character, in Seven Pierrot Miniatures, a notable contribution to the literature for the eponymous ensemble. I loved how she interprets the Giraud poems in a fresh, wholly different way to Schoenberg and the contrasts she effects not just in the individual movements but sometimes mid-movement too. On this playthrough, the sheer inventiveness of the superbly conceived To See the Summer Sky also cemented its vivid initial impression. Written for violin and viola, the textures and soundscape delivered across its five movements are extraordinary. At times you feel as if you are in a whispered conversation, at others you do not believe you are listening to only two instruments.
All of which is to underline Grime’s gifts as an imaginative and highly versatile composer, whose works as represented here possess colour, vitality and wit. The various permutations of the Hebrides Ensemble do her proud: there’s both a possessiveness and profound immersion in all of the performances that light up the recital. I enjoyed Pwyll ap Siôn’s booklet notes too. I’m not sure he is completely correct though in prefacing his essay with Stravinsky’s famous quotation from his Poetics of Music, ‘the more art is controlled, limited…the more it is free’. His suggestion is that Grime’s chamber music is more ‘alluring’ than her orchestral scores precisely because of the imaginative and intellectual effort required for writing smaller scale works. I certainly wouldn’t characterise any of Grime’s orchestral music as in any sense profligate though. Listen to the Hallé recording of various works including her Clarinet Concerto (NMCD199) or the LSO/Rattle rendition of Woven Space (LSO0323) for testimony to her skills as a brilliant and meticulous composer for those larger forces. Surely, the point is that like all great composers Grime is adept at exploiting the forces at her disposal. As in this latest disc. QED.
Dominic Hartley
Contents
Seven Pierrot Miniatures (2010)
Snow and Snow (2012)
To See the Summer Sky (2009)
Five North-Eastern Scenes (2016)
Harp of the North (2004)
Braid Hills (2022)
Into the Faded Air (2007)
Buying this recording via the link below generates revenue for MWI, which helps the site remain free
