Freya Waley-Cohen (b. 1989)
Spell Book
Contents and performers listed after review
Manchester Collective
rec. 2021/2024, All Saints, East Finchley, London; Stoller & Victoria Halls, Manchester, UK
Texts are included
Reviewed as lossless WAV files
NMC D284 [71]
Diving straight into this CD with the main work Spell Book, I confess to being overwhelmed by the intensity of the music and its text. Based on spell casting and drawing on Rebecca Tamás’s poetry on the subject of witches, it is a substantial eight-movement song cycle for three singers and chamber ensemble.
I decided to spend a day or so trying to prepare myself to negotiate the piece again, so I listened around to some pieces by the teachers I know Freya Waley-Cohen studied with in her formative years. This has worked for me in the past when I have found a piece difficult to get a hold on, so I thought it would be worth a try.
I started with Giles Swayne and his huge choral piece Cry. This was a landmark piece of his in the 80s, and I read that Waley-Cohen studied with him at Cambridge. Next, I listened to two pieces of Simon Bainbridge. I chose his Viola Concerto and the magnificent Ad Ora Incerta, the latter another song cycle based on a difficult text. I enjoyed all three of these works for different reasons, but in none of them could I see a link or influence I could use to help me with Spell Book.
I finally took down Where the Wild Things Are, the fantasy opera by Oliver Knussen in that fantastic DG recording (coupled of course with Higglety Pigglety Pop!) and after a hugely enjoyable forty minutes I felt ready for the work again. In the CD notes, Waley-Cohen remembers Knussen fondly and I can hear her mentor’s influence in her music, so I think I may have chosen well in my day of preparatory listening.
Spell Book is performed by the cool Manchester Collective, here employing a nonet of strings, flute, clarinet, harp and an important piano part. The first three songs are sung by mezzo Katie Bray. Her spells are of – shall we say? – a physical nature. I don’t know if MWI ever apply parental advisory labels, but these incantations are not for the prudish, that’s for sure. The sound world is fascinating and ever-changing. There is dramatic power but also periods of eerie stillness when singer and instrumentalists blend very effectively (listen to track 5 around 2:50).
Readers may know French soprano and composer Héloïse Werner from her two CDs on the Delphian label. Her distinctive Gallic tones are displayed in the two central spell songs in the cycle. The first Spell for Women’s Books is an intoxicating picture of soaring vocal lines and swirling, intertwining string figures. Her Spell for Joy ends in a virtuosic orgy of affirmation (track 8, 4:10).
Our final spell-weaver is the up-and-coming mezzo Fleur Barron. I note she is due to perform in Das Lied von der Erde in some pretty impressive engagements later in the 2024/5 season and that should be quite something judging by her artistry and dark, rich vocal assets. The Spell for Reality is for me the stand-out in Spell Book. The build-up of the song over its eight-minute span is masterly. Unsettling and dark though the mood is, Waley-Cohen shows us how she can create shades of light and shadow by her expert use of the instrumental palette.
The terrifying final spell requires all three singers and the piece ends in a blaze of fortissimo chords: unrelenting, dramatic and leaving you breathless. Younger readers who belong to Generation Z or the Millennials seem to enjoy Halloween much more than I do. Although my experience with Spell Book has definitely made me want to hear more of Freya Waley-Cohen, it hasn’t made me want to make the acquaintance of any more “weird sisters” any time soon. Far too scary for me!
This album also gives us three of Waley-Cohen’s instrumental works. Naiad is an Octet notable for its delicate textures of twinkling light and the interplay between harp and the other players. Themes outlined at the onset of the piece (1:02) are explored using layering and overlap and return in the lovely close (5:50). Talisman is for a larger string ensemble and over an extended period creates a sound world completely different again from the other two pieces heard so far. This piece was recorded by Manchester Collective back in 2021 when their first album was released, containing Finnissy, Glass and Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht. I note that BBC Radio 3 broadcast its premiere that year in a typically eclectic Manchester Collective concert that also contained John Adams’ Shaker Loops. The work isn’t diminished by referencing these other great pieces, to which I can link the music of Talisman.
The first piece on the record I have left to last, as it is performed by different musicians. Freya’s sister violinist Tamsin Waley-Cohen, who has an impressive discography on Signum, is joined by two colleagues in Conjure. This string trio is probably the most accessible piece on the disc. Tonally anchored, it is to my ears an idyll of great delicacy and charm, albeit punctuated by rhythmic momentum in places for contrast (3:12). The string players weave their magic wonderfully (try around 7:16) and for me listening to it and reviewing it last leaves me with a sense of joy and satisfaction.
Waley-Cohen is a voice to be reckoned with and I am glad to have made her acquaintance on this record. I note that in 2023 a piece called Demon was performed by orchestras in Birmingham and Stockholm, and later this year (2024), Mother Tongue will be on the program of an LPO concert with Edward Gardner. Maybe NMC or some other enterprising label will let us hear those works in time. For now, why not buy or stream this very interesting album? Like me, you may find it challenging at first, but it’s worth the effort.
Philip Harrison
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Contents
Conjure (2019) ¹
Talisman (2020)
Naiad (2019)
Spell Book (2020-23) ²
Performers:
Tamsin Waley-Cohen (violin) ¹, Anne Beilby (viola) ¹, Nathaniel Boyd (cello) ¹
Héloïse Werner (soprano)² , Fleur Barron (mezzo-soprano) ², Katie Bray (mezzo-soprano) ²
