6 reviews for Philip Sawyers – Double Concerto for Violin and Cello, Viola Concerto, Remembrance for Strings, Octet

1. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Admin – April 20, 2023

   From Nick Barnard, MusicWeb International

   https://www.musicwebinternational.com/2023/04/sawyers-string-concertos-nimbus/

   Philip Sawyers (b.1951)
   Double Concerto for Violin and Cello (2020)
   Remembrance for Strings (2020-21)
   Concerto for Viola and Orchestra (2020)
   Octet (2007)
   English Symphony Orchestra / Kenneth Woods / Daniel Rowland (violin & viola) / Maja Bogdanovi? (cello)
   rec. 2021/22, Wyastone Concert Hall, Wales
   Nimbus Alliance NI6436 [71]

   This is now the sixth volume of orchestral music by Philip Sawyers on the Nimbus Alliance label and the fifth conducted by Kenneth Woods. I reviewed the first release back in October 2010 for this website here and ever since have been an enthusiastic admirer of Sawyers’ work. A brief career résumé is probably useful. On completing his training on violin and composition at London’s Guildhall School, Sawyer spent the best part of a quarter century playing in the orchestra of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden. Those years – 1973-97 – saw little time for composition. In his own words on his website in 1997 he decided to “opt for a quieter life” and left the orchestra. The quarter century since then has been far more productive in composition terms – the list of works and dates of composition can be read on the same website here. The relationship with Nimbus Alliance has been a valuable one – a quick look at that list shows that pretty much all of Sawyers’ orchestral works have been recorded by the label and in many cases quite soon after their composition. So it proves with this new disc where three of the four works date from 2020 or later and just the Octet is ‘old’ having been written in 2007.

   In reviewing the Symphony No.3 recording by the same artists back in 2017 I noted; “this admiration and respect is clearly mutual and not limited to simply a professional relationship …. the close ties between performers and composer goes even further with the 3rd Symphony dedicated to conductor Kenneth Woods …. all of which points to the fact that this is a recording produced and released by a team wholly dedicated to the project – a level of commitment which is palpable throughout”. This can be echoed again with this new release which underlines the sense that Sawyers has a group of performers around him who inspire him and in turn are passionately supportive of his work. So the quality of the playing on this disc is never in doubt and indeed the evident conviction of the performers in these works has been a recurring feature of all the discs to date.

   Having written a cello concerto for Maja Bogdanovi? previously, in 2020 Sawyers completed his Double Concerto for Violin and Cello – which to quote the composer; “overshadowed by the famous Brahms double, this was a daunting task.” The work is in the standard fast-slow-fast three movement format, well proportioned and well balanced with a central 9:34 Andante framed by a 7:15 Allegro moderato and a closing 8:15 Allegro vivo. A feature of all Sawyers’ orchestral scores is his clear sense of instrumental colour and how to write effectively for the forces he deploys – not really that surprising given he spent a quarter century “inside” an orchestra. In the fairly brief liner note by the composer he references; “suggestions of Poulenc in his neo-Classical mode – not intentional!” Certainly the work strikes me as a whole as having a lighter spirit and a more lyrical heart than some of Sawyers’ other/earlier scores. That does not mean that there are not plenty of opportunities for virtuosic display – played here with easy flair by the excellent soloists, but there is not the same sense of conflict and resolution that inhabits some of his works. In the liner Sawyers mentions the “musical and personal connection” between the two players which I wonder is why he has written a work where the two solo parts are so intertwined. Quite unusually for a double concerto work the solo parts, almost without exception, play together – either at the octave, in close harmony or echoing each other’s thematic material. I do not recall hearing any passages when one soloist is in anything but euphonious close conjunction with the other. Likewise the orchestral material supports rather than opposes the solo material. It makes for a very attractive work but one that consciously, it would seem, does not contain as much inherent drama as many Sawyers scores which is perhaps where the sense of neo-classicism comes in.

   The following work is the Remembrance for Strings which is firmly in the tradition of elegiac British works for string orchestra. Its genesis was a commission from a friend to write a work marking the loss of the friend’s mother. Apparently she enjoyed Sawyers’ orchestral tone poem Valley of Vision hence Sawyers has included veiled references to that work. Also, the request was for a piece “akin in mood to the Elgar Elegy for Strings”. Running to 8:50 I would say this wholly successfully fulfils the commission. This is an immediately attractive and indeed impressive work with the string writing grateful and effective. Of course there are echoes of other similar meditative string works but that is a function of the medium and style rather than being any lack of originality. Here Sawyers favours melodic material that is primarily created out of step-wise progressions. This allows the music to expressively unfurl up to a series of impassioned but well judged climaxes. The string group listed for the English Symphony orchestra is relatively small – 8.6.4.4.2 – but the sympathetic recording environment of the Wyastone Concert Hall ensures a rich and full sound throughout. Woods’ pacing of the score feels unforced and effective. All in all a genuinely attractive and ‘practical’ addition to the string orchestra repertoire.

   Much the same can be said of the following Concerto for Viola and Orchestra. This work also follows the traditional three movement fast/slow/fast format although on a slightly smaller scale – roughly 22 minutes to the double concerto’s 25. Daniel Rowland swaps his violin for the viola with extremely impressive results. The concept of the viola as the “Cinderella” instrument is long gone now with a raft of impressive new works played by equally impressive young soloists giving the lie to such a notion. In this work the interaction between soloist and orchestra is still quite playful but perhaps somewhat more traditional in the sense of occasional ‘opposition’ between solo and orchestral group. Again the engineering is just about ideal placing the soloist forward of the orchestra although not in an inflated sense but at the same time allowing the meticulous detail of Sawyers’ scoring to be rewardingly audible. Here the angular thematic material strives upward from the opening pages giving the music a restless yearning that is compelling – the secondary material in the woodwind is more linear again in an overall descending arc and the contrast and development of these two simple shapes makes for a strikingly effective opening movement.

   The central Andante is – as in the double concerto – the longest movement of the work and again beautifully sustained. Sawyers’ use of harmony is always essentially tonal even if often ambiguously so. This ambiguity gives his music this sense of unsettled questing so even when the tempo and harmony is relatively static the music draws the listener gratifyingly forward. And then when a final resolution is found as in the last bars of the movement the sense of arrival is very powerful. Sawyers describes the closing Allegro Moderato as a “lively rondo-type movement with some expressive moments”. Again the melodic material strives upwards but in phrases that alternate between the angular and the lyrical. But the angularity here is playful and provides an effective contrast to the moods that prevailed earlier in the work. Again Rowland’s virtuosity is very impressive and makes light work of the demanding solo part. As in the double concerto Sawyers seems to be exploring a more explicitly lyric-melodic style with the sense of a neo-classical finale present in this work too. The fairly abrupt ending to the work is a slight surprise although it is well-played by the English Symphony Orchestra.

   The Octet was a 2007 commission from a chamber group for a concert that would also feature Schubert’s Octet hence the instrumentation of string quartet plus bass, clarinet, horn and bassoon. The work is written in a single span lasting here 15:04. Interestingly where the Schubert undoubtedly sounds like a large chamber work, Sawyers’ sound like a small-orchestral one. I cannot quite put my finger on why this should be – whether it is the handling of the instruments individually or collectively or the fullness of the recording which certainly suggests more than just the eight players. Although continuous there are clearly distinct sections to the work from the energetic opening to the richly lyrical central Andante to the closing muscular agitato. This gives all the players opportunities for warmly expressive solos – the liner list all the players in the orchestra and the Octet so particular credit to Emily Davies’ beautiful violin solos as well as Alison Lambert on clarinet. But to be fair the entire group plays with great skill.

   Hearing this 2007 work alongside the more recent concerti does seem to underline the idea that Sawyers’ music is moving from a more dissonant knotty place to somewhere of greater clarity and expressive simplicity. I have to say I enjoy hearing this sense of compositional evolution. Certainly collectors who have enjoyed this series of discs will find the continuing journey rewarding and compelling. The list of works on Sawyers’ website shows a further two, as yet unrecorded, symphonies so the hope and expectation must be for further discs of similar stature.

   Nick Barnard

2. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Kenneth Woods – April 20, 2023

   Original
   http://www.classicalmusicsentinel.com/KEEP/sawyers-concerto.html

   PHILIP SAWYERS – Various Works – English Symphony Orchestra – Kenneth Woods (Conductor) – 0710357643620 – Released: March 2023 – Nimbus Alliance NI6436
   Double Concerto for Violin and Cello
   Remembrance for Strings
   Concerto for Viola and Orchestra
   Octet

   There must be some mysterious metaphysical organism at play which compels English composers to write such potently expressive music for string orchestra. Gustav Holst’s St Paul’s Suite, Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis, Edward Elgar’s Elegy for Strings, Frank Bridge’s Lament, to select but a few examples. Written as recently as 2021, the Remembrance for Strings by Philip Sawyers, poignantly performed here by the English String Orchestra, without a doubt belongs near or at the top of that list. Based on an evocative, recurring seven note motif that weaves its way through the whole piece as if part and parcel of the orchestral fabric, it stuns the listener when, at the very end, this motif rises to the top and, in one final breath, shines brightly. It was composed at the request of a friend who had recently lost his mother, and certainly captures the sentiment extremely well. In a previous review of this composer’s Symphony No. 4 I had remarked that he exhibited an “intuitive control over symphonic development.” The masterfully controlled development of this simple motif certainly reinforces this impression.

   The two concertos that bookend this piece are highly indicative of a 21st century composer who still respects music, and retains the mindset of early 20th century composers. Rather than exposing the soloists to freakish displays of technical pyrotechnics or nonsensical rhythmic or harmonic contortions as seems to be the norm, Philip Sawyers still sets the solo instrument into a ‘concertante’ role and perspective. Part of the orchestral texture yet still the dominant figure. And in true Double Concerto form, Daniel Rowland (violin) and Maja Bogdanovic (cello) not only outdo each other during their individual excursions, but also harmonize together as well. All of it set against a rich and compelling orchestral background that never really takes a backseat as part of the harmonic dénouement of each and every movement.

   To all of you classical music enthusiasts and collectors out there who bemoan the fact that there isn’t much in the way of “good” new music to listen to these days, rejoice in the fact that all the works on this new disc are world premiere recordings, and are all in their own way highly impressive examples of “good” new music.

   Jean-Yves Duperron – February 2023

3. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Admin – April 20, 2023

   From Textura.org
   https://www.textura.org/archives/s/sawyers_doubleconcerto.htm
   Philip Sawyers: Double Concerto for Violin and Cello and other Works
   Nimbus Alliance

   Though five earlier titles featuring the music of British composer Philip Sawyers (b. 1951) have appeared on Nimbus Alliance, this sixth offers as fine a series entry-point as any. That the release’s works are presented by the English Symphony Orchestra (ESO) under Kenneth Woods’ unerring direction and with soloists such as violinist Daniel Rowland and cellist Maja Bogdanovic aboard makes the release an all the more attractive proposition. Woods’ familiarity with Sawyers’ music runs deep, the conductor having been involved in four earlier Nimbus Alliance recordings of his work, two involving the ESO and the others the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Orchestra of the Swan. The connection between Sawyers, Woods, and the ESO solidified even more when the orchestra appointed Sawyers “John McCabe Composer-in-Association” after McCabe’s death in 2015 and until David Matthews assumed the role in 2018.

   Adding to the appeal of the latest release, all four of the works are world premiere recordings. It’s a move consistent with the forward-thinking sensibility of an orchestra and Artistic Director who seven years ago initiated their visionary ’21st Century Symphony Project,’ which was created to commission, premiere, and record nine new symphonies by leading composers. The new set follows the Double Concerto for Violin and Cello (Rowland, Bogdanovic, ESO) with Remembrance for Strings (English String Orchestra), the Concerto for Viola and Orchestra (Rowland, ESO), and Octet (ESO soloists).

   Composed in 2020, the double concerto is an understandable high point of the seventy-one-minute release, both for the personnel involved and the quality of the writing. At twenty-five minutes, the three-movement travelogue covers ample ground and proves a sterling showcase for the soloists (if Rowland and Bogdanovic sound especially complementary, it might have something to do with the fact that they also earlier issued a duets album on Challenge Records). The opening “Allegro moderato” draws the listener in with a quiet intro before the soloists enter assertively. While indeterminate tonalities permeate the opening section, the music eventually establishes a clear shape, and a solid ground supports the lyrical expressions of soloists whose playing’s marked by exceptional clarity and tonal beauty. Voiced in turn by the orchestra and soloists, a haunting motive emerges to lend the movement added definition. Horns and woodwinds infuse the introductory part of the “Andante” with dignity, after which the cello and violin deliver a series of supplicating, almost Wagner-esque expressions with consummate poise. Spearheaded by a cheeky violin figure and effervescent orchestra passages, the “Allegro vivo” provides a devilish ride and fittingly boisterous resolution.

   Asked by a friend to compose something akin to Elgar’s Elegy for Strings after the loss of his mother, Sawyers replied with Remembrance for Strings, as lovely and poignant an elegy as his friend could have hoped for. It certainly doesn’t hurt that the English String Orchestra produces such a stirringly lustrous sound for the nine-minute piece, and the solo violin spotlight that arrives during the closing moments is particularly moving.

   Rowland switches instruments for the release’s other three-movement work, the Concerto for Viola and Orchestra (2020). A rather wry, even sardonic statement by the violist establishes the tone of the opening “Allegro,” which, like other pieces on the release, ventures into chromatic areas. Whereas serenity characterizes the tremulous mood of the “Andante” and the searching to-and-fro enacted by the soloist and orchestra, the vigorous “Allegro moderato” offers a youthful, radiant counterpoint. While their instrumentations slightly differ, the Double Concerto for Violin and Cello and Concerto for Viola and Orchestra are complementary in structure and overall tone.

   At fifteen minutes, Octet is the release’s longest setting, though its single movement does advance through four sections: “Adagio,”“Allegro,” “Andante,” and “Allegro.” Blossoming slowly from a dark origin, the piece slowly defines the contours of its variegated shape. The musicians’ strands gradually coalesce as the pace accelerates, and long tendrils collect into flowing polyphony as the elements organize into groupings of different sizes. Don’t be surprised if your thoughts turn to Schoenberg’s Chamber Symphony No. 1 now and then.

   Though Sawyers writes music that has immediate appeal, it never panders. Immensely well-crafted, the material at times exudes a haunting character reminiscent of Bartok and late Mahler, especially during the music’s most chromatic passages. Such echoes notwithstanding, the four settings locate themselves comfortably within the twentieth-century tradition without aping the style of any one composer or suggesting allegiance to a particular school. As an account of Sawyers’ considerable gifts, the release offers plenty of satisfactions and testifies to the mutually flattering relationship he’s developed with Woods and the ESO.
   March 2023

4. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Admin – April 20, 2023

   From Remy Franck/Pizzicato
   https://www.pizzicato.lu/attraktives-komponistenportrat/

   In 2009, Philip Sawyers, born in 1951, was commissioned by the Sydenham Festival to write a cello concerto for Maja Bogdanovic. But it then became a double concerto for her and her husband, violinist Daniel Rowland. It opens with a colorful and richly nuanced Allegro moderato, organically developed on long melodic strands. The Andante that follows is wonderfully melodic, the finale contrasting and, though thoughtfully slowed several times, actually very upbeat and essentially serene.

   Then follows the contemplative, elegiac string work Remembrance, before the program continues with the Viola Concerto from 2020. It begins with an Allegro rich in motifs, but its light orchestration allows the viola’s sound to take center stage sonorously. In the central Andante, the viola engages in a kind of soliloquy, mostly framed only by some winds. The concluding Allegro also contains virtuosic passages, but also often remains very pensive. And at the end, one has the impression of having heard a formally as well as expressively strong work, which, like the other orchestral works, can be heard in an excellent performance.

   The Octet for clarinet, horn, bassoon, 2 violins, viola, cello and double bass from 2007 consists of a continuous movement in four sections: a very atmospheric, almost tender

   Adagio, a tipsy Allegro, a dreamily lyrical Andante and another very alert Allegro.

   And so one can only congratulate the publisher Nimbus for releasing this interesting CD.

5. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Admin – June 14, 2023

   Guy Ricakrds, Gramophone
   https://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/sawyers-concertos-woods-0

   Sawyers Double Concerto for Violin and Celloa. Remembrance for Stringsb. Octetc. Viola Concertod

   Daniel Rowland avn/dva aMaja Bogdanovi? vc b English String Orchestra; adEnglish Symphony Orchestra csoloists / Kenneth Woods Nimbus Alliance (NI6436 • 71’)

   The Double Concerto for violin and cello is the second work that

   Philip Sawyers has composed for the prodigiously gifted Maja Bogdanovic´ (the first being the Cello Concerto of 2010 – 10/14). In the booklet, Sawyers notes that writing in the shadow of Brahms was ‘somewhat daunting’, but the (seemingly) effortless lyricism and warm Romanticism of his three movements belie this. Here is a vibrant, melodic work, beautifully laid out for the instruments from first bar to last, and Bogdanovic´ and violinist Daniel Rowland perform it with infectious enthusiasm.

   The 20th century saw the creation of some magnificent viola concertos: Walton’s, Hindemith’s, Bartók’s and Holmboe’s (7/13) among many. Sawyers’s is worthy of such company, relatively modest in dimensions but punching well above its weight, from the striding theme of the opening Allegro to the breezy scherzando finale. Separating them is a contemplative, grave Andante. Rowland, here on viola, plays it with total belief, his tone exquisite, his understanding with the orchestra absolute.

   A memorial for a colleague’s mother, Remembrance for strings (2020-21) incorporates quotes from Sawyers’s tone poem The Valley of Vision (1/19) that she had been rather taken with; a nice touch, and Kenneth Woods and the English String Orchestra respond with sensitivity. The Octet (2007) is scored for the same ensemble as Schubert’s (in which company it was premiered). It packs much into its 15 minutes: tragedy, pathos, a skittish waltz and some lively Hindemithian counterpoint. It is superbly rendered by eight members of the English Symphony Orchestra. Nimbus lists the players in the booklet, mistakenly assigning principal bassoonist Rosemary Cow to second clarinet! Fortunately, their recording, made at Wyastone in 2021, is a model of clear, warm, precise sound. Strongly recommended. Guy Rickards

6. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Admin – April 9, 2024

   From Fanfare Archive
   This article originally appeared in Issue 47:1 (Sept/Oct 2023) of Fanfare Magazine.

   PHILIP SAWYERS Double Concerto for Violin, Cello and Orchestra.1 Viola Concerto.2 Remembrance for Strings.3 Octet4 • Kenneth Woods, cond; Daniel Rolland (1vn, 2va); 1Maja Bogdanovi? (vc); 4English SO Soloists; 1, 2English SO; 3English String O • NIMBUS 6436 (71:26)

   Philip Sawyers is one of several English composers currently writing in the mainstream genres of symphony and concerto. While by no means interchangeable, he and his fellow composers David Matthews, Matthew Taylor, and Adrian Williams are continuing in the manner of such 20th-century English symphonists as Edmund Rubbra and Robert Simpson. In fact, Taylor was mentored by Simpson, and Sawyers studied with Rubbra. From the same Sibelian roots, the 21st-century group has expanded on the color palette of their predecessors and incorporated more adventurous harmonies at times, but retained the clear structures and organic thematic development of the existing tradition. Both Sawyers and Matthews are now in their seventies: Does this signify the end of an era? Time will tell, but is clear we have passed through the age of detached intellectualism and returned to music that speaks to an audience on first hearing. (As it must, since new music so rarely receives a second hearing.) Sawyers says of his Cello Concerto, “My … aim was to write an engaging and emotionally and musically satisfying work”. The key phrase here is “emotionally satisfying.” It applies to all the music of his I have heard, and certainly to the very recent pieces on this disc. The central Andante movements of both the Double Concerto and the Viola Concerto are explicitly songful, with long lyrical lines for the soloists and climactic moments that release accumulated harmonic tension. The slow movement of the Viola Concerto (2020) is especially heartfelt, while the perky third movement reveals lessons learnt from the string concertos of William Walton (notably in the writing for winds).

   Sawyers was a late starter in symphonic composition. A violinist who studied the instrument with Max Rostal, he was a member of the Royal Opera House Orchestra of Covent Garden between 1973 and 1997. While a Violin Sonata dates from as far back as 1969, it was only with the Symphony No. 1 of 2004 that his impressive symphonic output got underway; since that time, he has added another five. In the concerto field, Sawyers has understandably concentrated on works for stringed instruments: His Violin and Cello Concertos have been recorded, along with a Concertante for Violin, Piano and Strings, and of course the pieces in this new release. The Double Concerto (2020) is something of a showpiece, treating the soloists as an equal team, and giving them most of the central thematic material. In three movements, it manages to pack plenty of contrapuntal energy into the first movement, establish the emotional heart of the piece in the second, and display the soloists’ technique in the finale. It was written for the musicians in this recording (just as the Cello Concerto of 2010 was also composed for Maja Bogdanovi?). Remembrance for Strings is a short, solemn piece in the style of Elgar’s “Nimrod” from the Enigma Variations: effectively done, and just harmonically slippery enough to be unpredictable. Finally, the Octet (for the same combination of instruments as the Schubert Octet) is the most rhapsodic of these works, though still tightly organized. The contributions of the horn and clarinet provide lively counterpoint to the strings’ rhapsodizing. Sawyers sees the strings above all else as lyrical instruments.

   Under the indefatigable Kenneth Woods, who has already done so much to ensure the work of Sawyers and his peers is heard, these performances set a high standard. Daniel Rolland proves equally proficient on violin and viola, Bogdanoi?’s romantic phrasing and rich tone show why she is such a favorite of the composer, and the English Symphony Orchestra (in its various iterations) is in its element. The sound, while perfectly clear, is set in the spacious acoustic of Wyaston Concert Hall (the hall owned by the Nimbus Foundation), which makes the Octet sound larger than the chamber work it is. This is another significant, highly worthwhile release from Nimbus of Sawyers’s orchestral music, in a series now numbering six. Phillip Scott