Helen GrimeNight Songs

Hallé • Lynsey Marsh clarinet • Hallé SoloistsJamie Phillips conductor • Sir Mark Elder conductor

2

1

2345

678

9

11

12

13

14

Virga 6’45Hallé • Sir Mark Elder conductor

Into the faded air 9’19Con moto 1’37Lento – 2’44Agitato – 2’19Grave 2’39Hallé Soloists • Jamie Phillips conductor

Clarinet Concerto 16’08I With vigour 6’11II Free and enigmatic 4’27III Calmo 5’30Lynsey Marsh clarinet • Hallé SoloistsJamie Phillips conductor

A Cold Spring 10’03I [crotchet = 76] 2’36II Calmo – 4’28III Tumultuous 2’59Hallé Soloists • Jamie Phillips conductor

Everyone Sang 10’15Hallé • Jamie Phillips conductor

Night Songs 5’52Hallé • Jamie Phillips conductor

Near Midnight 11’36Hallé • Sir Mark Elder conductor

Total timing 71’08

Hallé Soloists

INTO THE FADED AIRLyn Fletcher, Sarah Ewins violinTimothy Pooley, Julian Mottram violaNicholas Trygstad, Simon Turner cello

CLARINET CONCERTOJoanne Boddington flute /piccoloSteven Magee bassoon /contrabassoonLaurence Rogers hornTracey Redfern trumpet Roz Davies tromboneMarie Leenhardt harpLyn Fletcher, Sarah Ewins violinTimothy Pooley violaNicholas Trygstad cello Roberto Carrillo-Garcia double bass

A COLD SPRINGTom Davey cor anglais Rosa Campos-Fernandez clarinetJames Muirhead clarinetBen Hudson bassoonLaurence Rogers hornMarie Leenhardt harpLyn Fletcher violinTimothy Pooley violaNicholas Trygstad celloRoberto Carrillo-Garcia double bass

Phot

o: J

onat

han

Wra

ther

Helen Grime Night Songs

10

2

1

2345

678

9

11

12

13

14

Virga 6’45Hallé • Sir Mark Elder conductor

Into the faded air 9’19Con moto 1’37Lento – 2’44Agitato – 2’19Grave 2’39Hallé Soloists • Jamie Phillips conductor

Clarinet Concerto 16’08I With vigour 6’11II Free and enigmatic 4’27III Calmo 5’30Lynsey Marsh clarinet • Hallé SoloistsJamie Phillips conductor

A Cold Spring 10’03I [crotchet = 76] 2’36II Calmo – 4’28III Tumultuous 2’59Hallé Soloists • Jamie Phillips conductor

Everyone Sang 10’15Hallé • Jamie Phillips conductor

Night Songs 5’52Hallé • Jamie Phillips conductor

Near Midnight 11’36Hallé • Sir Mark Elder conductor

Total timing 71’08

Hallé Soloists

INTO THE FADED AIRLyn Fletcher, Sarah Ewins violinTimothy Pooley, Julian Mottram violaNicholas Trygstad, Simon Turner cello

CLARINET CONCERTOJoanne Boddington flute /piccoloSteven Magee bassoon /contrabassoonLaurence Rogers hornTracey Redfern trumpet Roz Davies tromboneMarie Leenhardt harpLyn Fletcher, Sarah Ewins violinTimothy Pooley violaNicholas Trygstad cello Roberto Carrillo-Garcia double bass

A COLD SPRINGTom Davey cor anglais Rosa Campos-Fernandez clarinetJames Muirhead clarinetBen Hudson bassoonLaurence Rogers hornMarie Leenhardt harpLyn Fletcher violinTimothy Pooley violaNicholas Trygstad celloRoberto Carrillo-Garcia double bass

Phot

o: J

onat

han

Wra

ther

Helen Grime Night Songs

10

54

With just a few exceptions (only one, forexample, among the seven pieces on thecurrent disc), all of Helen Grime’s workshave ‘poetic’ titles – titles, that is, thatdescribe something outside the piecerather than describing the piece itself. It’sworth pausing at the outset to think aboutsuch titles, which might appear to be alegacy of nineteenth-century programmemusic, although there are clear differencesas well as similarities. Grime’s titles tendnot to be of the typical Romantic sort:she’s not concerned with invoking heroesor historical narratives to stir national pride,or telling colourful tales in music to depictan exotic ‘other’. When they refer to literarysources, as they frequently do, it’s not tonarrative fiction but poetry, perhapsreinforcing a general predilection for theglancing rather than the explicit. These arepurely instrumental works after all, andcan be heard in terms of the music’s owntechniques and processes as much as ofany external referent.

The sense of a specific extra-musical‘programme’ is also qualified by the titles’multi-layered nature. ‘Everyone Sang’ is

both a literal invocation of the idea of song(or melody – an important element of allGrime’s music, as we shall see) and areference, for those who know it, toSiegfried Sassoon’s poem of the same title.‘Night Songs’ invokes song again; furtherbrings to mind a specific history ofnocturnes and ‘night music’; andadditionally refers – although fewerlisteners are likely to know this withoutbeing told – to a box assemblage by theAmerican artist Joseph Cornell. In eachcase the title seems like not so much amotivation as a confirmation: a way offixing in words what the piece fixes insound – and of unfixing it, too, since it’s inthe nature of poetic resonance thatdifferent listeners (starting, of course, withthe composer herself) will pursue differentdegrees of metaphorical ramification, orunderstand them differently.

The earliest piece presented here, Virga, isalready a good example of such resonanceat work, both within the piece and betweenthe piece and its title. Virga is precipitationthat falls from a cloud but evaporatesbefore reaching the ground, and at its

most immediate level of programmaticmeaning Grime’s piece doesn’t shirkdepiction, being full of what we mighteasily hear as rain-like sounds – the fallingcascades of woodwind droplets that oftendominate its textures, or the stabs anddots of harmony that surround its melodiclines. But this densely packed miniature issurely also something more abstract: anexploration of the orchestra, and inparticular of the orchestra’s registralextremes, which are first opened out at thevery beginning of the piece, with celestaand two piccolos exchanging arabesquesover a long held note in the double basses.An exploration, too, of different types ofmusical motion, as when that held bassnote unfolds into a slow-moving line risingthrough the brass, or when this slow build-up releases into a more lightly-scoredsection in which the orchestra’s stabs ofharmony accompany little scurrying figuresin two clarinets.

But it’s the remarkable, unexpected eventat the centre of the piece – a strange,entirely unaccompanied melody for thefirst violins – that might provoke us to think

more deeply about what sort of clues, orresonances (fixing/unfixings, again), thetitle has to offer. Structurally, this passageis the opposite of all that has gone before,with the orchestra’s high and lowextremities emptied out to bring the middleregister into startlingly close focus.

Metaphorically, too, everything is different,the kaleidoscope of droplets replaced by asolid shelf of melody – might we hear thisimaginatively as representing the altitudeat which a change in air pressure causesprecipitation to evaporate and disappearfrom sight? From this point of greatestcontrast the piece will return to revisit all ofits earlier materials and show them asparts of its diverse unity – of its weathersystem, as it were. The violins are joinedby celesta, harp and piccolos in a momentof magical, expectant stillness. The bassline gradually re-forms, at first fromisolated notes, and above these lowrumblings the melody descends. The brassre-enter. Over a more continuous bass line,the melody is taken up by all of the stringstogether now – a gradually blurred unison,plangent, insistent, trumpets crowning a

Resonant song by John Fallas

54

With just a few exceptions (only one, forexample, among the seven pieces on thecurrent disc), all of Helen Grime’s workshave ‘poetic’ titles – titles, that is, thatdescribe something outside the piecerather than describing the piece itself. It’sworth pausing at the outset to think aboutsuch titles, which might appear to be alegacy of nineteenth-century programmemusic, although there are clear differencesas well as similarities. Grime’s titles tendnot to be of the typical Romantic sort:she’s not concerned with invoking heroesor historical narratives to stir national pride,or telling colourful tales in music to depictan exotic ‘other’. When they refer to literarysources, as they frequently do, it’s not tonarrative fiction but poetry, perhapsreinforcing a general predilection for theglancing rather than the explicit. These arepurely instrumental works after all, andcan be heard in terms of the music’s owntechniques and processes as much as ofany external referent.

The sense of a specific extra-musical‘programme’ is also qualified by the titles’multi-layered nature. ‘Everyone Sang’ is

both a literal invocation of the idea of song(or melody – an important element of allGrime’s music, as we shall see) and areference, for those who know it, toSiegfried Sassoon’s poem of the same title.‘Night Songs’ invokes song again; furtherbrings to mind a specific history ofnocturnes and ‘night music’; andadditionally refers – although fewerlisteners are likely to know this withoutbeing told – to a box assemblage by theAmerican artist Joseph Cornell. In eachcase the title seems like not so much amotivation as a confirmation: a way offixing in words what the piece fixes insound – and of unfixing it, too, since it’s inthe nature of poetic resonance thatdifferent listeners (starting, of course, withthe composer herself) will pursue differentdegrees of metaphorical ramification, orunderstand them differently.

The earliest piece presented here, Virga, isalready a good example of such resonanceat work, both within the piece and betweenthe piece and its title. Virga is precipitationthat falls from a cloud but evaporatesbefore reaching the ground, and at its

most immediate level of programmaticmeaning Grime’s piece doesn’t shirkdepiction, being full of what we mighteasily hear as rain-like sounds – the fallingcascades of woodwind droplets that oftendominate its textures, or the stabs anddots of harmony that surround its melodiclines. But this densely packed miniature issurely also something more abstract: anexploration of the orchestra, and inparticular of the orchestra’s registralextremes, which are first opened out at thevery beginning of the piece, with celestaand two piccolos exchanging arabesquesover a long held note in the double basses.An exploration, too, of different types ofmusical motion, as when that held bassnote unfolds into a slow-moving line risingthrough the brass, or when this slow build-up releases into a more lightly-scoredsection in which the orchestra’s stabs ofharmony accompany little scurrying figuresin two clarinets.

But it’s the remarkable, unexpected eventat the centre of the piece – a strange,entirely unaccompanied melody for thefirst violins – that might provoke us to think

more deeply about what sort of clues, orresonances (fixing/unfixings, again), thetitle has to offer. Structurally, this passageis the opposite of all that has gone before,with the orchestra’s high and lowextremities emptied out to bring the middleregister into startlingly close focus.

Metaphorically, too, everything is different,the kaleidoscope of droplets replaced by asolid shelf of melody – might we hear thisimaginatively as representing the altitudeat which a change in air pressure causesprecipitation to evaporate and disappearfrom sight? From this point of greatestcontrast the piece will return to revisit all ofits earlier materials and show them asparts of its diverse unity – of its weathersystem, as it were. The violins are joinedby celesta, harp and piccolos in a momentof magical, expectant stillness. The bassline gradually re-forms, at first fromisolated notes, and above these lowrumblings the melody descends. The brassre-enter. Over a more continuous bass line,the melody is taken up by all of the stringstogether now – a gradually blurred unison,plangent, insistent, trumpets crowning a

Resonant song by John Fallas

76

final climax before the music fades backinto the atmosphere.

Composed in 2007, the piece hadremarkable early successes: it was takenup by Oliver Knussen, who conducted it atthe BBC Proms in August 2009, and byno less a figure than Pierre Boulez, whogave the French premiere with theOrchestre de Paris in May 2010. StéphaneDenève introduced the piece to Grime’shome country in the Royal ScottishNational Orchestra’s 2010–11 season, bywhich time the composer’s rapidly growingreputation had won her a commissionfrom another Scottish orchestra, the BBCScottish Symphony Orchestra – the result,Everyone Sang, was premiered inDecember 2010. Virga was alsoperformed by the Hallé in November2011, to mark the beginning of Grime’sthree-year appointment as the orchestra’sAssociate Composer. Near Midnight, themost recent piece here, is the first newwork to have emerged from thatassociation, while the Radio 3 commissionNight Songs pays testament to thecontinuing support of Oliver Knussen, itsdedicatee, who led its premiere at theBBC Proms three years after hisperformance there of Virga.

It was also Knussen who had directed thepremiere – again in summer 2009 – of oneof the three works for smaller ensemblesincluded here, A Cold Spring,commissioned by BirminghamContemporary Music Group and AldeburghMusic for the Aldeburgh Festival. TheClarinet Concerto, although destined forperformance as part of Grime’s 2010summer residency at Tanglewood MusicCenter, was composed in the winter of2008–9, while the string sextet Into thefaded air was written in 2007 to acommission from the Britten Sinfonia.Programmed here – at Grime’s ownsuggestion – in order of composition, thepieces seem audibly to share and toextend many of Virga’s preoccupations:with melody; with decoration, and therelationship of decoration to the mainsubstance of a piece; and with theexploration, or strategic withholding, of thefull registral span of the ensemble or of itscomponent instruments.

Thus, Into the faded air – the title is aphrase from ‘Burnt Norton’, the first of T.S.Eliot’s Four Quartets – opens with whatappears to be a quick dance, but soonreveals itself to be more concerned withexploring the subtle movements in and out

of sync between three slower-movinginstruments (one violin, one viola, onecello) playing an almost-but-not-quite-unison melody. The more sharply etchedrhythmic material of the other threeinstruments continues as interjections untilthe two trios are rapidly reconfigured asthree duos in the abrupt final gesture.

The new configuration carries over into thesecond movement, which unfolds as aduet for the two violas, with theaccompanying pairs of violins and cellosamplifying or prefiguring their material andgradually challenging them forprominence. A high violin note is held overabove the beginning of a scurrying motoperpetuo third movement which, like thefirst, acquires a sort of shadow layer ofpizzicato notes and harmonics formed byselecting pitches from the faster material;this time, however, it is a slower layer stillthat proves decisive, as the cellos arefinally given sustained material in theirlowest register. From here the workreleases suddenly into a finale of ghostlystrains – like some abstracted slow dance– passed back and forth between the threeupper and three lower instruments;running closer together until they reachsome kind of accommodation; and finally

evaporating (‘into the faded air …’?) as thesolo first violin resumes the descent alone.

The Clarinet Concerto also took its initialstimulus from a poem – in this caseBaudelaire’s ‘The Cracked Bell’ – but here,Grime says, the piece took its owndirection early enough in the compositionalprocess for her to decide against retainingan allusion in the title. The small ensembleof eleven players functions for much of thepiece as a sort of echo chamber for thesoloist, who in the first movement inparticular is almost continuously busy. Theupper strings and brass pick smallfragments of phrases or sustain notes fromthe solo part, while the bassoon (doublingon contrabassoon), double bass andoccasionally also the harp extend theensemble’s range deep into the lowerregister, including in a striking passagefrom around two minutes in wherelugubrious slow-moving material alternateswith the continuing activity of the trebleinstruments. The second movementconsists of a cadenza which ascendsslowly from the clarinet’s chalumeauregister before an airy ensemble texturetakes over; low and high textures are thencombined, with the contrabassoon againprominent. But the movement ends up in

76

final climax before the music fades backinto the atmosphere.

Composed in 2007, the piece hadremarkable early successes: it was takenup by Oliver Knussen, who conducted it atthe BBC Proms in August 2009, and byno less a figure than Pierre Boulez, whogave the French premiere with theOrchestre de Paris in May 2010. StéphaneDenève introduced the piece to Grime’shome country in the Royal ScottishNational Orchestra’s 2010–11 season, bywhich time the composer’s rapidly growingreputation had won her a commissionfrom another Scottish orchestra, the BBCScottish Symphony Orchestra – the result,Everyone Sang, was premiered inDecember 2010. Virga was alsoperformed by the Hallé in November2011, to mark the beginning of Grime’sthree-year appointment as the orchestra’sAssociate Composer. Near Midnight, themost recent piece here, is the first newwork to have emerged from thatassociation, while the Radio 3 commissionNight Songs pays testament to thecontinuing support of Oliver Knussen, itsdedicatee, who led its premiere at theBBC Proms three years after hisperformance there of Virga.

It was also Knussen who had directed thepremiere – again in summer 2009 – of oneof the three works for smaller ensemblesincluded here, A Cold Spring,commissioned by BirminghamContemporary Music Group and AldeburghMusic for the Aldeburgh Festival. TheClarinet Concerto, although destined forperformance as part of Grime’s 2010summer residency at Tanglewood MusicCenter, was composed in the winter of2008–9, while the string sextet Into thefaded air was written in 2007 to acommission from the Britten Sinfonia.Programmed here – at Grime’s ownsuggestion – in order of composition, thepieces seem audibly to share and toextend many of Virga’s preoccupations:with melody; with decoration, and therelationship of decoration to the mainsubstance of a piece; and with theexploration, or strategic withholding, of thefull registral span of the ensemble or of itscomponent instruments.

Thus, Into the faded air – the title is aphrase from ‘Burnt Norton’, the first of T.S.Eliot’s Four Quartets – opens with whatappears to be a quick dance, but soonreveals itself to be more concerned withexploring the subtle movements in and out

of sync between three slower-movinginstruments (one violin, one viola, onecello) playing an almost-but-not-quite-unison melody. The more sharply etchedrhythmic material of the other threeinstruments continues as interjections untilthe two trios are rapidly reconfigured asthree duos in the abrupt final gesture.

The new configuration carries over into thesecond movement, which unfolds as aduet for the two violas, with theaccompanying pairs of violins and cellosamplifying or prefiguring their material andgradually challenging them forprominence. A high violin note is held overabove the beginning of a scurrying motoperpetuo third movement which, like thefirst, acquires a sort of shadow layer ofpizzicato notes and harmonics formed byselecting pitches from the faster material;this time, however, it is a slower layer stillthat proves decisive, as the cellos arefinally given sustained material in theirlowest register. From here the workreleases suddenly into a finale of ghostlystrains – like some abstracted slow dance– passed back and forth between the threeupper and three lower instruments;running closer together until they reachsome kind of accommodation; and finally

evaporating (‘into the faded air …’?) as thesolo first violin resumes the descent alone.

The Clarinet Concerto also took its initialstimulus from a poem – in this caseBaudelaire’s ‘The Cracked Bell’ – but here,Grime says, the piece took its owndirection early enough in the compositionalprocess for her to decide against retainingan allusion in the title. The small ensembleof eleven players functions for much of thepiece as a sort of echo chamber for thesoloist, who in the first movement inparticular is almost continuously busy. Theupper strings and brass pick smallfragments of phrases or sustain notes fromthe solo part, while the bassoon (doublingon contrabassoon), double bass andoccasionally also the harp extend theensemble’s range deep into the lowerregister, including in a striking passagefrom around two minutes in wherelugubrious slow-moving material alternateswith the continuing activity of the trebleinstruments. The second movementconsists of a cadenza which ascendsslowly from the clarinet’s chalumeauregister before an airy ensemble texturetakes over; low and high textures are thencombined, with the contrabassoon againprominent. But the movement ends up in

98

the high treble, from where a solo flutetakes over to introduce the slow finale.

In the next work Grime retained herworking title – Elizabeth Bishop thesource this time – but perhaps only as ageneral indicator of mood, since themusic again appears to take itsexpressive cues from an abstractlymotivated scheme of contrasts andcontinuities. If both this and theabstractly-titled concerto run variations ona standard three-movement formalscheme (fast–faster–slow in the case ofthe concerto; fast–slow–fast in the case ofA Cold Spring, whose slow movement is aminiature concerto of its own, with a solohorn leading the ensemble), then it isinteresting to note that all of Grime’sworks to date for full orchestra are singlemovements, albeit of varying length. Thistoo, of course, was one of the motivationsfor Romantic composers to writeprogramme music: the possibility ofdeveloping a new form for each piece inrelation to an extra-musical stimulus (or,one might argue, with the extra-musicalstimulus as a pretext for what was in facta desire for musical innovation). And inthis respect Grime’s practice does indeedseem illuminated by such a historical

comparison – although both her choicesof stimuli and the form of her responses,naturally, are very much her own.

Everyone Sang starts with a high melodywhich in characteristic Grimean fashion isdoubled by different parts of the orchestra(here, first and second violins and harp),each with a slightly different emphasis, sothat a subtle stereo picture is built up as theactivity shifts from one group of violins tothe other and back again. This opening isembedded, again characteristically, in atexture of high flourishes and low rumbles,but essentially the entire work is about theproliferation of variants of the openingmelody, overlapping in increasingly joyoussimultaneity as the piece progresses.Commissioned to mark the BBC ScottishSymphony Orchestra’s 75th birthday, thepiece thus comes to seem like a celebrationof orchestral music-making per se, madeup as it is from a collection of individual‘songs’ which taken together comprise asingle expressive utterance. And yet theSassoon allusion in the title suggests, again,further layers of meaning, on which wemight reflect as the music itself acquires anextra layer in its closing minutes – themelody intercut with a chorale, the joy ofsongfulness transcended … or qualified?

Night Songs is built around two extendedmelodies, both present from the outset butevolving in different ways. The first, whichopens the piece in high solo oboe and isechoed and adorned by a muted piccolotrumpet, transforms itself constantlythroughout the piece before issuing in abrief climax towards the end. It iscounterpointed by a more mechanical,staccato line which moves through theorchestra without ever really changing innature. Conceived as a 60th-birthdaypresent for its dedicatee and destined firstconductor, the piece’s construction as aseries of episodes whose embeddingsproduce an illusion of scale pays homageto Knussen’s love of densely-populatedminiatures, from the fantastical paintingsof Richard Dadd to the eponymous Cornellassemblage (itself ‘melancholy yetfantastical’, in Grime’s words) – or, indeed,Knussen’s own Horn Concerto, anotherorchestral nocturne.

Where this piece is compressed, NearMidnight is contrastingly expansive. It isdifferent from all the other pieces in itsapproach to register, too, with theorchestra’s upper instruments excludedalmost entirely from the opening minute asthe music traces a path from low bass to

high treble, before two trumpets assertthemselves in the second of the work’sfour main sections. The title refers to, butdoes not quote, D.H. Lawrence’s poem‘Week-night Service’: it rather encapsulatesGrime’s feelings on reading the poem,whose ‘melancholic undertones [and]images of tolling bells, high-spun moonand the indifference of night’, she says,‘immediately struck a chord with me’. It isher most personal piece, elusive andmysterious even when – as in the thirdsection’s suddenly becalmed violin song –its voice is recognisably that of thecomposer of Virga. Spanning just six yearsof creative work, the pieces on this discrepresent a snapshot of that voice’scontinuing evolution: a metaphorical cycle,perhaps, from the daytime sound-picturesof Virga and Into the faded air to the night-worlds of the concluding pieces. It is avoice that will surely continue to develop,and to seek out resonances – in literature,in phenomena of the natural world, and inother music – in the years to come.

© 2014 John Fallas

98

the high treble, from where a solo flutetakes over to introduce the slow finale.

In the next work Grime retained herworking title – Elizabeth Bishop thesource this time – but perhaps only as ageneral indicator of mood, since themusic again appears to take itsexpressive cues from an abstractlymotivated scheme of contrasts andcontinuities. If both this and theabstractly-titled concerto run variations ona standard three-movement formalscheme (fast–faster–slow in the case ofthe concerto; fast–slow–fast in the case ofA Cold Spring, whose slow movement is aminiature concerto of its own, with a solohorn leading the ensemble), then it isinteresting to note that all of Grime’sworks to date for full orchestra are singlemovements, albeit of varying length. Thistoo, of course, was one of the motivationsfor Romantic composers to writeprogramme music: the possibility ofdeveloping a new form for each piece inrelation to an extra-musical stimulus (or,one might argue, with the extra-musicalstimulus as a pretext for what was in facta desire for musical innovation). And inthis respect Grime’s practice does indeedseem illuminated by such a historical

comparison – although both her choicesof stimuli and the form of her responses,naturally, are very much her own.

Everyone Sang starts with a high melodywhich in characteristic Grimean fashion isdoubled by different parts of the orchestra(here, first and second violins and harp),each with a slightly different emphasis, sothat a subtle stereo picture is built up as theactivity shifts from one group of violins tothe other and back again. This opening isembedded, again characteristically, in atexture of high flourishes and low rumbles,but essentially the entire work is about theproliferation of variants of the openingmelody, overlapping in increasingly joyoussimultaneity as the piece progresses.Commissioned to mark the BBC ScottishSymphony Orchestra’s 75th birthday, thepiece thus comes to seem like a celebrationof orchestral music-making per se, madeup as it is from a collection of individual‘songs’ which taken together comprise asingle expressive utterance. And yet theSassoon allusion in the title suggests, again,further layers of meaning, on which wemight reflect as the music itself acquires anextra layer in its closing minutes – themelody intercut with a chorale, the joy ofsongfulness transcended … or qualified?

Night Songs is built around two extendedmelodies, both present from the outset butevolving in different ways. The first, whichopens the piece in high solo oboe and isechoed and adorned by a muted piccolotrumpet, transforms itself constantlythroughout the piece before issuing in abrief climax towards the end. It iscounterpointed by a more mechanical,staccato line which moves through theorchestra without ever really changing innature. Conceived as a 60th-birthdaypresent for its dedicatee and destined firstconductor, the piece’s construction as aseries of episodes whose embeddingsproduce an illusion of scale pays homageto Knussen’s love of densely-populatedminiatures, from the fantastical paintingsof Richard Dadd to the eponymous Cornellassemblage (itself ‘melancholy yetfantastical’, in Grime’s words) – or, indeed,Knussen’s own Horn Concerto, anotherorchestral nocturne.

Where this piece is compressed, NearMidnight is contrastingly expansive. It isdifferent from all the other pieces in itsapproach to register, too, with theorchestra’s upper instruments excludedalmost entirely from the opening minute asthe music traces a path from low bass to

high treble, before two trumpets assertthemselves in the second of the work’sfour main sections. The title refers to, butdoes not quote, D.H. Lawrence’s poem‘Week-night Service’: it rather encapsulatesGrime’s feelings on reading the poem,whose ‘melancholic undertones [and]images of tolling bells, high-spun moonand the indifference of night’, she says,‘immediately struck a chord with me’. It isher most personal piece, elusive andmysterious even when – as in the thirdsection’s suddenly becalmed violin song –its voice is recognisably that of thecomposer of Virga. Spanning just six yearsof creative work, the pieces on this discrepresent a snapshot of that voice’scontinuing evolution: a metaphorical cycle,perhaps, from the daytime sound-picturesof Virga and Into the faded air to the night-worlds of the concluding pieces. It is avoice that will surely continue to develop,and to seek out resonances – in literature,in phenomena of the natural world, and inother music – in the years to come.

© 2014 John Fallas

Helen Grime has been commissioned bysuch prestigious ensembles andorganisations as the BBC Proms, LondonSymphony Orchestra, Aldeburgh Festival,Hallé, Tanglewood Music Center andWigmore Hall, and for such notableoccasions as the 75th anniversary of theBBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra andthe 60th birthday of conductor OliverKnussen.

Widely performed by both British andinternational orchestras, including theOrchestre de Paris and RoyalConcertgebouw Orchestra, her music hasbeen championed by such leadingconductors as Pierre Boulez, Sir MarkElder, Yan Pascal Tortelier, Daniel Hardingand Stéphane Denève, and broadcast bythe BBC on both Radio 3 and Radio 4.She was appointed Associate Composer tothe Hallé in 2011.

Born in 1981, Helen studied oboe withJohn Anderson and composition withJulian Anderson and Edwin Roxburgh atthe Royal College of Music. In 2003 shewon a British Composer Award for herOboe Concerto, and was awarded all themajor composition prizes in the RCM. In

2008 she was awarded a LeonardBernstein Fellowship to study at theTanglewood Music Center. She became alecturer in composition at theDepartment of Music at Royal Holloway,University of London, in January 2010.

Already something of a calling-card, hershort orchestral piece Virga, commissionedby the London Symphony Orchestra inpartnership with UBS, was premiered bythe London Symphony Orchestra underYan Pascal Tortelier in 2007, and hassubsequently been performed by, amongothers, the BBC Symphony Orchestraunder Oliver Knussen, the Orchestre deParis under Pierre Boulez and by the Halléunder Sir Mark Elder.

Other major commissions and premieresinclude Into the faded air, first performedby the Britten Sinfonia in 2008; A ColdSpring, premiered by BCMG under OliverKnussen at the 2009 Aldeburgh Festival;a Clarinet Concerto for the TanglewoodMusic Center’s 2009 Festival ofContemporary Music; Everyone Sang, anorchestral work written for the BBCScottish Symphony Orchestra’s 75thanniversary in 2010; and To see the

Helen Grime

10

summer sky, for violin and viola, firstheard alongside the UK premiere of herClarinet Concerto at a PhilharmoniaMusic of Today concert in 2010, the yearin which she was awarded the LiliBoulanger Memorial Fund.

More recently, Night Songs was premieredby Knussen and the BBC SymphonyOrchestra at the 2012 BBC Proms; hercritically acclaimed Oboe Quartet,commissioned by Winsor Music Inc. andpremiered in Boston in 2012, was givenits UK premiere by Nicholas Daniel andmembers of the Britten Sinfonia at theWigmore Hall in February 2013; and NearMidnight, Helen’s first commissioned workas Associate Composer of the Hallé,was premiered by the orchestraunder Sir Mark Elder at theBridgewater Hall inManchester in May 2013.Future projects include adouble concerto for

clarinet and trumpet, to be premiered inthe Hallé’s 2014–15 season, and a newstring trio co-commissioned by theChamber Music Society of Lincoln Centerand the Wigmore Hall for 2015.

The music of Helen Grime is publishedexclusively by ChesterMusic Ltd.

Lynsey Marsh Phot

o: P

hil P

ortu

s

Helen Grime has been commissioned bysuch prestigious ensembles andorganisations as the BBC Proms, LondonSymphony Orchestra, Aldeburgh Festival,Hallé, Tanglewood Music Center andWigmore Hall, and for such notableoccasions as the 75th anniversary of theBBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra andthe 60th birthday of conductor OliverKnussen.

Widely performed by both British andinternational orchestras, including theOrchestre de Paris and RoyalConcertgebouw Orchestra, her music hasbeen championed by such leadingconductors as Pierre Boulez, Sir MarkElder, Yan Pascal Tortelier, Daniel Hardingand Stéphane Denève, and broadcast bythe BBC on both Radio 3 and Radio 4.She was appointed Associate Composer tothe Hallé in 2011.

Born in 1981, Helen studied oboe withJohn Anderson and composition withJulian Anderson and Edwin Roxburgh atthe Royal College of Music. In 2003 shewon a British Composer Award for herOboe Concerto, and was awarded all themajor composition prizes in the RCM. In

2008 she was awarded a LeonardBernstein Fellowship to study at theTanglewood Music Center. She became alecturer in composition at theDepartment of Music at Royal Holloway,University of London, in January 2010.

Already something of a calling-card, hershort orchestral piece Virga, commissionedby the London Symphony Orchestra inpartnership with UBS, was premiered bythe London Symphony Orchestra underYan Pascal Tortelier in 2007, and hassubsequently been performed by, amongothers, the BBC Symphony Orchestraunder Oliver Knussen, the Orchestre deParis under Pierre Boulez and by the Halléunder Sir Mark Elder.

Other major commissions and premieresinclude Into the faded air, first performedby the Britten Sinfonia in 2008; A ColdSpring, premiered by BCMG under OliverKnussen at the 2009 Aldeburgh Festival;a Clarinet Concerto for the TanglewoodMusic Center’s 2009 Festival ofContemporary Music; Everyone Sang, anorchestral work written for the BBCScottish Symphony Orchestra’s 75thanniversary in 2010; and To see the

Helen Grime

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summer sky, for violin and viola, firstheard alongside the UK premiere of herClarinet Concerto at a PhilharmoniaMusic of Today concert in 2010, the yearin which she was awarded the LiliBoulanger Memorial Fund.

More recently, Night Songs was premieredby Knussen and the BBC SymphonyOrchestra at the 2012 BBC Proms; hercritically acclaimed Oboe Quartet,commissioned by Winsor Music Inc. andpremiered in Boston in 2012, was givenits UK premiere by Nicholas Daniel andmembers of the Britten Sinfonia at theWigmore Hall in February 2013; and NearMidnight, Helen’s first commissioned workas Associate Composer of the Hallé,was premiered by the orchestraunder Sir Mark Elder at theBridgewater Hall inManchester in May 2013.Future projects include adouble concerto for

clarinet and trumpet, to be premiered inthe Hallé’s 2014–15 season, and a newstring trio co-commissioned by theChamber Music Society of Lincoln Centerand the Wigmore Hall for 2015.

The music of Helen Grime is publishedexclusively by ChesterMusic Ltd.

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About the artist:Clelia Colantonio is an experimentaldesigner based between London and Milan.She gained a BA in Illustration from CentralSaint Martins in 2013, and a second onein Fashion Design from Milan in 2006. Herbody of work is centred around issues ofidentity and invisible printed matters,through the media of artists’ books andscreen printing as well as videos.

www.tenpersistentrumors.com

About the work:This cover design is inspired by the worldof Rorschach test images: the image is justone component of the test, whose focus isthe analysis of the perceptions of theimages. The aim is to highlight the conceptof music as therapy, where there is no roomfor words to describe feelings. The abstract

and evocative world of the image isintended to mirror the emotional stateexperienced by the audience when listeningto the music: from the very first momentsyou will be projected into a process ofvisual interpretation and reflection inspiredby the notes of the music.The cover image is a handmade print.

Cover artwork created by Clelia Colantonio, a student from the BA (Hons) Graphic Design course at Central Saint Martins College of Arts and Design. Students were briefed to createcover artwork for the series and winning students selected to have their work used in NMC’sDebut Discs series; the judging panel included NMC’s Executive Producer Colin Matthews, designer Vaughan Oliver and journalist and broadcaster Tom Service.

NMC’s Debut Discs Series includes releases by Huw Watkins, Sam Hayden, Dai Fujikura, Richard Caustonand Larry Goves. For more information visit our website at www.nmcrec.co.uk/debut-discs

With thanks to the trusts, foundations and individualswho have invested in NMC’s Debut Discs series:

The Astor FoundationThe Boltini TrustThe John S Cohen FoundationColwinston Charitable TrustThe Fenton Arts TrustNicholas and Judith GoodisonMercers’ Charitable FoundationStanley Picker TrustThe Radcliffe TrustRVW TrustThe Richard Thomas FoundationJennifer Roslyn Wingate

The individuals who donated through The Big Give Christmas Challenge December 2011 (see www.nmcrec.co.uk/debut-discs)

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About the artist:Clelia Colantonio is an experimentaldesigner based between London and Milan.She gained a BA in Illustration from CentralSaint Martins in 2013, and a second onein Fashion Design from Milan in 2006. Herbody of work is centred around issues ofidentity and invisible printed matters,through the media of artists’ books andscreen printing as well as videos.

www.tenpersistentrumors.com

About the work:This cover design is inspired by the worldof Rorschach test images: the image is justone component of the test, whose focus isthe analysis of the perceptions of theimages. The aim is to highlight the conceptof music as therapy, where there is no roomfor words to describe feelings. The abstract

and evocative world of the image isintended to mirror the emotional stateexperienced by the audience when listeningto the music: from the very first momentsyou will be projected into a process ofvisual interpretation and reflection inspiredby the notes of the music.The cover image is a handmade print.

Cover artwork created by Clelia Colantonio, a student from the BA (Hons) Graphic Design course at Central Saint Martins College of Arts and Design. Students were briefed to createcover artwork for the series and winning students selected to have their work used in NMC’sDebut Discs series; the judging panel included NMC’s Executive Producer Colin Matthews, designer Vaughan Oliver and journalist and broadcaster Tom Service.

NMC’s Debut Discs Series includes releases by Huw Watkins, Sam Hayden, Dai Fujikura, Richard Caustonand Larry Goves. For more information visit our website at www.nmcrec.co.uk/debut-discs

With thanks to the trusts, foundations and individualswho have invested in NMC’s Debut Discs series:

The Astor FoundationThe Boltini TrustThe John S Cohen FoundationColwinston Charitable TrustThe Fenton Arts TrustNicholas and Judith GoodisonMercers’ Charitable FoundationStanley Picker TrustThe Radcliffe TrustRVW TrustThe Richard Thomas FoundationJennifer Roslyn Wingate

The individuals who donated through The Big Give Christmas Challenge December 2011 (see www.nmcrec.co.uk/debut-discs)

Phot

o: C

hiar

a Va

loro

si

15

With thanks to The Hinrichsen Foundation for supporting NMC’s Hallé Seriesthrough its New Initiatives programme, and to The Zochonis Charitable Trustfor its support of this series.

NMC is grateful for the support of the Hallé and of Music Sales Ltd in makingthis recording.

NMC FRIENDSPRODUCERS’ CIRCLEAnonymous, Robert D. Bielecki, Anthony Bolton, Luke Gardiner,Jonathan Goldstein, Nicholas and Judith Goodison, Terry Holmes,Vladimir Jurowski, George Law, Colin Matthews, RobertMcFarland, James and Anne Rushton, Richard Shoylekov, RichardSteele, Charlotte Stevenson, Janis Susskind, Arnold Whittall

CORPORATE FRIENDSBASCA, Faber Music, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP,The Incorporated Society of Musicians, The Music Sales Group,RSK Entertainment Ltd

PRINCIPAL BENEFACTORSDiana Burrell, John Casken, Brian Elias, Graham Elliott, RichardFries, Michael Greenwald, Vic Hoyland, Stephen Johns, JeremyMarchant, Belinda Matthews, Ann McKay and Neil Pemberton,Dominic Nudd, Kieron O’Hara, Giles Swayne, Duncan Tebbet,Christoph and Marion Trestler, Peter Wakefield, Andrew Ward,Judith Weir, Hugh Wood

BENEFACTORSBruce Adams, Anonymous, Peter Aylmer, Peter Baldwin, Sir AlanBowness, Martyn Brabbins, Tony Britten, Andrew Burke, RobinChapman, Susan Costello and Robert Clark, Sheila Colvin, AntonCox, Steven Foster, Matthew Frost, Anthony Gilbert, John Gilhooly,Alexander Goehr, Jennifer Goodwin, Adam Gorb, Elaine Gould,Paul Griffiths, David Gutman, Barry Guy, Matthew Harris, RobinHolloway, Peter Jenkins, Kjeld Jensen, Ed Jones, Neil King QC,Bertie Leigh, Andrew Lockyer, Sally Marks, Cecilia McDowall, ProfStephen McHanwell, Stephen and Jackie Newbould, TarikO’Regan, Roy Parker, Stephen Plaistow, Chris Potts, RonaldPowell, Lee Rodwell, Julian Rushton, Keith Salway, HowardSkempton, Kenneth Smith, Martin Staniforth, Adrian Thomas,Owen Toller, Anthony Whitworth-Jones

As a charity NMC is non-profit-making, providingpublic benefit through the contribution our workmakes to enriching cultural life. Our ability torecord and promote the innovative, thechallenging, the obscure and the lost is reliantupon securing the support of individuals who areas passionate about new music as we are.

Friends membership (£50 / £20 concession for a12 month association) offers advance notice topurchase new NMC releases, a substantialquarterly newsletter, and invitations to NMCevents. Benefactors (£100) benefit from CDbooklet credits, 25% discount on NMC CDs, andthe chance to attend recording sessions. And ourPrincipal Benefactors (£250+) are welcomed toan annual gathering with the opportunity to meetNMC composers. In January 2013, NMC launchedthe brand new Producers’ Circle inviting donorsat £1,000+ to help us release particular ‘hiddengems’ while gaining an exclusive insight into andassociation with our work.

Please visit www.nmcrec.co.uk/support-us (or email development@nmcrec.co.uk or phone020 7759 1826) for more information onbecoming a Friend and other ways that you caninvest in NMC’s unique contribution to new music.Thank you.

A gift in your Will is an enduring way to mark your appreciationof NMC’s pioneering work and help us secure our futureaspirations. It is NMC’s individual supporters who ensure thebreadth and ambition of our output; no gift is too small. www.nmcrec.co.uk/support-us/gift-your-will. Thank you for your consideration.

Night Songs and Everyone Sang were recorded on 13-15 September 2013.

COLIN MATTHEWS Recording ProducerSTEVE PORTNOI Recording Engineer

A Cold Spring and the Clarinet Concerto were recorded on 6-7 December 2013; Into the faded air was recorded on 3 March 2014; and Virga and Near Midnight were recorded on10-11 March 2014.

JEREMY HAYES Recording ProducerSTEVE PORTNOI Recording Engineer

All works were recorded at Hallé St Peter’s, Ancoats, Manchester.

STEVE PORTNOI Digital Editing /MasteringCOLIN MATTHEWS Executive Producer for NMC

CLELIA COLANTONIO Cover imageFRANCOIS HALL Graphic design

NMC Recordings is a charitable company (reg. no. 328052)established for the recording of contemporary music by theHolst Foundation; it is grateful for funding from Arts CouncilEngland, the Britten-Pears Foundation and The Delius Trust.

ANNE RUSHTON Executive DirectorHANNAH VLC̆EK Label Manager

ELEANOR WILSON Sales and Marketing Manager

DISTRIBUTIONNMC recordings are distributed in Australia, Austria, Belgium,Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, HongKong, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, NewZealand, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the UnitedKingdom and the United States, and are also availablethrough our website www.nmcrec.co.uk

NMC recordings are available to download in MP3 and FLACformat from our website.

FOR FURTHER DETAILS PLEASE CONTACT: NMC Recordings Ltd,Somerset House, Third Floor, South Wing, Strand, London, WC2R 1LA

Tel. +44 (0)20 7759 1827/8Fax. +44 (0)20 7759 1829E-mail: nmc@nmcrec.co.ukWebsite: www.nmcrec.co.uk

All rights of the manufacturer and owner of the recordedmaterial reserved. Unauthorised public performance,broadcasting and copying of this recording prohibited.

® 2014 NMC Recordings Ltd© 2014 NMC Recordings Ltd

NMC D199

Information about the artists on this disc can be found on our website:www.nmcrec.co.uk

15

With thanks to The Hinrichsen Foundation for supporting NMC’s Hallé Seriesthrough its New Initiatives programme, and to The Zochonis Charitable Trustfor its support of this series.

NMC is grateful for the support of the Hallé and of Music Sales Ltd in makingthis recording.

NMC FRIENDSPRODUCERS’ CIRCLEAnonymous, Robert D. Bielecki, Anthony Bolton, Luke Gardiner,Jonathan Goldstein, Nicholas and Judith Goodison, Terry Holmes,Vladimir Jurowski, George Law, Colin Matthews, RobertMcFarland, James and Anne Rushton, Richard Shoylekov, RichardSteele, Charlotte Stevenson, Janis Susskind, Arnold Whittall

CORPORATE FRIENDSBASCA, Faber Music, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP,The Incorporated Society of Musicians, The Music Sales Group,RSK Entertainment Ltd

PRINCIPAL BENEFACTORSDiana Burrell, John Casken, Brian Elias, Graham Elliott, RichardFries, Michael Greenwald, Vic Hoyland, Stephen Johns, JeremyMarchant, Belinda Matthews, Ann McKay and Neil Pemberton,Dominic Nudd, Kieron O’Hara, Giles Swayne, Duncan Tebbet,Christoph and Marion Trestler, Peter Wakefield, Andrew Ward,Judith Weir, Hugh Wood

BENEFACTORSBruce Adams, Anonymous, Peter Aylmer, Peter Baldwin, Sir AlanBowness, Martyn Brabbins, Tony Britten, Andrew Burke, RobinChapman, Susan Costello and Robert Clark, Sheila Colvin, AntonCox, Steven Foster, Matthew Frost, Anthony Gilbert, John Gilhooly,Alexander Goehr, Jennifer Goodwin, Adam Gorb, Elaine Gould,Paul Griffiths, David Gutman, Barry Guy, Matthew Harris, RobinHolloway, Peter Jenkins, Kjeld Jensen, Ed Jones, Neil King QC,Bertie Leigh, Andrew Lockyer, Sally Marks, Cecilia McDowall, ProfStephen McHanwell, Stephen and Jackie Newbould, TarikO’Regan, Roy Parker, Stephen Plaistow, Chris Potts, RonaldPowell, Lee Rodwell, Julian Rushton, Keith Salway, HowardSkempton, Kenneth Smith, Martin Staniforth, Adrian Thomas,Owen Toller, Anthony Whitworth-Jones

As a charity NMC is non-profit-making, providingpublic benefit through the contribution our workmakes to enriching cultural life. Our ability torecord and promote the innovative, thechallenging, the obscure and the lost is reliantupon securing the support of individuals who areas passionate about new music as we are.

Friends membership (£50 / £20 concession for a12 month association) offers advance notice topurchase new NMC releases, a substantialquarterly newsletter, and invitations to NMCevents. Benefactors (£100) benefit from CDbooklet credits, 25% discount on NMC CDs, andthe chance to attend recording sessions. And ourPrincipal Benefactors (£250+) are welcomed toan annual gathering with the opportunity to meetNMC composers. In January 2013, NMC launchedthe brand new Producers’ Circle inviting donorsat £1,000+ to help us release particular ‘hiddengems’ while gaining an exclusive insight into andassociation with our work.

Please visit www.nmcrec.co.uk/support-us (or email development@nmcrec.co.uk or phone020 7759 1826) for more information onbecoming a Friend and other ways that you caninvest in NMC’s unique contribution to new music.Thank you.

A gift in your Will is an enduring way to mark your appreciationof NMC’s pioneering work and help us secure our futureaspirations. It is NMC’s individual supporters who ensure thebreadth and ambition of our output; no gift is too small. www.nmcrec.co.uk/support-us/gift-your-will. Thank you for your consideration.

Night Songs and Everyone Sang were recorded on 13-15 September 2013.

COLIN MATTHEWS Recording ProducerSTEVE PORTNOI Recording Engineer

A Cold Spring and the Clarinet Concerto were recorded on 6-7 December 2013; Into the faded air was recorded on 3 March 2014; and Virga and Near Midnight were recorded on10-11 March 2014.

JEREMY HAYES Recording ProducerSTEVE PORTNOI Recording Engineer

All works were recorded at Hallé St Peter’s, Ancoats, Manchester.

STEVE PORTNOI Digital Editing /MasteringCOLIN MATTHEWS Executive Producer for NMC

CLELIA COLANTONIO Cover imageFRANCOIS HALL Graphic design

NMC Recordings is a charitable company (reg. no. 328052)established for the recording of contemporary music by theHolst Foundation; it is grateful for funding from Arts CouncilEngland, the Britten-Pears Foundation and The Delius Trust.

ANNE RUSHTON Executive DirectorHANNAH VLC̆EK Label Manager

ELEANOR WILSON Sales and Marketing Manager

DISTRIBUTIONNMC recordings are distributed in Australia, Austria, Belgium,Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, HongKong, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, NewZealand, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the UnitedKingdom and the United States, and are also availablethrough our website www.nmcrec.co.uk

NMC recordings are available to download in MP3 and FLACformat from our website.

FOR FURTHER DETAILS PLEASE CONTACT: NMC Recordings Ltd,Somerset House, Third Floor, South Wing, Strand, London, WC2R 1LA

Tel. +44 (0)20 7759 1827/8Fax. +44 (0)20 7759 1829E-mail: nmc@nmcrec.co.ukWebsite: www.nmcrec.co.uk

All rights of the manufacturer and owner of the recordedmaterial reserved. Unauthorised public performance,broadcasting and copying of this recording prohibited.

® 2014 NMC Recordings Ltd© 2014 NMC Recordings Ltd

NMC D199

Information about the artists on this disc can be found on our website:www.nmcrec.co.uk

Helen GrimeNight Songs

Hallé • Lynsey Marsh clarinet • Hallé SoloistsJamie Phillips conductor • Sir Mark Elder conductor