new notes reviews, 14.09.2006

On this album, Ensemble Omega perform three works by the UK-based composer John Palmer which all, some more successfully than others, look at the relationship between music and text.

Waka takes its cue from the metric pattern of the Japanese tanka; whilst it's difficult to discern the 5-7-5-7-7 pulse apparently used to structure the work, waka certainly has something of the spacious contemplation of traditional Japanese poetry. Palmer draws out a tapestry of delicate timbral effects from the chamber ensemble, often cut through with a pitter-pattering woodblock reminiscent of the 'ki' in Japanese theatre. This piece does everything that the composer intends, but its poised writing left me a little cold: it seemed to be all atmosphere and no heart.

"…as it flies…" explores the William Blake poem Eternity in surgical detail, dissecting the text until it is simply phonetic sound and even sampling the breaths taken when reading the poem. Harking back to Berio's vocal and tape pieces of the 1960s, the female vocals are transformed into fluttering percussive effects, sudden electronic stabs and ghostly text-fragments over an 8-channels tape. This is a well-paced, utterly homogenic work, with whole words and pitched elements appearing later on, and is a fairly unnerving listen late at night!

In nowhere, a clarinet emerges out of a sustained note in the piano in a delicately suspenseful opening. This fragility is well-controlled throughout a piece inspired by the sentiments of a poem written by the composer himself ('timeless space/abandoned/in wastelands of memory/forgotten/and I/opened the door'). It is another detailed exploration of timbre, and by constraining himself to two instruments, Palmer works harder to create a wealth of sound colours, from rasping multiphonics and pitch bends in the clarinet to treated piano string effects. Electronics are used subtly, enhancing the pairing without muscling in and Zoltán Kovács displays some tautly versatile clarinet playing.

Kerry Andrew
http://www.spnm.org.uk