April-May 2012

In these so-called austere times it is tempting for ensembles to stick to tried-and-tested repertoire; to trot out the big hitters that are guaranteed to draw a decent crowd. But the London Sinfonietta have never been of of this ilk. In 2011, the group toured In Seven Days, a work for piano and orchestra penned by Thomas Adès with visuals by Tal Rosner, co-commissioned by the Southbank Centre and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association. This two-disc set features a live recording of the concert at Birmingham Symphony Hall, conducted by Adès himself, and a DVD marrying the music with its accompanying visuals.

Rosner's moving images were conceived as part of the composition, which is a 'video-ballet' in seven movements following the story of creation, and the listener really gets the most from the project when they consider the visual and audio elements concurrently. Adès goes further than simply depicting the objects of creation, focussing instead on energies and processes. For example, the swirling of the cosmos is alluded to in the continual ascending and descending scales passed from woodwind to piano (the latter expertly played by Nicolas Hodges), and Rosner's kaleidoscope images are perfectly entwined.

In Seven Days is followed by Conlon Nancarrow's Studies Nos 6 and 7, performed by Rolf Hind and Adès (is there no end to this man's talents?), both on piano, and recorded live at Kings Place, London, accompanied by Rosner and Sophie Clements' geometric visual representations.

London Sinfonietta with Ades's 'moving image' concerto

The London Sinfonietta's new association with Signum Classics continues with the first recording of Thomas Ades's In Seven Days. Described as a 'Piano Concerto with Moving Image', this half-hour piece is also a video-ballet in seven continuous movements that evoke the Creation story in sound and vision. A sombre though translucent prelude depicts 'Chaos-Light-Dark', piano then coming to the 'fore in the animated 'Separation of the waters into sea and sky' and intermezzo-like 'Land-Grass-Trees'. The central 'Stars, Sun, Moon' brings the most sustained and intense music,then an elaborate (texturally at least) fugue segues 'Creatures of the Sea and Sky' and 'Creatures of the Land' in a gradual build-up to the final section, 'Contemplation'. This alludes to earlier ideas from a more tranquil perspective, albeit with a hint of the opening to suggest a sense of closure.

Evocative without being merely descriptive, In Seven Days is a highly cohesive work that understatedly fulfils its intention. The piano writing is expertly integrated into the ensemble, Nicolas Hodges amply exploiting the judicious range of timbral possibilities, with the caveats that the whole feels no more than the sum of its parts, nor does the overall variation process have quite the cumulative impact its subject matter leads one to expect. Tal Rosner's video designs are a pleasure to watch as they pursue various off-symmetrical guises: the fact that the six screens have, for DVD purposes, been reduced to a rectangular formation does not in itself limit them to a highly effective gloss on music which, when heard on CD, is no less 'complete' as a purely sonic entity.

Both formats include two of Conlon Nancarrow's Studies for player piano- the rhythmically dextrous Sixth and the fantasia-like Seventh of the series- in Ades's two-piano transcriptions that bring their complexity but also playfulness into explicit focus, with Sophie Clements's discreet visuals a stylish complement. The DVD has a dialogue between Ades and Rosner, while sound and booklet-notes serve the music admirably. Whether In Seven Days is a harbinger of things to come or just a diverting novelty must be for each listener to decide.

Adès’s piano concerto In Seven Days is inspired by the biblical story of creation. At its premiere the visuals by video artist Tal Rosner made the whole seem frenetically overactive. Without them, it seems much the same. The ingenuity and dazzling colours of Adès’s wheeling rhythmic and harmonic cycles are jaw-dropping, as is the performers’ virtuosity.

In 2008 Thomas Adès wrote a piano concerto that follows the Creation story (hence seven days movements, the last entitled ‘Contemplation’, the day of rest) and intended it to be performed integrally with Tal Rosner’s moving images. Adès generates musical ideas, develops and jostles them, sucking the listener into a living narrative: ‘Separation of Waters into Sea and Sky’; ‘Land-Grass-trees’; ‘Stars-Sun-Moon’; ‘Creatures…’ The music leaps off the page into the consciousness in this terrific performance. As for the images, they’re on the DVD where the music is played again and Adès and Rosner talk. There are also visuals for two of Conlon Nancarrow’s ‘studies’ for player piano, rhythmically intricate pieces transcribed for two (normal) pianos by Adès. Nancarrow (1912-97) had a wry sense of musical humour, teasing and beguiling n these examples.

 A fascinating new release from Signum Classics, and the second with the London Sinfonietta, is ‘In Seven Days’ by the British composer Thomas Adès (b. 1971), alongside arrangements by Adès of two Nancarrow studies for two pianos. ’In Seven Days’ is a work for piano and orchestra with moving image (created by Tal Rosner) and was jointly commissioned by the Southbank Centre and the Los Angeles Philharmonic and first performed in 2008. It tells the story of creation but returns to the Hebrew version and it is certainly compelling to hear the composer and creator of the visuals Rosner discuss the work in conversation on the DVD, along with performances of the works with the visuals.

 Want something different for Christmas? Have you considered construction scaffolding, the Festival Hall light fittings, a lift’s machinery and the surface of the Thames? These are among the mundane materials used by the British/Israeli film-maker Tal Rosner in the visual layer of In Seven Days, the ingenious, far from mundane “video-ballet” composed by Britain’s musical volcano Thomas Adès (he’s also Rosner’s civil partner). You can buy it now as a CD/DVD package from Signum Classics, the new CD home of the music’s crack performers, the London Sinfonietta.