BBC Record Review, Andrew McGregor (transcription)
Lumas Winds are a young award-winning wind quintet and they are really impressive. This is their debut disc and I’m, first of all, impressed that a chamber group has managed to get this far because it’s such a competitive field, and it’s a field that we don’t always talk so much about, wind quintets. So in a way I feel strangely proud of this group and I don’t know them.
“I think there’s something to be said for the fact that all five members are virtuosic and talented. This disc is called ‘The Naming of Birds’ and it includes music from every decade since 1960. There are three world premiere recordings: Gavin Higgins, Elizabeth Maconchy, Sally Beamish, and a little bit of William Mathias and Oli Knussen as well, and it’s an absolutely brilliant disc.”
Sally Beamish’s ‘The Naming of Birds’, the title work, was written by Sally in 2000, and it’s a piece inspired by the Latin names of birds and the close relationships they have with the actual sounds the birds make. There are 5 movements: each movement is a different bird, and each bird has a different soloist in the group. It’s really energised, characterful and fun. I think we should hear the first two movements. The first one is the partridge, which is represented by the horn, and the second the lapwing, played by the oboe.
I love that you hear an actual sample of the bird, because it sets everything up nicely.
“I think what’s really impressive about this group is just their technical control; the intonation’s spot on, but within this, there’s a nice line all the time, and there’s such beautiful music-making. It’s not just beautiful playing: there’s a piece by Gavin Higgins called ‘After Fallout’ that relies on them playing in an incredibly tense way, and their control is also brilliant there. I think the core sound of the group is really impressive. They’re one to watch.”
They blend when they need to but then they really stand out, and they give each other space. Their music-making feels really organic.
