BachTrack, Phil Parker
Four Stars

This recital, given by the winds of Ensemble 360 and pianist Tim Horton, was an all-Czech, 20th-century affair. It was a balanced programme, in more ways than one, with two masterpieces by Leoš Janáček juxtaposed with two considerably less well-known compositions by his one-time pupil, Pavel Haas. But, looked at differently, one could see the first half of the evening – Haas’ Suite for Oboe and Piano and Janáček’s finest piano work, In the Mists – as an expression of grief, anger and a kind of brooding claustrophobia. The second half of the programme, consisting of Haas’ Wind Quintet and Janáček’s effervescent wind sextet, Mládí, by contrast moved us from darkness to light, from grief to joy….

Oboist Adrian Wilson, introducing Haas’ suite, sketched in the relevant historical background. It’s a work from 1939, expressing Haas’ rage at the Nazi invasion of his homeland… Interestingly the work began life as a suite of poems for female voice and piano, but the vehemently pro-Czech, anti-Nazi texts were prudently set aside in favour of the wordless oboe lines.

“Wilson’s playing emphasised the vocal quality of the writing, though this was declamatory at least as much as it was lyrical….”

Following this piece with Janáček’s In the Mists sustained the sombre mood. Beforehand, Horton quoted approvingly from Thomas Adès’ remark that in this suite, “the solo piano becomes a narrow space with four solid walls”.

“Horton gave an excellent performance, making the most of Janáček’s obsessive keyboard writing…”

…

But it was Janáček’s radiant Mládí, his 70th birthday present to himself celebrating “youth, golden youth”, that crowned the evening. Janáček’s scoring is revelatory. The addition of a bass clarinet to the traditional wind quintet thickens the texture without muddying it, by turns stentorian, playful and noble…

“The whole piece, ringing in the enclosed space of the Crucible Playhouse, was performed with life-affirming vitality.”