Reviews
by BEN SIMINGTON in LOST SOUNDS AND SOUNDTRACKS 21/6/2010
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How do you pull off an historical epic film in just over an hour and a half? Ridley Scott did so in his 1977 Cannes-honored The Duellists working from screenwriter Gerald Vaughan-Hughes' adaptation of a Joseph Conrad short that deftly dashes across 58 scenes spanning 6 discreet epochs inside 16 years, all within a 96 minute movie (not counting credits). Call it "The Mini-Epic."
To help the audience keep balanced on its collective time- and location-traveling toes (every 1m45s, on the average), Scott also had the sense to employ Howard Blake for a simple yet highly effective Romantic score that acts as the film's anchor. It returns again and again from opening through closing titles to a flexible main theme varied in each usage to resonate differently with the film's diverse cast of characters and compositions. Impossibly perfect cinematography certainly didn't hurt the film's success, nor did influences from Tarkovsky, Jancso, Kobayashi, Kubrick, and, well, Ridley Scott (he'd directed 1500 commercials by this point). Still, the theme—even when divorced from its intended images—remains addictively listenable in all its permutations and instrumentations, exploring at different times both the shared as well as conflicting passions of the film's two opponents: honor, duty, sadness, longing, and love.
Other unique highlights include the duel cues (sonic psychological portraits) as well as a sui generis Prokofiev pastiche for the film's most self-contained yet pivotal scene in the wintery wastes of Russia.
What you are listening to:
(1) "The Duellists" by Howard Blake
(2) "Laura" by Howard Blake
(3) "Cellar Duel" by Howard Blake
(4) "Russian Winter" by Howard Blake
(5) "End Titles" by Howard Blake
***
by Roderick Dunnett in Church Times 28/5/2010
Blake’s Four Songs of the Nativity, carol settings of great charm and vitality which follow, make lovely, spare use of brass (just as the harp is effectively deployed in The Passion of Mary.
by Roderick Dunnett in Church Times 28/5/2010
'At the cross her station keeping'
Howard Blake’s oratorio the Passion of Mary made a strong impression at its UK premiere in the Cadogan Hall in London. This has now been surpassed by a fine recording on the Naxos label with London Voices and The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
The composer focuses the work on three Marian texts, the Magnificat, the Stabat Mater and the Salve Regina, embracing Christ’s mission with a substantial second movement that moves from the temptation via the Sermon on the Mount to the crucifixion. Blake makes imaginative use of passages from St. Matthew, St. Luke and Isaiah to produce a narrative that includes the boy Jesus, sung affectingly here by Robert William Blake, the composer’s son.
The baritone David Wilson-Johnson provides a stark prophecy from Deuteronomy before the wafting voice of Mary (Patricia Rozario) is heard in conversation with the Angel (sung by the chorus). He is also striking as Satan tempting the adult Jesus (Richard Edgar-Wilson) before light-stepped Finzi-like strings usher in the Beatitudes, yielding unexpectedly quickly to a rapid and effective crucifixion sequence.
A moving rendition of Jacopone da Todi’s Stabat Mater text follows, with the soprano alternating with chorus, and some subtle repetitions, culminating in a final moment of rapture. The passage from John 14 which opens the fourth part is sung with Peter Pears-like intensity by Richard Edgar-Wilson.
Blake’s Four Songs of the Nativity, carol settings of great charm and vitality which follow, make lovely, spare use of brass (just as the harp is effectively deployed in The Passion of Mary.
….highly recommended.
by BOB BRIGGS in MUSIC WEB INTERNATONAL 13/5/2010
BARGAIN OF MONTH
Howard BLAKE (b.1938)
The Passion of Mary, op.577 (2006) [57:21]
Four Songs of the Nativity, op.415 (1990) [19:04]
Patricia Rozario (soprano); Robert William Blake (treble); Richard Edgar–Wilson (tenor); David Wilson–Johnson (bass–baritone)
London Voices/Terry Edwards
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra/Howard Blake
rec. 12-13 August 2009, Studio 1, Abbey Road, London. DDD
NAXOS 8.572453 [76:25]
The British have long had a tradition of choral singing. By the turn of the 19th century into the 20th century there were choral festivals all over the country. The Leeds Triennial and the Three Choirs remain the best known and indigenous composers wrote prolifically for the amateur singers. And what a line of composition it is: Elgar, Stanford and Parry wrote innumerable works for chorus and orchestra. More recently we’ve had Peter Racine Fricker’s A Vision Of Judgement and David Blake’s Lumina (a superb work which has been unfairly neglected) (both for Leeds), and John McCabe’s Voyage, Geoffrey Burgon’s Requiem and Gerard Schurmann’s Piers Plowman (for the Worcester, Hereford and Gloucester meetings of the Three Choirs Festival). The list goes on and on. Now we have Howard Blake’s The Passion of Mary which, put simply, just had to be written.
Having set the Stabat Mater, Blake realised that more was needed as he hadn’t said all that he wanted to say, especially, as he realised, there was no setting of the Passion from Mary’s point of view. This work was the outcome. It is firmly of the British school of choral music. We must not forget that Blake, when younger, was a boy chorister and sang in the choir whilst studying at the Royal Academy of Music in London. He took part in a performance of VW’s Sancta Civitas in the presence of the great man himself.
The Passion of Mary was given its British premiere at his 70th birthday concert in the Cadogan Hall, in London, in October 2008. It stunned the audience with its fluency, directness and feeling of ecstasy. The effect was spectacular – overcome with emotion, the audience sat in awe at the end, feeling that applause was, perhaps, not quite right after such an experience. I was there and can attest to that feeling http://www.musicweb-international.com/SandH/2008/Jul-Dec08/blake2810.htm. That performance was of an exceptional quality and some of those performers have been reunited for this recording.
Although playing for less than an hour, Blake manages, with the most economic of means, to tell the whole story of Christ, from Mary’s pregnancy to the Crucifixion and after. Following a brief yet intensely effective orchestral prelude, and a bass recitative, the soprano (Mary) sings the Magnificat, to music of high elation. The vocal line flies aloft in a finely judged orchestral setting. The orchestra is used throughout in a most restrained manner and only raises its voice once – at the time of the Crucifixion - in music of great strength and fury. This is both mystical in feel and magical in conception. Blake’s son sings the small but telling part of Jesus as a child, a wonderful stroke of imagination this, and the tenor takes the part as a man. Throughout there are choruses, recitatives, arias, duets and scenas, all of which follow one another easily and grow out of the argument. One of the most striking moments is when Satan, a suitably oily performance from David Wilson–Johnson, tries to tempt Christ. This is written, save for four urgent chords from the orchestra, as an unaccompanied scene. The work ends with a chorus worthy of Gabrieli, with joyful shouts of Gloria!
The words “masterpiece” and “a work of genius” are bandied about far too easily these days, but here they can be used with confidence for this, surely, is Blake’s masterpiece, and, from a purely musical point of view, it is a work of genius. As my friend, and colleague, Robert Matthew-Walker wrote, “The Passion of Mary makes an immediate and lasting impact on the attentive listener, and there is no doubting the conviction of the composer and the directness of his musical utterance.” I cannot improve on that. This is superb stuff in a performance which is of the highest quality.
I was at the sessions and can confirm the immense amount of work which went into making this recording. Patricia Rozario, whose voice Blake had in his head whilst writing, glows as Mary, making the most of her long scenes, and taking the wide leaps in the vocal line as if they were the easiest things she had ever sung. Considering that the part covers more than two octaves this is, in itself, quite a feat. Richard Edgar–Wilson (Jesus, as a man) sings with an easy fluency and fine diction, displaying a beautiful high G, so soft as to make one gasp. David Wilson–Johnson (as both the Prophet and Satan) is full-voiced and creates both parts with such skill that you’d be hard pushed to realise that it was the same singer. He is especially impressive as Satan as he descends to a low E? in the temptation scene. Last, but by no means least, Robert William Blake (Jesus as a boy) imbues the part with a quiet authority, displaying a beautiful delicacy in his delivery, and a full understanding of the music. London Voices sing with real gravitas – whether in meditative mode or when screaming for blood. How could they not when they were trained by a man - Terry Edwards - who, I have said this before, is the best choral trainer in London. The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra is with Blake all the way, giving their all, especially when allowed music to themselves. The orchestration is magnificent, with some eloquent moments for the harp. Blake brings out all the voices with great clarity. Michael Ponder’s production is a real asset, for the sound is big, yet even in the loudest episodes everything is clear and precise. There are also passages of such breathtaking pianissimo that one is on the edge of one’s seat. The sound is the best I have ever heard from Naxos. All in all, this is one of the very best CDs it has been my pleasure to hear and report upon.
And we haven’t finished, for as a, very generous, coupling we have the Four Songs of the Nativity for chorus and brass. These are delightful settings of texts taken from Mediaeval English Verse (Penguin Books). Although not easy to perform, they make a lovely set of alternative carols if not of the community singing type. Ranging from devotional to racy this work makes a good conclusion to a very special disk. Choirs looking for new repertoire need look no further. Here are two works which can communicate easily and make a real impression on the audience. A very good booklet, with full texts, completes an issue which should be in every collection. This music is far too good to miss.
Bob Briggs
Far too good to miss … see Full Review
by Grego Applegate Edwards in Gapplegate Music Review 12/5/2010
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I first came upon the music of Howard Blake via the soundtrack to the memorable animated film The Snowman. In particular the main theme as sung by boy treble with orchestra really captivated. It was a little like a cross between The Moody Blues's Days of Future Passed and middle-period Keith Jarrett. Hearing it still gives me goose bumps.
So when I saw this new Naxos release of Blake in a more "serious" concert choral zone, I jumped on the chance to hear and review it.
Blake seems like a natural when it comes to vocal-orchestral expression. Everything he writes in these two works (The Passions of Mary; Four Songs of the Nativity) seems to lay out in a kind of idiomatic near-perfection.
Howard Blake himself conducts the soloists, the London Voices, and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra for this recording, which seems definitive.
The music falls in a 20th Century tradition of such works by Walton, Vaughn Williams and others similar. That is to say, it uses extended tonal-traditional means to express lyrically the dramatic import of the narrative texts. The Passion of Mary follows a modern oratorio vein; For Songs of the Nativity uses the song form for some memorable Christmas fare.
Mr. Blake is a composer of talent. These are some beautiful and moving settings. If you are an Anglophile in matters classical, you will no doubt want this one. I will file it happily on my "modern English composers" shelf. That is, when I am not listening to and enjoying it.
by Phillip Sommerich in Classical Music **** 8/5/2010
Weaving together various pieces of Marian liturgy, Blake also fuses traditional religious music theatre with a distinctive modern idiom. His sense of dramatic conviction is shared by Patricia Rozario, brilliant in the testing title role, and the supporting cast. The more modest Nativity cycle gives a gentle let-down from the main drama.
by Matthew Power in Choir and Organ 1/5/2010
The highly original oratorio and refreshing Nativity songs focus on the life of Christ through the eyes of Mary. The approachable sound-world delivers an immediacy and drama that will draw listeners in. Excellent soloists bring the texts alive
by Kenneth Walton in THE SCOTSMAN 19/3/2010
Howard Blake's Spieltrieb – especially commissioned for the occasion – is, by the composer's own admission, a free-flowing stream of consciousness, characterised by gentle melody, and linked as improvised narrative. Not all its good ideas get fully developed, giving it the feel of a work in progress.
in Robert Crozier 30/2/2010
In my experience, many from the older generation regard premieres with trepidation. That section of the audience must have been relieved at Howard Blake’s Spieltrieb, which proceeded through a series of playful sections and finished with a lush melodious episode. John Adams named his work Harmonielehre after Schoenberg’s book – in which Schoenberg claimed that tonality was dead. Alex Ross wrote that Adams’ piece said in essence ‘like hell it is.’ Blake’s work in a more modest way seems to be saying the same thing.
by Alan Cooper in University of Aberdeen Music 25/2/2010
..I welcomed Howard Blake's new Quartet which sounded perfectly at home sandwiched between two other complex and sophisticated works that also have instant appeal, namely Haydn's Op.77 and Tchaikovsky's Second Quartet. Howard Blakes's 'Spieltrieb' has a certain sequential scenic quality about its structure. A series of contrasting sound landscapes follow one another. At first these may appear quite unrelated but as the quartet progresses, connections are developed and revealed until the whole emerges as being satisfyingly bound together. Rhythm, timbre, string playing techniques and melody are all skilfully exploited in weaving this attractive sequence together and as the work reaches its conclusion the musical appetite is abundantly satisfied.
2010
The Score
*Winner of the Anthony Asquith Award for Musical Excellence*
Menu:
Roses of Picardy
In the novel the children play hymns for Birkin on their gramophone. In the film they play the WWI hit tune Roses of Picardy, which subtly underlines the theme of Alice Keach, her roses, and lost love.
Roses are shining in Picardy,
In the hush of the silver dew,
Roses are flow'ring in Picardy,
But there's never a rose like you!
And the roses will die with the summertime,
And our roads may be far apart,
But there's one rose that dies not in Picardy,
'Tis the rose that I keep in my heart...
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Scoring the Picture
Not long after shooting had wrapped in September 1986, a rough cut of A Month in the Country was assembled. Now there was a fresh problem: the production was already over budget and the film had no score. Schubert’s lush hymn Deutsche Messe: Zum Sanctus had been run under Birkin’s flashback to war, and was repeated under the final flash-forward to his memory of redemption. A bit of Verdi had been laid in under Birkin’s work uncovering the mural. But otherwise the picture was rough and silent.
In what might be seen as a quixotic gesture by the makers of a little film on an exhausted budget, the decision was made to approach one of Britain’s foremost composers and ask him to do the job.
Howard Blake recalls: “I was very busy on other projects at the time and wasn’t at all sure I could fit it in. I went to a viewing and saw that the film was very profound, with a serious anti-war theme, but a certain amount of ‘found’ choral music had already been laid in by the editors. Pat O’Connor, the delightful Irish director, seemed keen for me to do it but I said I needed to think about it. He rang a couple of days later and asked if I’d decided. I replied that due to the use of choral inserts I could only see the score working as an elegy for string orchestra and I rather doubted that the producers would agree to such a thing. Pat insisted on seeing me and came over to my studio in Kensington that evening.
“‘Explain what you mean,’ he said, and I explained that I loved the film and I thought the choral/orchestral music worked brilliantly but it was very big and rich and I felt a score would have to emerge from it and be very pure and expressive and quite small — and that I could only hear this in my head as done by strings only.
“‘Play me something to show me what you mean,’ he said, so I talked the film through and improvised on the piano something of what I had in mind and ended by saying: ‘It’s probably not what you had in mind at all?’ At this point, to my great surprise, Pat knelt on the floor and implored me to do the score. He said: ‘It’s exactly right, I can hear everything you’re suggesting and I just love it — please, please do it!’
“How could I possibly refuse?”
Mr. Blake agreed “in lieu of a reasonable fee” to retain the copyright to his music. His score for A Month in the Country was recorded at CTS Studios, Wembley, in November 1986, with Mr. Blake conducting the Sinfonia of London. The Suite for Strings called A Month in the Country was adapted by Mr. Blake from the film, and recorded by Paul Daniel with the English Northern Philharmonia in 1994.
Howard Blake
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by Bob Briggs in Music web international 7/2009
Blake’s new quartet
Spieltrieb, commissioned by the Edinburgh Quartet to celebrate its 50
th anniversary, was given a magnificent performance. It’s not often that one hears a première of such assurance and commitment.
Spieltrieb is a concise work, playing for about 16 minutes, but within that short timespan there is much event – including a superb pizzicato scherzo of great virtuosity and, best of all, a coda to melt even the hardest of hearts, ending in the purest D major. This is a major addition to the quartet repertoire and it is to be hoped that it will be taken up by many groups in the near future.
by RODERICK DUNNETT in CHURCH TIMES 28/11/2008
There was no such problem for Robert William Blake, ten-year-old son of the composer Howard Blake. With Bernard Cribbins, nearly 80, and a polished Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, he was the the star of a 70th birthday tribute to Blake Sr. at the Cadogan Hall, near Sloane Square, in London (on 28th October 2008).
You could hear every word sung by Master Blake (a member of the Stockholm Boys Choir), both when he was amplified and when he wasn't. I have never heard 'The Snowman' live, and had not realised how, with its wit and sensitivity and subtle design, it is a masterpiece when viewed as a whole.
We were eager to hear the London premiere also conducted by the composer of Blake's 50-minute oratorio 'The Passion of Mary', which draws together his previous 'Stabat Mater ', the Magnificat, the Salve Regina and other Marian and nativity texts with the wisdom of a Berlioz.
The outcome is a splendid, highly accessible work of Three Choirs dimension. Patricia Rosario - here especially striking - and Martyn Hill were the soprano and tenor soloists. Howard Blake is a master-musician from whom our church and cathedral organists should commission anthems and canticle settings; for he has inspiration on his side.
by Bob Briggs in SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL 29/10/2008
SEEN AND HEARD CONCERT REVIEW
Howard Blake 70th Birthday Concert: Robert William Blake (treble), Bernard Cribbins (narrator), William Chen (piano), Patricia Rozario (soprano), Martyn Hill (tenor), Lars Arvidson (bass-baritone), London Voices (chorus master: Terry Edawrds), Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Howard Blake, Cadogan Hall, London, 28.10.2008 (BBr)
Howard Blake: The Snowman, op.323 (1982)
Piano Concerto, op.412 (1991)
The Passion of Mary, op.577 (2006) (British première)
This was a fascinating evening, whether you knew Howard Blake's work or not. The first half contained two of his most approachable pieces - The Snowman (in its concert version for narrator and orchestra) and the Piano Concerto. The second half was made up of one of Blake's most recent, and most serious offerings - a dramatic oratorio The Passion of Mary.
The Snowman needs no introduction - it's the score for the famous animated film of Raymond Briggs's book, the most startling part of it being that there's no dialogue whatsoever, the music tells the story together with the visuals. In this version we have the music with a narration – brilliantly and humorously delivered by the ever dependable Bernard Cribbins – and all the well known bits are there - the Dance of the Snowmen, the little boy playing in the snow, the Snowman being shown round the house and the famous song Walking in the Air - beautifully delivered by Blake's 10 year old son. Both Cribbins and Robert William Blake were amplified, but much more discreetly than I have heard in recent times, and the balance was as near perfect as it could possibly be. This was a delightful start to the show and relaxed the audience, preparing it for what was to come.
Blake was commissioned to write his Piano Concerto for the 30th birthday of Princess Diana and he gave the première himself in the Royal Festival Hall in London in 1991. It's a real virtuoso piece and requires a pianist of world class. William Chen was just the man for the job - and he knows Blake's work, having recorded the suite Lifecycle (ABC Classics 476 118–4). His approach had many points of similarity with Blake's own recording but there were several passages which he treated in a new way. He enjoyed letting the music run away with itself (yet he was always in control) and was quite happy to throw caution to the wind and play devil's advocate with some of the showier passages, much to the consternation of Blake the conductor, but to the delight of Blake the composer. The slow movement was particularly well done, the simplicity of the opening, with solo lines for violins and viola over a quietly repeating piano chord, the full, and passionate, climax growing from the opening quartet and the nearly time–suspending coda were played almost nonchalantly, thus heightening the beauty of the music. The raucous set of variations, which is the finale, gave ample opportunity for both soloist and orchestra to let their hair down and have some real fun. The long first movement - Blake does like to write opening movements which take up half the playing time of the completed work - suffered slightly because the size of the string section (8.6.4.4.2), although being perfect for the other two pieces, left this work understrung at times and the sound was a bit thin. But one shouldn't complain when the overall performance was as fine as this one.
After the interval we entered a totally different world. The Passion of Mary is a large scale oratorio in all but playing time. Into a mere 50 minutes Blake crams the experience of a Bach Passion or Handel Oratorio, complete with recitatives arias and choruses and a particularly violent depiction of the Crucifixion scene for orchestra alone. As one might imagine from the title, the work relies heavily on the part of Mary, who is given the most radiant music, written in a wide range, much of it laying high in the voice. Patricia Rozario glowed in the part, mystical and full of wonder at the events unfolding in her life, keeping control of her voice and never loosing sight of the fact that this music truly is beautiful. The smaller parts – and any other parts would have to be fairly small – were well taken by Robert William Blake – as the young Jesus - Lars Arvidson (possibly the tallest singer around and with the lowest notes) was a solid narrator – and Martyn Hill had a particularly gorgeous scena as Jesus. The diction of all the soloists was admirable and this made it easy to follow the drama as the events unfolded. At the end the audience was dumbfounded at the strength of the work, and, perhaps through tiredness (this work is an emotionally tiring experience) didn’t give the work the credit it was due. In the foyer I heard many members of the audience expressing delight and satisfaction at what they had heard so we know that the music made the effect it was meant to.
It’s obvious that Blake isn’t a professional, career, conductor, but he coaxed fine playing from the Royal Philharmonic, who responded well to his direction. The 24 members of London Voices – trained by the ever dependable Terry Edwards – sounded like a much larger group and easily moved from bloodthirsty mob to Angelic chorus, for the final Salve Regina.
Howard Blake is a fine composer whose concert work has, for too long, gone unnoticed and unrecognised. It is to be hoped that this show has shown people just what fine music he is writing. Full marks to all concerned for a very special show.
Bob Briggs
by Robert Matthew-Walker in ROYAL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA (from the programme-note for Howard Blake's 70th birthday concert) 28/10/2008
THE PASSION OF MARY
London Première
www.rpo.co.uk
This work is the second of Howard Blake’s two
large dramatic oratorios. The first was Benedictus,
for solo tenor, solo viola, speaker (taking the part
of St Benedict) SATB chorus, chamber choir,
boys’ choir and orchestra. This was composed in
1986 and first performed in St Alban’s Cathedral
conducted by Sir David Willcocks, who also
conducted the first recording of the work for
Sony.
The fifty-minute Passion of Mary was
commissioned as a Stabat Mater in 2001 and was
revised, extended and renamed in 2006. Blake
compiled the text himself on the subject of Mary,
the mother of Jesus, from biblical and poetic
sources. In its new form, and bearing the
impressive opus number 577, it calls for soprano,
treble, tenor and bass-baritone soloists, chorus,
boys’ voices, organ and orchestra. It was
premièred in St Gorans Kyrka Stockholm last
October, with Patricia Rozario and the Swedish
bass Lars Arvidson - both of whom appear in
tonight’s performance, which will be the London
Première of the complete score.
As mentioned above, The Passion of Mary is a
profound study of, and meditation on, Mary, the
mother of Jesus. The text, adapted from biblical
and other sources, falls into four main parts: Part
1 deals with the Annunciation, birth and early life
of Jesus as seen through His mother’s eyes,
incorporating texts from the Magnificat, William
Blake and the Apocrypha as well as the Old and
New Testaments. Part 2 is concerned with the
Temptation of Christ, the Beatitudes and Christ’s
Crucifixion. Part 3 is the Stabat Mater, a Latin
hymn on the seven aspects of grief of the Virgin
Mary (the prophesy of Simeon, the flight into
Egypt, the three days’ loss of Jesus, the meeting of
Him on the way to Calvary, the crucifixion, the
descent from the cross, the entombment); Part 4 is
the promise of Christ of the Holy Spirit (‘Let not
your heart be troubled’) and the Salve Regina
(‘Hail, Holy Queen’ - i.e. Mary).
Clearly, The Passion of Mary deals with matters at
the very heart of Christianity, and the subtitle ‘a
dramatic oratorio’ is nothing more than the plain
truth with regard to the text Howard Blake
compiled and has chosen to set. It might be
thought that with such a text, the music itself must
move at a consistently slow pace, but this is not
borne out by the work. Naturally, there are parts in
which the meditative aspects of the subject
demand a slower inherent pulse to the music, but
these are very carefully controlled and juxtaposed
with others that demand more power and inner
movement.
One of the more impressive aspects of the work is
the cumulative sense of forward momentum it
possesses; this is not a disembodied sense of
movement but, in purely musical terms, a certain
‘journey’ if you like, towards the brilliance of the
dazzling A major triumphant ending, in which the
certainty of belief is conveyed with great
simplicity and immense inner strength. The
Passion of Mary makes an immediate and lasting
impact on the attentive listener, and there is no
doubting the conviction of the composer and the
directness of his musical utterance.
Robert Matthew-Walker, 2008
by Robert Matthew-Walker in Classical Music 1/8/2008
This interesting Wigmore Hall recital by Nadia Giliova became more so in the second half, which began with Howard Blake’s Variations on a Theme of Bartók (the theme taken from Mikrokosmos), written 50 years ago but only now receiving its premiere public performance. This year sees Howard Blake’s 70th-birthday, so this work from his student years coincidentally gave us a glimpse of his initial compositional style. Suffice it to say that it is fully representative of the mature composer, and the rather brief Variations (the Theme itself is also short, as befits its source) make a splendidly attractive set, very well laid out for the piano, and extremely well played (from memory!) by this fine artist. One could well imagine this piece entering the repertoires of many pianists. It was a pity, however, that the composer, who was present, was not invited by Giliova to acknowledge enthusiastic applause.
by Matt Byrne in Sunday Mail (Adelaide) 21/6/2008
A double-bill of 2 operas 'The Composer is Dead' and 'Granpa'
This is a deftly essayed double bill that opens up the lofty world of classical music to young hearts and intellects.
Director Andy Packer had done a great job with a very clever, informative and poignant hour of family entertainment.
And conductor/musical director Timothy Sexton’s capable hand helps the orchestra get into the spirit of the shows.
The common fun factor is Paul Blackwell who plays the Detective in the first piece by Lemony Snicket.
The Composer Is Dead and Blackwell’s gumshoe must interrogate each section of the orchestra to try and find the culprit.
It’s a nifty way to introduce the full range of instruments to a young audience and drop plenty of oneliners along the way.
Blackwell has a comic visage a child can trust and his connection with the crowd keeps them focussed an interested in who really dunnit.
Howard Blake’s touching ensemble play Granpa which is a marvellous companion piece to the first half.
When his young granddaughter Emily chats to her Granpa they end up on a series of fantastic adventures.
Jasmine Garcia sings with clarity and purity in the plum role of Emily, taking flights of fancy with her gentle Granpa.
The youth ensemble do a wonderful job, never intruding and always enhancing the action.
Special mention to Lucy Gogel-Ellis for her soaring soprano solo in the final moments as Granpa finds his rest.
This is a show that could do with a revival, especially at the 2009 Come Out.
CHILDREN’S THEATRE
Windmill Performing Arts & ASO
by M.Couzens in Sadler's Wells Magazine 6/1/2008
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| | M.Couzens Reviews Reviewers Latest Opera Reviews Sadler’s Wells presents the Birmingham Repertory Theatre Production of
The Snowman
Photo by Herbie Knott
The stage show based on Raymond Briggs’ The Snowman
Music and Lyrics and Musical Supervision by Howard Blake
Orchestrations by Howard Blake and David Shenton
Peacock Theatre
5 December 2007 – 6 January, 2008
b y Mary Couzens A review by Mary Couzens for EXTRA! EXTRA! It has often been said that the stage production of Raymond Brigg’s classic tale, The Snowman, which is performed annually at London’s Peacock Theatre is ‘as traditional at Christmas as mince pies and Santa Claus.’ While I’m inclined to agree wholeheartedly with that statement, I’d be even more inclined to further it by adding that while those two iconoclastic seasonal items are indeed, synonymous with the festive season, neither has been known to imbue those who indulge in them, young or, old with as much Christmas spirit! Anticipation ran high prior to the 11am performance of The Snowman the Friday before Christmas, with almost every other seat occupied by a toddler, and babies gurgling happily from laps. Apart from a trip to the circus, a visit to the Peacock Theatre to see The Snowman is the only place I know of that not only allows, but encourages the waving of flashing wands and torches! As such, a multitude of feathery white wands, flashing a myriad of colours between them, intermingled with snowman head torches of shimmering blue and green, and many smiles were inspired by the animated curtain, which depicted a snowfall in full fettle. As I hadn’t seen the show myself in several years, and this year marks, not only the twenty-fifth anniversary of the animated classic, but also, the tenth anniversary of the stage show, and I am a huge fan of both, I definitely felt that I was in the right place, at the right time. As the familiar strains of Howard Blake’s beloved score rose from the piano, my thoughts briefly wandered back to 1982 when the ‘animated sketchbook’ version of The Snowman first appeared on television. Had it really been that long ago? It didn’t seem possible that, that much time had gone by, as The Snowman has been part of Christmases, past and present, ever since! The story unfolds with eight year old James, snuggling down into his warm covers on a Christmas Eve morning. Once he realises, however, that his world has been blanketed in snow during the night, he is only too eager to jump up, throw on some warm clothing, and trundle outside so he can get stuck into making a snowman! Though I doubt very much whether there is anyone out there who is not familiar with Raymond Briggs’ beloved tale, I’d be loathe to spoil the surprise of it for anyone, just in case! Suffice it to say that in many stories, the world over, Christmas Eve night is seen as the most magical of the year and The Snowman is no exception to that popular myth! There is no dialogue in the show, so the silently performed action of its storyline is timed to move along with its wonderfully emotive score by Howard Blake, played live. For the stage, ‘Walking in the Air’, the popular Christmas classic originally sung for the film by a St. Paul’s Cathedral choir boy, Peter Auty, is sung by Susan Monnox. Auty who was erroneously left off the credits in the rush to complete the film in 1982, finally received his just deserts on the 20th Anniversary edition of the animation, released in 2002. Until that time, Welsh singer Aled Jones, who’d been hired to record a Christmas single of ‘Walking in the Air’ in 1985, and was immediately catapulted to Top of the Pops fame, was mistakenly credited with its’ original rendition. An interesting digression by way of a bit of intriguing Snowman trivia! As presented onstage, the story of The Snowman has a very light-hearted feel, with some slightly broad acting at times, but the action never becomes pantoesque, and everything has been carefully timed and fine tuned to keep the storyline moving along, so as to minimise childish (or adult) mind wondering. The toddlers in the audience were very attentive throughout, apart from during the show’s few short dance sequences when some began to shift in their seats a bit, but the more cultured aspects of The Snowman, especially created for the stage version, are, happily, interwoven with the intermittent appearance of various, delightful animal (and winter) characters as well as James and his Snowman and that of Father Christmas himself, much to the delight of his fans, so any lapses in attention were very minimal. Given the dense coverage of the Snowman’s costume, it was impossible to tell which of the two actors who share the part – Nicholas Cass-Beggs or Daniel Wright, was bringing it to life the morning we were there. Whoever he was, he was superbly upbeat, humorous and amazingly agile, (considering his togs) in the role! Jack O’ Connor was energetic and thoroughly charming as James, the imaginative boy who creates the snowman. His enthusiasm for snow and Christmas was so infectious that many of the toddlers sat watching in fascinated delight during his scenes. I think it’s fair to say that their eagerness for ‘Christmas to begin’ as Dickens put it when referring to the young Crachitt Children, was, given their post show joy, in full bloom by the end of it. Since I last saw The Snowman onstage about four years ago, some of its dance sequences have been expanded, to the point where they could almost be considered mini ballets. Jodie Blemings’ high leaps and vigorous dancing as the only baddie in the show, Jack Frost, was a real stand-out, as was his silvery spiked costume and frosty makeup. To his amusement, some of the toddlers hissed with all their might when he came out to take his bows at the end of the performance. Eleanor Forrest was lovely as the Ice Princess whom James encounters when he journeys northward and Nadia Sadiq did a graceful turn as the ballerina on his music box. Tommi Sliden was greeted with shouts of glee as rosy cheeked Father Christmas; he’d also performed the role of James’ bespectacled Dad earlier on. But the show is filled with lovely performances from all of its players, from those portraying penguins and James’ cat and teddy bear, right through to the international contingent of snowmen, such as the Chinese, the Cowboy and a top hat and tails, ‘Fred Astaire. Hannah Flynn, who played James’ mum, drew loud cheers and baton and torch twirling in her second guise as Scotty the snowman during confrontational scene with the villainous Jack Frost. Combine all of the above with several truly magical, shifting sets, designed by Ruari Murchison, an Auroraborellis pallet of lighting effects, courtesy of Tim Mitchell, the knowing, gently affectionate direction of Bill Alexander, orchestrations by the score’s composer Howard Blake and David Shenton, the fanciful choreography by the aptly named Robert North and stunning flying effects by Flying by Foy, Ltd, and you come up with a stunningly magical, lightly sentimental mix that makes this show the perfect outing for the holiday season, whether you are part of a family that includes children, or, simply, a Snowman enthusiast, of any age! One elderly gentleman who’d brought his wife to see The Snowman as part of her birthday celebrations, at her request, enthusiastically proclaimed as we headed out of the theatre after the show’s surprise ending, ‘I didn’t think I’d enjoy this show, but I did… so much! It’s beautiful!’ Well said! If you’re feeling a trifle cynical about Christmas this year, The Snowman could be just the anecdote you need to revive your sense of wonder. If you’re already sporting a jolly sprig of holly on your sleeve, along with your heart, it may just bring your brimming cup of holiday cheer to the point of overflowing! Peacock Theatre - Portugal Street, WC2 Holborn Ticket Office - 0 844 412 4322 http://www.sadlerswells.com/show/The-Snowman For further Kneehigh information please contact the company office: 01872 267 910 or visit www.kneehigh.co.uk Copyright © EXTRA! EXTRA All rights reserved M.Couzens Reviews Reviewers Latest Opera Reviews
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by Roderic Dunnett in CHURCH TIMES 1/2008
A work inspired by St Benedict’s Rule
by Roderic Dunnett
TOP MARKS to the St Albans Bach Choir for programming the Benedictus by Howard Blake as part of a recent concert: quality revivals of recent but not regularly performed works are as valuable to a composer as the première itself. Blake’s opus numbers now exceed those of Mozart, and he has a wide following, thanks to his enchanting music for The Snowman and for some other memorable film scores, notably for the Colin Firth and Kenneth Branagh film A Month in the Country. Based on a finely wrought, visceral story by the canny E. H. Carr, it focused on the restoration of a terrifying complete medieval Doom painting (not unlike that recently discovered in Holy Trinity, Coventry). The film was equally unforgettable for the twin cameos of Patrick Malahide as the impossible, violin-strumming incumbent the Revd Mr Keach, and the benign Jim Carter, who played the fire-breathing Methodist minister-cum-stationmaster. Blake, a composer of substance and of agreeably traditionalist leanings, has composed several large choral works that other choirs might consider for the future. The Passion of Mary, his op. 577, a reworking of his earlier Stabat Mater, calls on an additional boys’ choir, as well as a large complement of soloists. Songs of Truth and Glory was written for Donald Hunt and the Elgar Chorale, and first heard at the 2005 Three Choirs Festival. A Charter of Peace was written for the 50th anniversary of the United Nations. In addition, Blake’s Christchurch Mass is for choir and organ, and he has set the Jubilate, and provided music for the Series 3 communion service. Together with this goes Blake’s skill as a synthesiser — he is not afraid to be eclectic, but he assimilates his sources confidently — and as an initiator. The shape and concept of his Benedictus is bold, and almost palindromic. Blake sets not the canticle and Psalm bearing that name, but passages from the Rule of St Benedict, which are used to preface, conclude, and intersperse a series of other Psalm settings. Psalmfest might have been an apt title (compare Leonard Bernstein); or else Symphony of Psalms, à la Stravinsky. At the centre of the work, Howard Blake sets a poem from which he clearly derives strong inspiration: 70-80 lines of Francis Thompson’s harrowing, visionary work The Hound of Hell — coincidentally reminiscent of that other, visionary Blake. Three other ingredients play a part: spoken prefaces, delivered here by the Dean, the Very Revd Dr Jeffrey John; a section in which the tenor soloist (Martyn Hill) speaks certain lines; and a striking initial instrumental passage for solo viola, later yielding to bells and organ, and here performed, to searing effect, by Fiona Bonds at the west end, the crossing, and the east end of the Abbey. By turns serene, knotty, and contrapuntally challenging, this viola sequence, as besotting as Vaughan Williams’s The Lark Ascending, has a similar intensity to the Thompson setting. Both are remarkable pieces of writing. The St Albans Bach Choir’s performance, splendidly controlled under the unflappable Andrew Lucas — crisp, undemonstrative, and capably businesslike, who graded Blake’s tempi to ideal effect — contained much to admire. From the start, the penitential character of this work, beautifully and sensitively articulated, and as piercing as similar passages in A Child of our Time, was to the fore, just as strikingly as in its Hispanic and Italianate grieving forerunners of the 16th and 17th centuries. The initial tenor outburst was superb, with some searing, angst-ridden woodwind for the unrelenting Psalm 38 (“so spent, so crushed, so beaten and bowed”). Later, Blake allows his soloist to intone, and the effect is shatteringly intense. With sensitive accompaniment — not least from some superlative woodwind — Martyn Hill’s articulation of the central section highlighted the full power of the poetry: the intensity of a pianissimo beginning: “I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways Of my own mind; and in the midst of tears I hid from Him”, or the impassioned, pained desolation of “Yet was I sore adread Lest having Him, I must have naught beside.” Only in the second chorus from St Benedict, taken from the Prologue, did Blake seem to lower his guard and produce a movement perilously close to a triter kind of music. The power and invention of much of the rest ensured an enlightening and inspiring evening in the Abbey, whose stones still bear the stamp of Roman Verulamium. |
by Dale Burrows in Daily Herald, Everett, Washington, USA 15/12/2007
 Saturday, January 19, 2008  |
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| | Published: Friday, December 14, 2007 'Snowman' a modern classic
By Dale Burrows
For the Enterprise
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| Ballet Bellevue
Ballet Bellevue's next performance, "Velvet Romance," is slated for March 2008. For tickets to upcoming performances and information about their school of ballet, call 425-455-1345 or visit www.balletbellevue.org. |
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| Watch out, "Nutcracker." "The Snowman" is coming.
Northshore Performing Arts hosted Olympic Ballet's "Nutcracker" two weekends back. They hosted Ballet Bellevue's "The Snowman" last weekend.
Same venue. Same target audience: kids for the holidays. Same format: ballet.
Both set stories in a child's imagination. Both develop the child's relationship with an imaginary friend. Both translate experience into dream sequences. Both celebrate wonder, reconciliation, joy. The similarities go on and on.
"Nutcracker" has been around for more than a century; "Snowman," since 1978, when it first appeared as Raymond Briggs' story by the same title. It was after 1978 that Howard Blake wrote music and lyrics for the story and Jennifer Porter choreographed the story, the music and the lyrics for "Snowman." No doubt, it owes "Nutcracker" to some extent.
But as compared with Olympic Ballet's "Nutcracker," Ballet Bellevue's "Snowman" is fresher, cleaner, simpler; in design on paper and performance on stage.
No Freudian complexities. No violent sword fight pitting Nutcracker Prince against the grotesque King Rat. Nothing kids don't care about. Nothing that scares the daylights out of kids.
"Snowman" posits a little boy, James (Leo Malkin), who builds Snowman (Kyle Johnson). James goes to sleep that night. Snowman comes to life, presumably dream life. Ballerina Doll (Alexa Kovalick), Bunnies (Elizabeth Kanning, Byanka Larkins), Fox (Ting Liu) and Pierrot, a clown (Caroline Burnett), come to life.
Cat (Katrina Muser) stretches, yawns and stays aloof.
James and Snowman frolic inside the household till Snowman works up a sweat, which puts him in danger of melting.
Adventure picks up when the two go outside, play; then travel to the one place on earth where it is always cold enough for Snowman, his home, the North Pole.
There, characters, exotic and marvelous, do their thing: Father Christmas (Michael Wojack), Reindeer (Byanka Larkins, Kimberly Knight), Ice Princess (Natasha Keeley) and Jackie Frost (Christina Stockdale); to name only the principals.
The pristine voice of Child Soprano from Columbia Choirs, Amanda Friemel, did a marvelous kind of narrative by way of introducing life at the North Pole in the Bellevue production last Saturday afternoon.
Ballet Bellevue Orchestra, under the baton of Dr. David Upham, had an uplifting, uncomplicated way of bringing out the simplicity of emotion that so easily communicates to a child's sense of wonder. Bravo, BBO.
I can't say the principal dancers fully explored all the choreographic possibilities. Daring and high energy could have stepped up the excitement. Steadiness of foot was hit and miss. Advice to BB: Ham it up. Showcase.
On the other hand, students of ballet, some of them very young, had a lot of fun in supporting roles. I took a lesson. They had fun. I had fun.
"Nutcracker" or "Snowman," take your pick. I don't say one is better than the other, necessarily.
I do say, "Nutcracker," watch out; "The Snowman" is coming.
Reactions? Comments? Contact Dale Burrows at grayghost7@comcast.net. | | |
by Roderic Dunnettt in Church Times 9/3/2007
'The other Elgar Chorale commission (in the programme) was Howard Blake's 'Songs of Truth and Glory', five settings of well-known poems by George Herbert - all settings primarily for chorus, in contrast with Vaughan-Williams' solo-led 'Mystical Songs' - hymnic in character, but each a charmingly turned, sparkling miniature.
The tenors' opening to 'Come my way' was outstanding, and the choir's a cappella launch to 'Teach me my God and King'' sounded equally pure. Simple in essence these may be, but these five songs proved shrewdly varied and utterly delightful. For the last, 'Let all the world' the organ seemed to embark on a tongue-in-cheek Handel organ concerto: both entrancing and effective.'
by Hubert Culot in Helios 9/2/2007
Howard Blake is a versatile composer who may be better known for his marvellous film scores The Snowman and Granpa in which his gifts for colourful orchestration and memorable tunes are clearly evident. He nevertheless also composed a good deal of concert works including the superb choral-orchestral Benedictus and several concertos. Though the intent is overtly more serious, the music of the Clarinet Concerto of 1984 is still memorably tuneful, superbly scored and quite attractive. The Clarinet Concerto is in every respect a fine work that deserves wider currency, and Thea King’s advocacy should earn this fine piece many new friends, hopefully among clarinettists.
by Tammy la Gorce in Amazon.com 1/1/2007
Amazon.com
If all adaptations were conceived with the skill and grace of Granpa, a great slab of moviegoers' current cynicism could be sent packing once and for all. The 30-minute feature, based on the John Burningham children's book, romances audiences with lighter-than-air, sketch-style animation; dreamy, endearing characters; and a serene, story-enhancing score that expertly melds a 40-piece orchestra and a middle school choir. Its loveliness to look at aside, the video's triumph is its loyalty to the tale--Granpa celebrates the relationship between Emily, an eager, young explorer of especially fanciful fantasies, and the affable old man who's never too busy being a grown-up to indulge her. Together, through the power of in-synch imaginations, they're transported to a Victorian-era ball, where they dance the night away. They also go on a picnic in which a parade of stuffed animals come pleasantly and politely to life; they conduct a jungle safari; they go on a high-seas fishing expedition that puts them at the mercy of a speed-demon whale; and they share a sometimes high-flying, sometimes warm and fuzzy panoply of other momentary yet memorable adventures. It's a gentle exploration of a genuinely touching child-adult relationship that erects no age barriers and, to its credit, doesn't duck a difficult subject--Granpa's gradual decline. Sarah Brightman's performance of "Make Believe" further bolsters the film's sky-high charm factor. --Tammy La Gorce
2007
Despite a plot that promised effects and blood, THE CHANGELING is a true throwback to such classic chillers as THE UNINVITED and the original CAT PEOPLE, films that left graphic terror and monsters outside of our sightlines, and palpable in our imaginations. And with Peter Medak’s sure direction, THE CHANGELING was a class act from start to finish, a triumph of atmosphere over wanton effects. With this old-fashioned approach in mind, Medak first turned to Howard Blake, a composer renowned for his astonishingly lyrical score for Ridley Scott’s first feature THE DUELISTS. Blake composed the haunting music box theme, and was prepared to write a full score. But that was until the far more ominous specter of the film’s producers stepped in, handing over composing reigns to John Williams’ orchestrator Ken Wannberg, a fine musician in his own right with such scores as THE PHILADELPHIA EXPERIMENT and OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN to his credit. Toss in the Canadian composer Rick Wilkins to fulfill Canuck financing obligations, and you had a recipe for stylistic cacophony.
The fact that THE CHANGELING ended up being beautifully cohesive is almost spooky. Growing in suspense from its music box, the score reveals distinctive, interlocking themes, all floating with lush, subtle strings, moaning voices, chimes, and above all melody, Next to Jerry Goldsmith’s THE OMEN, this is easily the creepiest score written for an unholy (if far less malefic) child -- his spirit conjured with a deceptively gentle tinkerbell sounds, gentle suspense that will take on full symphonic revenge.
in Toonhound 2007
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The Bear (1998)
producers: TVC London for Channel 4
animation: 2D animation
run time: 29 mins
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On a daytrip to London zoo, Tilly drops her beloved teddy bear in the polar
bear pen. That night she's woken by a magical polar bear who has appeared
in her bedroom with - you guessed it - the self same teddy bear. Tilly does
her best to hide her new friend from her suspicious parents as they explore
her home together. As evening draws in once more, the Bear returns her
kindness by whisking her away on a moonlit tour of the London landscape,
and off into the night skies where he introduces her to the spirit of the Great
Bear - Ursa Major - before he heads north to his original Arctic home...
"The Bear" is adapted from Raymond Briggs' classic story - the fourth such
project by John Coates and his TVC team, and it's another gem on a par with
"The Snowman". Just like that magical film, it has a soft, crayoned look.
The story is once more told through a combination of animation and music,
with almost no dialogue. There's a rich choral element to the orchestration
and another wintery flight through the night sky. But never fear, "The Bear"
leaps and bounds across the screen very much on its own. It's exquisitely
produced in a widescreen format, and utilizes the developments in animation
techniques since "The Snowman"s arrival to enhance the viewing experience
considerably. The story is noticably darker too, and there's a particular intensity
invested in the scenes with the Great Bear. "The Snowman" leaves us grieving
for the loss of a special special friend. But when the Bear finally departs for
the Arctic, our sadness is tinged with hope and understanding. The Bear
is simply going home again, back to where he belongs.
Howard Blake picks up the musical baton once more. Where "The Snowman"
had soloist Peter Auty stirring our hearts, "The Bear" has the (then) angelic
talents of a young Charlotte Church. And it's a terrific score that compliments
the story very well indeed. However, in America, the distributors have still felt it
neccessary to add a narration to proceedings. The voiceover is spoken by the
rather lovely Judi Dench, but it's an unwise and rather unwelcome addition
- Shame on them!
» Those with a keen eye will notice that, at one point, Tilly and her parents
settle down to watch "The Snowman" on their tv. There are also three
fabulous in-jokes included in the night flight:
» A mewling baby in its crib has the initials 'JC' sewn on its romper suit.
A sly reference to producer John Coates, methinks.
» Tilly and The Bear's magical flight takes them past the window of
a frustrated pianist, who looks remarkably similar to real-life composer
Howard Blake. » Finally, we pass by the smiling face of The Man In The Moon, who
looks unquestionably like the one and only Mr Raymond Briggs! 
Awards
1998 - Peabody Award for Broadcasting
The Bear on DVD
 The Bear
Region 2 / Cinema Club / July 2002
 Raymond Briggs' The Bear/The Animal Train
Region 1 / double bill / Miramax / December 2003
based on the book by Raymond Briggs
a TVC London production for Channel 4
director: Hilary Audus
producer: John Coates
exec prod: Paul Madden
art director: Joanna Harrison
music & lyrics: Howard Blake
soloist: Charlotte Church
spfx dir: Richard Nye
adaptation
& st'board: Hilary Audus, Joanna Harrison
line prod: Catrin Unwin
head of
rendering: Janet Archer
layout: Jacques Gauthier, Richard Nye,
Jack Stokes, Hal Clay
b'grounds: Michael Gabriel, Paul Osborne,
Michael Haywood
st'board
consultant: Jimmy T Murakami
animation: Roger Mainwood, Tony Guy, Peter Dodd,
Nicolette van Gendt, Andy McPherson,
Simon Williams, John Perkins, Jacques Gauthier,
David Livesey, Dave Webster, Arian Wilschut,
Joe Mulligan, Jonathan Hall, Joan Freestone,
Sarah Vincent, Dave Unwin, Les Gibbard,
Kevin Richards, Alan Green
Debbie Dryland, Stella Benson, Stephen Harper,
Juliann Franchetti, Monica Brufton, Ray Newman,
Pauline Trapmore, Diana Tusheva-Molloy,
Denise Dean, Darren Kardich
paint & trace
co-ords: Sara Fairbank-Williams, Seb Markham
painters: Carol Lesley, Jaqui Miller, Annette Brown,
Rozlin Lambert, Debbie Davis, Denise Marshall
rend co-ord: Lotty Pfeil
principal
renderers: Janette Taylor, Norma Ricketts,
Lydia Adams, Lynn Bailey, Penelope Wilson,
Rachel Booth, Carol Hughes, Mike Adams,
Tonia Thorne
head of
checking: Erica Darby
checkers: Guy Brockett, Nicci Angell, Cyrus Green, Ed Salkeld
editor: Taylor Grant
voices: Peter Knapp (Star Bear)
Philip Sheffield (Polar Bear)
Charlotte Church (Tilly)
+ Judi Dench (narrator - US version)
On the web
No links as yet, unfortunately...
index » next » TVC/John Coates ------------------- Barney The Bear Father Christmas Granpa The Snowman The Storystore Tale of Jack Frost When the Wind Blows The Willows in Winter Wind in the Willows World of Peter Rabbit Yellow Submarine ------------------- R. Briggs - Filmography
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by Tom Sankey in Opera 15/8/2006
Blake is an experienced composer for film and television and he shows his understanding of dramatic pacing in this piece staged by the Opera Studio of the State Opera of South Australia. The piece is really a short encapsulation of what makes opera work: the search for love, conflict, anger, frustration. In less than an hour it was quite amazing just how much ground Howard Blake had been able to cover without the train ever leaving the station.
in Gramophone 1/7/2006
...has a Faure-like sensibility that must please the cellist (an admitted Faure fanatic) no end.
by Timothy Sexton in State Opera South Australia 29/6/2006
Howard Blake's 'The Station' employs traditional harmonies and well-established peratic conventions to create a 50-minute send-up of the medium. With classic romantic soprano/tenor duets (albeit about Maseratis and Dartford Warblers!), barbershop quintets, dramatic arias, clever ensembles and even an Elvis Presley take-off, the work takes us from Bel Canto to Can-Belto and back. It is a work that intentionally doesn't take itself seriously- a welcome respite in today's post-9/11 world.
by Robert Matthew-Walker in Musical Opinion 4/2006
'Howard Blake's ballet "The Snowman" is now such a part of the Christmas Season that I am sure it certainly deserves to be produced again and again well into the 22nd century ... It is one of those rare theatrical pieces that appeals and impresses theatregoers of all ages ... Musically, the score is a masterpiece. I do not use the word lightly. Howard Blake's world famous song Walking in the Air, with which Aled Jones had such a success, is used as a basis for a virtually continuous set of symphonic variations; a subtle and fully wrought score which entrances the ears of all who are brought into the magical world it conjures up'. (Robert Matthew Walker, Musical Opinion March-April 2006)
by Duke-verity in Duke-verity UK 13/3/2006
Great and overlooked achievement in British animation, 13 March 2006
Granpa, based on the children's book by John Burningham, is the second (and sadly last) animation to be directed by the late Dianne Jackson. She will be forever remembered for the legendary Christmas animation The Snowman, from the book by Raymond Briggs. But she went on to direct Granpa in 1989 and then to do the initial planning and storyboarding for Father Christmas in 1991.
Father Christmas would have been her second Raymond Briggs adaptation as director, but ill health meant that she had to hand over the director's reins to one of her protégés, Dave Unwin, who had worked with her as an animator on Granpa. She died tragically young in 1992, leaving Granpa as her final work as full director. Her concept for an animated series based on the works of Beatrix Potter, The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends, was completed by others and transmitted posthumously by BBC Television in 1993.
Granpa is a beautiful and very British half hour animation about a little girl called Emily and her kindly but ailing old grandfather. Emily's developing personality, imagination and childhood memories are being formed by her days spent listening to Granpa's stories. The stories come to life in animated images brilliantly designed to look like a child's crayoned drawings. Vivid, bright and seemingly inherently childish, the images are actually highly sophisticated animations from director Jackson and her team of artists. Remember that all of these animated frames were created lovingly by hand in 1989, before computer generated imagery came to dominate the business of animation and rendered hand drawn, beautifully detailed cartoon films like Granpa obsolete!
The tone of the film is initially warm and exhilarating, with Emily untroubled by notions of time or mortality. She lives fully within the moment, a child's viewpoint. For Granpa however, things are rather different. Aware that his days with her are numbered, he lovingly preserves her innocence and passes on to her a heritage within stories from his own distant childhood.
As the seasons pass by (symbolically from spring to winter, and then to spring once more), Granpa becomes visibly frailer until finally, during a magical story that has the pair swinging through jungle branches, he concedes that "I just can't reach those branches...the way I used to be able to." In a heartbreaking coda that echoes the famous finale of The Snowman, Emily finds herself (along with the old man's sad, loyal old dog) to be alone; her young life before her and Granpa inevitably consigned to live on only in her memories.
It's an astonishing finish, brave and sad and with an awareness of mortality and the sacredness of memory. In that sense, Granpa has much in common with all the great children's tales (Watership Down, Peter Pan, The Wind in the Willows, The Once and Future King, The Snowman, and many others), and in its so very British way it subtly and with great understatement covers the most serious themes of life, death, time and the rites of passage between old and new.
A great piece of work, deserving of so very much more attention than it has received over the years. A neglected masterpiece that hardly ever gets screened, I recommend Granpa unreservedly. If you get the opportunity to watch this beautiful rarity, do so!
by Greg Elliot in Independent Weekly 30/2006
'The Station' explores the inner thoughts of four commuters on a typical British train platform , forced to wait for a series of delayed trains...Director Sam Haren has ensured that 'The Station' is engaging entertainment from the first note to the last and the creative team has captured memorable images, but none more so than the young man appearing to face his destiny in the light of an oncoming train....this very interesting opera moves from the traditional to the satirical.
in film score magazine 11/12/2005
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In 1996, artistic director Adrian Noble filmed his RSC stage production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. The concept is nothing if not stylized, utilizing Anthony Ward's primary color costumes and minimal scenic design, and the inventive lighting of Chris Parry. This time, the concept is the dream of a young boy who roams throughout the production witnessing the events. What may have appeared full of magic and mirth onstage is poorly suited to film. Not so Howard Blake's score. Expanded from the stage production, the music contains a lushness that makes up for the spartan look of the film. It also employs a childlike simplicity and wonderment that perfectly suits a young boy's dream. An attractive violin solo sings of love in the air, later sung by a mournful, wise viola during the "I know a bank" soliloquy. The entire orchestra joins in for a joyful rendition during the flight to fairyland. Umbrellas play a large role in the staging and solo woodwind triplets ascend into the heavens accompanied by pizzicato strings as the umbrellas take flight. Female voices seduce the ear, from a plaintive alto mermaid voice to the beautiful female trio waltzing through "Philomel with melody." A jaunty trumpet and oboe with slide trombone (which later bays with Nick Bottom's ass' head) accompanies the merry band of actors. A gentle string trio underscores the party and later provides a
tender backdrop for Bottom's final speech. Blake's score captures more of the magic of Shakespeare's text than the awkward production. If you can
find a copy of the long-out-of-print import CD, it's definitely worth a listen. Published in Film Score Monthly Magazine
Nov/Dec 2005
Volume 10, No. 6
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by Robert Beale in Manchester Evening News 1/10/2004
WILLIAM CHEN Howard Blake piano music **** William Chen (ABC Classics).
'...music by the composer of We're Walking In The Air, from The Snowman. In fact, the
"composer's cut", as you might call it, of Walking In The Air is
here, in C sharp minor, and there's a brilliant little drawing of
the Snowman himself, by Dianne Jackson, the original illustrator,
in the liner notes. Lifecycle is a set of pieces, one in each
of the major and minor keys, which were written at different
times and in different contexts but which Blake feels add up to a
satisfying whole. And they do. He is a man out of his time, a
composer closer to Chopin and Schumann than to modernism. But he
has Royal Academy of Music training behind him and he understands
the sonorities of the piano wonderfully. Most of these pieces are
about three minutes long: one extends to five; one is only 51
seconds. There is a much variety in them, though - songs, dances,
character pieces, jeux d'esprit - and one (Chaconne in D minor)
surprises with its vehemence, while others (Study, in C minor, and
Oberon, in F sharp major, which is almost a Revolutionary Study
in itself) make considerable demands on the performer. But the
subtlety of Blake's music often lies in its careful use of
familiar patterns - ordinariness, if you like - so that eventually
the nuances begin to speak with an eloquence you would miss if
you just thought it was old-fashioned ideas warmed up again.
William Chen plays them with immaculate technique and classical
purity.
in Classic FM Magazine 10/2004
The 24 miniatures that constitute Lifecycle were composed over a period of
40 years, and are set in every one of the major and minor keys available
on the piano. Anyone who had previously assumed that Walking in the Air was
something of a one-hit wonder for Blake will surely be taken aback by his
inexhaustible flow of melodic enchantment. Each time you think you've
reached the best of the set, he produces yet another winningly memorable
tune. A rare delight.
in rsoonsa@b@b books, Mountain Mesa CA 5/6/2004
in Mainzer Rhein Zeitung 25/4/2004
'...but the orchestra did not quite succeed in conveying the subtleties of the composition in the areas which are partly film-music influenced, and also failed to point up the dynamic contrasts in this richly motivic and well-constructed arch of excitement.'
in Allgemeine Zeitung 24/4/2004
..the composer Howard Blake from London, who travelled over for the concert, charmingly explained in German his 'Birthday Toccata', which he wrote as a commission for the 30th anniversary of the Royal Philharmonic in 1976. Blake showed a supreme craftsmanship in tone-painting. His Toccata began with with music as sweet as the elf-music of Purcell, but then broadened out into the delicious late-romantic sonorities of an Elgar...
by charlie napier in edinburgh review 7/6/2003
 |  |
| | |
| 2003 Organ Inaugural Season
Inaugural Celebrity Recital by Gillian Weir DBE Music Howard Blake: The rise of the House of Usher World Premiere; Ives: Variations on 'America'; Bach: Trio sonata No.1 in E flat BWV 525; Liszt: St François de Paule marchant sur les flots; Dupré: Variations sur un Noël; Healey Willan (1880-1968): Introduction, passacaglia and fugue; Henri Mulet (1878-1967): Esquisses Byzantines-Rosace; Vierne: Pièces de fantaisie-Naïades; Messiaen: Joie et clarté des Corps Glorieux; Petr Eben (b. 1929): Moto sostinato; Guy Bovet (b. 1942): Trois préludes Hambourgeois-Hamburger Totentanz Op.136 No.3
Performer Dame Gillian Weir Date 7 June 2003 Venue The Usher Hall
Address Lothian Road
Reviewer Charlie Napier  | | Gillian Weir | Although born in New Zealand, Gillian Weir has lived in the UK since she arrived in Britain as a 20-year-old student to study at the Royal Schools of Music in London. She has become one of the world's most outstanding organists, which she amply illustrated this evening. She successfully used her skills to achieve the main aim of this recital, namely, to show off the outstanding features of the Norman and Beard pipe organ, built and installed in the Usher Hall in 1914 and now beautifully restored by Harrison and Harrison, after years of neglect followed by many years of campaigning and fund-raising by a group of enthusiasts and subsequently the City of Edinburgh Council. Dame Gillian illustrated, through her choice of programme, just what a beautiful instrument this is and what a useful addition to the Edinburgh Musical scene it will be. No major work was played. The choice of short pieces, including some movements from suites, was ideal for showing off the many different textures, mixtures of sounds, variations in volume, and all the other features of the organ. There is no doubt that this instrument is most suited to the 19th and 20th century romantic and modern repertoires, as was shown by the programme and the choice of pieces for, or including, the organ in its inaugural recital. However, I am sure that, with judicious registration, some of the baroque repertoire will eventually be played. Her clear and crisp interpretation of the Bach Trio Sonata, the only baroque piece in the programme, amply illustrated this. However, to start at the beginning, the first half of the recital emphasised the range and capabilities of the restored  | | Usher Hall organ | instrument. It opened with the World Premiere of a piece specially written for this evening by Howard Blake, The rise of the House of Usher. It was based on a reversed version of Edgar Allan Poe's story The fall of the House of Usher and started with a slow, brooding solo on the pedals, using the 32 foot stop, which was to play a very prominent part during the evening. The piece gradually built up, in texture and sonority, to reach a glorious climax which filled the Usher Hall with the marvellous sound of the full organ. A fitting start to the evening. It isn't often you hear a classical concert audience actually laugh out loud but, during Ives' Variations on the hymn tune 'America', that happened here tonight. This hymn tune, better known here as God Save the Queen, really is an irreverent work, written when he was only 17 but already showing the genius he was, producing ironic, comic, satiric, lyric and contentious music, all at the same time. This was followed by the Bach. The first half ended with a piece by Marcel Dupré, one of France's leading organist-composers during the 20th century, again showing off the pedal department. Lionel Rogg's transcription of Liszt's virtuoso piano piece, St François de Paule marchant sur les flots, a deeply religious work, was a fascinating foretaste of the Messiaen piece played in the second half. My companion said the Messiaen suggested light streaming through a stained glass window, which is also what the Mulet piece "Rosace" beautifully illustrated: sunlight streaming through the tracery of a rose window, the dust dancing in the beams, and the colours tinting the stone floor of the church. The second half was much more atmospheric and opened with the three movement work by Healey Willan, which again showed off the pedal department, especially in the Passacaglia, and which, overall, was very reminiscent of Elgar. It culminated in a beautiful full organ chord which filled the Hall with a glorious sound. This was followed by Rosace and then Naïades, a piece by another 20th century French Master, Vierne. This was a beautiful representation of water nymphs and one could easily imagine them gambolling in the rippling waters. After the Messiaen came Moto ostinato by the living Czech composer, Petr Eben, a piece inspired by the Sunday liturgical music culminating in the plainsong hymn Salve Reginasoaring above the full organ. The recital finished with a work by another living composer, the Swiss Guy Bovet. This was the Hamburger Totentanz, one of three preludes based on improvisations performed in Hamburg with other organists. which Gillian Weir described as "the organist's Bolero" in her programme notes. Hidden, well hidden I must say, in the music were musical quotations from Offenbach, Beethoven and Wagner, but the overall effect of the "big crescendo on an ostinato rhythm" was just as exciting as the similarly constructed Ravel work Dame Gillian's performance was greeted by very enthusiastic applause She treated the audience to "a little chocolate piece" encore, Elves by Joseph Bonnet. No fault could be found with Miss Weir's performance. Her choice and deft changes of registration, together with her virtuosic finger work and footwork, ensured a memorable performance. If I may be allowed one small criticism, her choice of stunning red dress was fitting for the occasion, but the glitter of the sequins on her back in the spotlight, did appear like "sparklers" at times and was a little off-putting. However, it did not completely spoil the recital for this reviewer. One criticism for the Usher Hall staff: why was the specification for the organ not included in the programme? There were many organists in the audience; all are used to finding the instrument specification included in any programme. This was a serious omission, especially for such an important instrument on such an important occasion. © Charlie Napier. 7 June 2003 | |
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by Robert Matthew-Walker 2003
... his (Blake) piano writing is exceptional amongst modern-day composers…
by Jonathan Broxton in Movie Music UK 1/1/2000
THE SNOWMAN
Rating:
Original Review: An undisputed animated classic, The Snowman is a magical adaptation of Raymond Briggs' well-loved storybook, telling the tale of a young boy who builds a snowman one Christmas Eve, which comes to life that night and takes the boy on an unforgettable trip to the North Pole to meet Santa Claus. It's a simple story of childhood wish fulfilment, told with loving attention to detail and superbly stylised renderings, and since its initial release in 1982, the film has gone on to be heralded as one of the best animated short films ever made. Every year over the Christmas period, in the UK at least, the TV station Channel 4 screens the film, allowing families both young and old to enjoy this wonderful piece of seasonal tradition time and again.
As the story of The Snowman unfolds completely without dialogue, Howard Blake's masterful score takes on increased significance. In recent years, Blake has virtually disappeared from the film scoring scene, despite a healthy career during the 1960s and 70s when he wrote excellent music for films such as The Duellists and Riddle of the Sands, and had his scheduled slot to score the film Alien taken by some bloke called Jerry Goldsmith... But if Blake never writes another note of film music in his life, his reputation in the genre's history will undoubtedly be secured by his contribution to this film, especially the legendary song "Walking In The Air".
Written to accompany the scene in which the Snowman and the boy take flight and make their epic journey northwards to see Father Christmas, Blake employed the talents of St. Paul's Cathedral choirboy Peter Auty to lend voice to his exquisite melody and his poetic words. With opening chords that allude to John Williams E.T., a spine-tingling chorus and an instrumental bridge to die for, "Walking In The Air" went on to attain world-wide fame when it was subsequently released as a single by the famous boy soprano Aled Jones in 1985. The remainder of Blake's score is presented in two suites, running at 15 and 6 minutes respectively, either side of the song.
Although necessarily a touch cartoonish in nature, Blake convincingly and cleverly manages to convey the good humour and emotion and magic in the story with a series of wonderful interconnected cues, all of which are performed with life and spirit by the Sinfonia of London. Among the highlights include the mock Caribbean-rhythms for when the Snowman is "sunbathing" in front of the fridge, the lovely music-box theme for the Snowman's dance around the boy's bedroom, the wonderful woodwind and xylophone scherzo for the pair's chaotic motorbike ride round the garden, the magnificently vibrant source music for the Dance of the Snowmen, and the bittersweet rendition of the Walking In The Air theme as the pair reluctantly fly home.
Columbia's album, which is apparently extremely difficult to find outside the British Isles, is one of the most intelligently structured I have ever encountered. As the entire score only runs for just under 26 minutes, the music is presented twice - firstly with narration by character actor Bernard Cribbins reading extracts from the book, and secondly as an unbroken suite of narration-free music. Whoever took the decision to release the CD in this format should be unreservedly congratulated for their vision: not only does the two-half technique mean that you get a 50-minute CD, but you also get a choice of how to experience it. For those unfamiliar with the film, Cribbins' voice provides a welcome connection between the music and the on-screen action, while for those who wish to experience Blake's delicate touch and detailed orchestrations can simply skip forward to track 4 and indulge themselves.
Many people the world over have taken the film of The Snowman to their hearts, and a similar number have embraced Blake's score with equal enthusiasm. Even disregarding the near-legendary song, Howard Blake's lively music for this animated masterpiece will surely stand the test of time and go on to be part of Britain's Christmas traditions for many years to come. Though Blake has written classical pieces, other film scores, music for a number of theatre productions, and even a second Briggs animation (The Bear), the majority of people still consider this composition to be the seminal work of his career.
Track Listing:
- The Story of the Snowman (15:30)
- Walking In The Air (written by Howard Blake, performed by Peter Auty) (3:30)
- The Story of the Snowman continued (6:40)
- The Snowman Soundtrack (15:30)
- Walking In The Air (written by Howard Blake, performed by Peter Auty) (3:30)
- The Snowman Soundtrack continued (6:40)
Running Time: 50 minutes 20 seconds
Columbia CDX-71116 (1986)
Music composed and conducted by
Howard Blake. Performed by
The Sinfonia of London. Orchestrations by
Howard Blake. Narration by
Bernard Cribbins. Recorded and mixed by
John Richards. Album produced by
Howard Blake.
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by Jonathan Broxton in Movie Music UK 2000
THE DUELLISTS / THE RIDDLE OF THE SANDS
The Duellists Rating:
The Riddle of the Sands Rating:
Original Review: For many years, much of Howard Blake's film music output has remained unobtainable on CD. Up until recently, only The Snowman has been widely available to collectors, and his score for the classic Raymond Briggs animation remains his most popular work to date. Thanks heavens, therefore, for producers Ford A. Thaxton, Christopher Landry and the people at
Super Collector, who have followed up the release of Flash Gordon and Amityville 3D earlier this year with this superb album from the Airstrip One label, combining two of Blake's most highly-regarded, yet hitherto unheard works.
The Duellists was a 1977 film, notable in film history for being the debut feature of a young British director named Ridley Scott, who would later go on to create such classic pieces of cinema as Blade Runner, Alien and Thelma & Louise. Based on Joseph Conrad's classic novel of honour and obsession "The Duel", the film starred Albert Finney, Tom Conti, and Keith Carradine and Harvey Keitel as two soldiers in Napoleon's French army who, following a disagreement, embark on a bitter 20-year rivalry, during which the two engage in a series of violent duels across the battlefields of Europe.
Blake's music for The Duellists is essentially a one-theme work - but what a theme! Presented in its entirety in the opening (but ultimately unused) cue 'The Duellists', the theme is a large-scale, lush, but poignant, as if the music itself knows that the bitter rivalry between Keitel and Carradine can only end in tragedy. It has its roots in the meaningful music of the French renaissance, and effectively carries the emotion inherent in the story, but despite the undisputed beauty of the music, the fact that it is rather repetitive is it's only weakness. To give him his due, Blake does try to vary his styles of performance: as authentic Gallic source music in 'Mme. De Leon's Salon', with hesitant strings in 'Opening Titles', as an expressive piano solo in 'Laura', and so on.
The duels themselves are scored with a series of wildly impressionistic flourishes, notably with rampant, highly dissonant string work in 'Cavalry Duel', resounding percussion in 'Pistols', and icy harp and piano scales in 'The Final Battle in the Woods'. In addition to these, there are a couple of interesting diversions to maintain interest, such as the fife and drum of 'Military Life', the Renaissance-style light-hearted pageantry of 'Armand and Adèle', 'The Château' and 'The Marriage', and the vibrant (but short!) 'Jubilation'. In contrast, by far the most effective cues are the last ones, 'The Lonely Walker' and 'End Credits', in which the music acts as a final epitaph, and sounds almost heartbroken and hollow, a musical echo of the state of mind of the ultimate victor in the series of duels who, having finally vanquished the object of his lifelong obsession, realises he has nothing else to live for.
The Riddle of the Sands, directed by documentarian Tony Maylam, is a desolate spy thriller based on the 1903 novel by Erskine Childers (who would later go on to form the Irish political party Sinn Fein). It stars Simon MacCorkindale as a yachtsman who, while out sailing in the North Sea off England's east coast, accidentally stumbles across what looks to be a German plot to invade the country, using the remote Frisian Islands as a staging post. Featuring Michael York, Alan Badell and Jenny Agutter, The Riddle of the Sands was actually something of a commercial flop, and despite being released in the UK during 1979, didn't make it to American shores until early in 1984.
As with The Duellists, the thing which The Riddle of the Sands has going for it is the strength of its main theme, a powerful, lyrical melody which Blake freely admits was influenced by Wagner's Ring Cycle. In the opening statement the music is accompanied by a choir singing in German, a beautifully poetic song entitled Geheimnis des Sandes, which adds volumes to the mysterious, potent energy provided by Blake's music. Unfortunately, the vocal version of the main title was omitted from the final cut of the film, and is being presented in this form for the first time here. The theme is recapitulated, to great effect, in further tracks such as 'A Walk in the Dunes', where the melody is led by a series of plaintive woodwind solos, 'Rowing Ashore', where it is accompanied by the orchestra eddying in time with the ocean currents, and 'Carruthers Reboards the Train', where it is performed with muted heroic gusto by the brass section.
But, unlike The Duellists, The Riddle of the Sands builds up an interesting series of sub-themes, often playing against and in counterpoint to the main melody. A dark, ominous two-note motif for the German invaders, and the turncoat agent Dollman, is first heard at the end of 'Sailing', and features in later cues such as 'The Inn', 'The Kormoran Moves In' and 'The Train to Emden', while the theme for the Jenny Agutter character is a subtle variation on the "antagonists theme", and is heard performed by mysterioso strings in 'Barge Building', 'Into the Fog' and others. A unique piece in the score, 'Sailing' is a sprightly scherzo for a bed of strings which takes on the carefree, undulating quality of the ocean.
It's quite astounding to realise that, considering the amount of talent he obviously has, Howard Blake's career as a film composer has never developed in the way it should. He has scored only two films in the last eight years - A Midsummer Night's Dream and My Life So Far - and is hardly ever mentioned when lists of great British film composers are compiled. It makes you wonder just what might have happened if the American executives had allowed Blake to score Alien, as Ridley Scott originally intended, instead of Jerry Goldsmith. What ifs and maybes aside, this is still a superb album, and a timely reminder of the talents of Howard Blake. If "Walking in the Air" made a shiver run up your spine without you knowing why, this CD provides the answer.
Track Listing:
THE DUELLISTS
- The Duellists (3:01)
- Mme. De Leon's Salon (2:38)
- Opening Titles (0:59)
- Military Life (0:23)
- Laura (1:47)
- Armand and Adèle (1:32)
- I Renounce Love (0:59)
- Tarot (1:31)
- Cellar Duel (0:58)
- Cavalry Duel (2:13)
- Jubilation (0:29)
- Russian Winter (6:21)
- The Château (1:11)
- The Marriage (1:35)
- The Challenge (0:49)
- Pistols (1:05)
- Final Duel in the Woods (3:29)
- The Lonely Walker (2:44)
- End Credits (3:17)
THE RIDDLE OF THE SANDS
- The Riddle of the Sands (4:29)
- A Walk in the Dunes (1:41)
- The Dulcibella (1:10)
- Sailing (4:46)
- The Inn/Rowing Ashore (1:57)
- Barge Building (3:51)
- The Kormoran Moves In (1:12)
- Into the Fog (1:26)
- Carruthers Investigates the Barn (1:48)
- The Train to Emden (2:53)
- Carruthers Reboards the Train (2:22)
- Rehearsal for Invasion (5:03)
- Sink the Dulcibella! (1:36)
- End Titles (2:23)
Running Time: 77 minutes 54 seconds
Airstrip One AOD-HB002 (1977/1979/2000)
THE DUELLISTS composed and conducted by
Howard Blake. Performed by
The National Philharmonic Orchestra. Recorded and mixed by
John Richards. THE RIDDLE OF THE SANDS composed and conducted by
Howard Blake. Performed by
The National Philharmonic Orchestra and
The John McCarthy Singers. Choir conducted by
David Shaw. "Geheimnis des Sandes" lyrics by
Christopher Geer. Recorded and mixed by
John Richards. Album edited and remastered by
James Nelson. Album produced by
Howard Blake, Ford A. Thaxton and
Christopher Landry.
by Jonathan Broxton in Movie Music UK 2000
THE DUELLISTS / THE RIDDLE OF THE SANDS
The Duellists Rating:
The Riddle of the Sands Rating:
Original Review: For many years, much of Howard Blake's film music output has remained unobtainable on CD. Up until recently, only The Snowman has been widely available to collectors, and his score for the classic Raymond Briggs animation remains his most popular work to date. Thanks heavens, therefore, for producers Ford A. Thaxton, Christopher Landry and the people at
Super Collector, who have followed up the release of Flash Gordon and Amityville 3D earlier this year with this superb album from the Airstrip One label, combining two of Blake's most highly-regarded, yet hitherto unheard works.
The Duellists was a 1977 film, notable in film history for being the debut feature of a young British director named Ridley Scott, who would later go on to create such classic pieces of cinema as Blade Runner, Alien and Thelma & Louise. Based on Joseph Conrad's classic novel of honour and obsession "The Duel", the film starred Albert Finney, Tom Conti, and Keith Carradine and Harvey Keitel as two soldiers in Napoleon's French army who, following a disagreement, embark on a bitter 20-year rivalry, during which the two engage in a series of violent duels across the battlefields of Europe.
Blake's music for The Duellists is essentially a one-theme work - but what a theme! Presented in its entirety in the opening (but ultimately unused) cue 'The Duellists', the theme is a large-scale, lush, but poignant, as if the music itself knows that the bitter rivalry between Keitel and Carradine can only end in tragedy. It has its roots in the meaningful music of the French renaissance, and effectively carries the emotion inherent in the story, but despite the undisputed beauty of the music, the fact that it is rather repetitive is it's only weakness. To give him his due, Blake does try to vary his styles of performance: as authentic Gallic source music in 'Mme. De Leon's Salon', with hesitant strings in 'Opening Titles', as an expressive piano solo in 'Laura', and so on.
The duels themselves are scored with a series of wildly impressionistic flourishes, notably with rampant, highly dissonant string work in 'Cavalry Duel', resounding percussion in 'Pistols', and icy harp and piano scales in 'The Final Battle in the Woods'. In addition to these, there are a couple of interesting diversions to maintain interest, such as the fife and drum of 'Military Life', the Renaissance-style light-hearted pageantry of 'Armand and Adèle', 'The Château' and 'The Marriage', and the vibrant (but short!) 'Jubilation'. In contrast, by far the most effective cues are the last ones, 'The Lonely Walker' and 'End Credits', in which the music acts as a final epitaph, and sounds almost heartbroken and hollow, a musical echo of the state of mind of the ultimate victor in the series of duels who, having finally vanquished the object of his lifelong obsession, realises he has nothing else to live for.
The Riddle of the Sands, directed by documentarian Tony Maylam, is a desolate spy thriller based on the 1903 novel by Erskine Childers (who would later go on to form the Irish political party Sinn Fein). It stars Simon MacCorkindale as a yachtsman who, while out sailing in the North Sea off England's east coast, accidentally stumbles across what looks to be a German plot to invade the country, using the remote Frisian Islands as a staging post. Featuring Michael York, Alan Badell and Jenny Agutter, The Riddle of the Sands was actually something of a commercial flop, and despite being released in the UK during 1979, didn't make it to American shores until early in 1984.
As with The Duellists, the thing which The Riddle of the Sands has going for it is the strength of its main theme, a powerful, lyrical melody which Blake freely admits was influenced by Wagner's Ring Cycle. In the opening statement the music is accompanied by a choir singing in German, a beautifully poetic song entitled Geheimnis des Sandes, which adds volumes to the mysterious, potent energy provided by Blake's music. Unfortunately, the vocal version of the main title was omitted from the final cut of the film, and is being presented in this form for the first time here. The theme is recapitulated, to great effect, in further tracks such as 'A Walk in the Dunes', where the melody is led by a series of plaintive woodwind solos, 'Rowing Ashore', where it is accompanied by the orchestra eddying in time with the ocean currents, and 'Carruthers Reboards the Train', where it is performed with muted heroic gusto by the brass section.
But, unlike The Duellists, The Riddle of the Sands builds up an interesting series of sub-themes, often playing against and in counterpoint to the main melody. A dark, ominous two-note motif for the German invaders, and the turncoat agent Dollman, is first heard at the end of 'Sailing', and features in later cues such as 'The Inn', 'The Kormoran Moves In' and 'The Train to Emden', while the theme for the Jenny Agutter character is a subtle variation on the "antagonists theme", and is heard performed by mysterioso strings in 'Barge Building', 'Into the Fog' and others. A unique piece in the score, 'Sailing' is a sprightly scherzo for a bed of strings which takes on the carefree, undulating quality of the ocean.
It's quite astounding to realise that, considering the amount of talent he obviously has, Howard Blake's career as a film composer has never developed in the way it should. He has scored only two films in the last eight years - A Midsummer Night's Dream and My Life So Far - and is hardly ever mentioned when lists of great British film composers are compiled. It makes you wonder just what might have happened if the American executives had allowed Blake to score Alien, as Ridley Scott originally intended, instead of Jerry Goldsmith. What ifs and maybes aside, this is still a superb album, and a timely reminder of the talents of Howard Blake. If "Walking in the Air" made a shiver run up your spine without you knowing why, this CD provides the answer.
Track Listing:
THE DUELLISTS
- The Duellists (3:01)
- Mme. De Leon's Salon (2:38)
- Opening Titles (0:59)
- Military Life (0:23)
- Laura (1:47)
- Armand and Adèle (1:32)
- I Renounce Love (0:59)
- Tarot (1:31)
- Cellar Duel (0:58)
- Cavalry Duel (2:13)
- Jubilation (0:29)
- Russian Winter (6:21)
- The Château (1:11)
- The Marriage (1:35)
- The Challenge (0:49)
- Pistols (1:05)
- Final Duel in the Woods (3:29)
- The Lonely Walker (2:44)
- End Credits (3:17)
THE RIDDLE OF THE SANDS
- The Riddle of the Sands (4:29)
- A Walk in the Dunes (1:41)
- The Dulcibella (1:10)
- Sailing (4:46)
- The Inn/Rowing Ashore (1:57)
- Barge Building (3:51)
- The Kormoran Moves In (1:12)
- Into the Fog (1:26)
- Carruthers Investigates the Barn (1:48)
- The Train to Emden (2:53)
- Carruthers Reboards the Train (2:22)
- Rehearsal for Invasion (5:03)
- Sink the Dulcibella! (1:36)
- End Titles (2:23)
Running Time: 77 minutes 54 seconds
Airstrip One AOD-HB002 (1977/1979/2000)
THE DUELLISTS composed and conducted by
Howard Blake. Performed by
The National Philharmonic Orchestra. Recorded and mixed by
John Richards. THE RIDDLE OF THE SANDS composed and conducted by
Howard Blake. Performed by
The National Philharmonic Orchestra and
The John McCarthy Singers. Choir conducted by
David Shaw. "Geheimnis des Sandes" lyrics by
Christopher Geer. Recorded and mixed by
John Richards. Album edited and remastered by
James Nelson. Album produced by
Howard Blake, Ford A. Thaxton and
Christopher Landry.
by John Bradshaw in The Birmingham Post 14/7/1998
'...most exciting of all a new composition by Howard Blake, receiving its first performance. Sleepwalking, a vocalise for solo soprano and eight cellos, describes in its seven continuous movements a world of dreams in which a woman moves from deep sleep, depicted by an eerie, unearthly sound created through the use of harmonics, throuh a series of episodes, half-forgotten memories and a brief wakefulness, returning at last in a final movement to sleep. The 12-minute work is technically demanding and Blake uses to wonderful effect the dark rich sonority of the ensemble to suggest night and the woman's hazy dreams.
Red Barn Cellos produced ensemble playing of a very high order and Mary Nelson's ability and charm enlightened both the Villa-Lobos (Bachianas Brazileiras No.5) and Blake's marvellous and evocative work.'
by Christopher Morley in Birmingham Post 1/5/1996
'One of the most attractive new pieces one could wish---memorable tunes and deft scoring combine to make this a work which will enchant audiences.'
in Svenska Dagbladet 11/3/1996
Howard Blake has created hauntingly original music. His style is tonally rich, dramatic, rhythmically focussed. The orchestra sounds marvellous under his baton.
in Gothenburg Post 10/3/1996
Howard Blake's music takes the leading role in this ballet. It is imaginative, finely balanced and beautiful to listen to...
by Nicholas Dromgoole in The Sunday Telegraph 1996
The ballet is as much Howard Blake's triumph as North's. His score daringly carries us to the heights that he and North have chosen to venture upon. By any standards on the world stage of dance anywhere this is a major achievement.
by John Thaxter in Ths Stage and Television Today 28/9/1995
Purcell Room, London's South Bank Sep 18/20 1995
..the piece turns those stiff encounters between frustrated travellers, waiting on the platform for their morning train, into beguiling duets and quartets. Sarah Jenning's London premiere for Jigsaw Music Theatre proved a real crowd-pleaser, touching a chord in an audience only too familiar with the daily hazards of points failures, work to rule and the wrong kind of snow.
As Station-master Dean Robinson's resonant bass-baritone over the intercom had just the right note of British Rail regret...Lisa Tyrrell's bird-spotting secretary spies a Dartford Warbler on the line, while tenor Vernon Kirk's time-obsessed executive tries to impress her with his talk of fast cars and all the business appointments he may have to miss. Their back-to-back coloratura duet won a special round of applause on the second night.
Stranger still is Dennis Schiavon's shabby drop-out, with pop-tune chatter to match his copy of The Melody-Maker, clowning about on the track. He responds to the pleas of Janet Shell's feminist business woman to join her in a cup of coffeee. But though they find the buffet closed, their duet combining his musical theatre vocal with her delicious mezzo made for a standout musical encounter.
by Ivan March in Gramophone 12/1994
Inspired, intense, yet infused with spontaneous feeling. The first movement.. is very appealing. The performance brings a moment of utter magic when, after the solist's hauntingly introspective (written) cadenza, the alto flute floats the main theme exquisitely over gently violin arpeggios. The slow movement again brings a hushed opening, unforgettable when the violinist, following a big tutti, takes up the main theme on a thread of tone ending with a breathtaking pianissimo. The finale is in the best 'dancing' tradition of the great concertos from Mozart and Beethoven onwards.
in Classical Music 12/1994
Not only has Blake created one of the most radiantly beautiful concertos ever written, wirth a slow movement of unsurpassed loveliness, he has shown that 'Modern' Music can be immediately enjoyable.
by Ivan March in Gramophone 12/1994
A lovely suite of string music written for the film A Month in the Country is also inspired. The bittersweet nostalgia of the three slow movements makes a telling contrast with the Alla Marcia second and the folksy Scherzando fourth.
in Tagespiegel (Berlin) 20/5/1994
... a concisely constructed work with an astonishingly inspired melody.
in Tagesspiegel (Berlin) 20/5/1994
As a surprise, Chrsitiane Edinger and her excellent duo partner commenced the second half of the concert with Howard Blake's 'Penillion'-Theme and variations for violin and piano. One listened to this concisely constructed work with its astonishingly inspired melody as if the name of the composer were not Howard Blake , but Antonin Dvorak. The Slavic-sounding tonality of this poignant piece makes one curious to hear the Violin Concerto that Blake. whose neo-conservatism seems currently to be in vogue in the English music scene, has composed for Christiane Edinger.
by Ann Fitzgerald in Stage and Television Today 13/1/1994
Pure magic, an hour and a half's mime, dance and music fantasy celebration of innocence, friendship and fun, with a hypnotic, dream-like quality... Howard Blake's eloquent score... is full of wit and humour as well as lyrical beauty. The lovely ballad Walking in the Air runs through it like a thread.
in The Stage 17/12/1992
... a gently satirical and witty piece. Blake's libretto is sharply perceptive, encapsulating the humour of the mundane. His lyrical score is vividly pictorial. Modern rhythms sit easily with more classical elements, all beautifully worked ... The Station makes music theatre enjoyably accessible.
by Mark Gale in Mid-Sussex Times 6/3/1992
... a setting of a poem by Edgar Allan Poe caught the atmosphere of this chilling piece with an effective response to the rhythm of the lines ... as well as a high dramatic peak the cantata has a most effective dying fall.
in ISM Journal 9/1991
They gave an enormous ovation after the first performance that brought the house down...the piece had two encores, with much deafening applause; former ISM President Sir Charles Groves said it was 'the most important event that has happened since youth music started'
by Edward Greenfield in The Guardian 3/1991
A concerto which would be agreeable in any programme ... elegant, with enough salt in the orchestral mixture to give it flavour. It is good to find a composer looking to the Ravel Piano Concerto as a model ... The neo-classical chatterings in the piano-writing directly echo that model, together with the jazzy syncopations of the outer movements, which in turn pay a debt to Gershwin.
by Christopher Palmer in The Philharmonia Collins Classics Series 1991
..it has a deceptive simplicity not unlike that of Mozart. I mention Mozart advisedly since the classical qualities implicit in scores like 'The Snowman' and 'Diversions for cello and orchestra' are on full frontal display in the Piano Concerto. There is a child-like exuberance and spirit of delight...but a shrewd supervisory intelligence plots every move and never allows the plain, ordinary even commonplace musical language tit speaks ever to sound plain, ordinary or commonplace. Much of this is due to a strong feeling for line, and not just melody: counterpoint is far more of the essence of Blake's music than harmony. To cast a full-scale concert work in a simple diatonic styel with no sense of deja entendu is, in the 20th century, a considerable achievement.
by Andrew Vaughan in Insight Magazine 1/12/1989
The material is crammed with invention from beginning to end. It looks at the world from both pairs of eyes, young and old, as their fantasy unfolds; toys come to life, mud pies turn into strawberry ice-creams, and there is the ultimate little girl's fantasy - she becomes a princess riding on a tall white horse. The score directs the piece, giving it pace and and meaning.
by Christopher Grier in Evening Standard 5/6/1989
A score written from the heart, effective and fresh.
in Which Compact Disc? 1/3/1989
'This overture cleverly tests children's skill in identifying all the rhymes used whilst demanding of them the utmost concentration to accomplish this.'
by Linda Innocent in Hi-Fi News and Record Review 1/2/1989
With the lightest of touch, Howard Blake has translated John Burningham's book for young children, 'Granpa' into music with voices - the little girl is played by Emily Osborne, natural, without a trace of drama-school artifice. Peter Ustinov makes an endearing character of Granpa, with marvellous professionalism and warmth...Granpa is near perfection.
in The Catholic Herald 9/12/1988
Drawing inspiration from the great traditions of the past, Benedictus belongs unmistakeably to the living tradition of inspirational choral music ...
by Michael John White in The Guardian 1/6/1988
... I liked its easy lyricism and its flow of self-motivating rhythmic figures strung across insistent tonal pedal notes or ostinati in the lower strings.
by Edwar Greenfield in The New Penguin Guide to Compact Discs & cassettes 1/4/1988
Hyperion disk CDA 66215
....Howard Blake turns his unostentatious lyrical invention to the concert hall and produces a comparitively slight but endearing Clarinet Concerto which is played here with great sympathy by Thea King who commissioned the work. With its neo-classical feeling, it is improvisatory and reflective in its basic style, but produces plenty of energy in the finale with its whiff of Walton...it is extremely vividly recorded on CD- there is almost a sense of over-presence; the state-of-the-art chrome cassette however seems ideal in all respects.
in Chester Standard 31/7/1987
'Of the various works especially commissioned by the Chester Summer Music Festival this year's Shakespeare song cycle would musically and artistically speaking seem to be the best....Blake has achieved true sensitivity, originality and innate musicianship with all the technical skills of modern song-writing to breathe fresh life into familiar stanzas. The songs are crafted with much perception. Devices such as suddenly-soaring intervals to give emphasis, sense of movement with changing time-signatures, and the manner in which lines are phrased to make literate as well as refined musical sense are some of the ways that help underline the significance of the texts...the composer acknowledged the prolonged ovation that was given the first performance.'
in Chester Chronicle 24/7/1987
'...a big success in the Festival..a work which received a stamping ovation...Blake's appreciation and comprehension of the poems was expressed precisely, passionately and descriptively...music utterly fitting to each mood, modern in sound, classical in impact.'
by Paul Dewhirst in Daily Telegraph 23/7/1987
'...the odd faint passing hint of Britten in some of the textures, and the more obvious debt of Stravinskian neo-classicism in the recurring motif of trills in the string accompaniments, the Shakespeare Songs hark back to Peter Warlock in their blend of rhythmic regularity spiced with the occasional irregularity and almost embarassingly direct tunefulness...the audience was duly enthusiastic.'
in Chester Post 22/7/1987
Rarely does one witness so warm and prolonged a reception for the premiere of a new composition as greeted Howard Blake's Shakespeare Songs...the English folk song tradition permeates every nook and cranny. Britten (in his Serenade style) seems to have been a particularly strong influence but the writing is at once highly skilled and conceptually fresh
by Kenneth Walton in Daily Telegraph 5/1987
Benedictus ... flows directly out of the English choral style as much as it enjoys the influences of the mainstream turn-of-the-century European composers ... impassioned and sincere.
by Stephen Pettitt in The Times 27/1/1986
'The four movements are extremely well written for the instruments, demanding much virtuosity, for example, in the brisk Scherzo---this is admirably fluent, well-balanced music.'
by Hugo Cole in The Guardian 4/1/1986
Thompson's words [inspire] some of the most turbulent and personal music in the work. Great opportunities for the tenor as the long aria works up ... to a jubilant coda for chorus of exactly the right length and weight. A serious and impressive work.
in Music and Musicians International 1986
Benedictus is a major work to date by a musician of wide experience ... Eschewing avant-garde methods, Howard Blake relies here upon enhanced diatonicism and devotes his impressive skills to sensitive word-setting and assured pacing of the linked sections in the development of a satisfying large-scale structure in three parts. A prelude, interlude and epilogue for unaccompanied solo viola evoke the aloneness of the central character, a Novice called to the monstic life, a masterly imaginative stroke. The scoring for choir and orchestra is unfailingly effective. The music ranges through moods of despair and anguish to a final affirmation. Its moods encompass sweetness, yet avoid sentimentality, and there is plenty of lively choral music spiced with syncopated rhythms. Benedictus deserves its considerable success with choral societies and audiences. Repetition increases respect for its solid virtues and sincerity.
by Richard Morrison [reviewing the farewell concert of the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble at the QEH] in the Times 5/11/1985
Zsolt Djorko used a resourceful palette of 'effects'...but the Sinfonietta of Howard Blake, though more conservative in idiom and structure, sounded distinctly brassier in conception, with the helter-skelter moto perpetuo movements cannily balanced by some bluesy 'three in the morning' writing. It certainly seemd to please the audience whose rapturous applause was rewarded by an encore...
in Sunday Telegraph 2/12/1979
...a moving and impressive interpretation of the life of Christ, to a haunting score by Howard Blake, in which Patrick Harding-Irmer, crucified, recalls Grunewald's altar-piece..
by Ian Woodward in Evening Standard 29/11/1979
Cathy Lewis as a poignant Mary and Patrick Harding-Irmer as Christ headed an outstanding cast. Howard Blake's sonorous score also triumphed.
by James Kennedy in the Times 28/4/1977
..a very decorative flow of dance, punctuated but scarcely interrupted by touches of fairly broad comedy. Howard Blake proves, not for the first time, that he can compose the sort of music which is easy on the ear and must be a joy to dance...
by Peter Gammond in Hi-Fi News and Record Review 1/1/1976
'The New National Songbook' has discovered a brand new and immensely effective line of satire which should replace all others. It is called the truth.'
by Edward Greenfield in Penguin Guide to Compact Discs & Cassettes
An attractive addition to the surprisingly limited list of modern British piano concertos.
in The Strad
This is unequivocally great music, accessible, expressive and often ravishingly beautiful.
in The Strad
The dearth of repertoire for the solo cello should encourage more composers to write for the instrument ... Diversions is a welcome newcomer which could become an old friend. The right movements all have an individual character, made more convincing by economic scoring in which each theme or effect is clearly defined. It is a bright, colourful, tuneful piece with tremendous rhythmic drive...
Highbridge Music Ltd.
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Competent direction and writing are lacking for this Canadian film shot in picturesque British Columbia, featuring Donald Pleasence as a gold prospector named Logan. Of rather an unstable disposition, Logan nevertheless keeps company with a widow played by Kate Reid when he is not panning for gold with little success, and suddenly the lives of the pair are disrupted by a young man from Brooklyn, Mazella (Don Calfa). Mazella shows Logan a book that describes possible locations of untapped gold mines in the Pacific Northwest and his discussion of them stimulates Logan to search for the "Little Lemon Mine" prospected by his late father who had failed to reach its lode. The oddly mingled trio spontaneously journeys, upon Mazella's quaint three wheeled motorcycle, into a wilderness on the track of the Little Lemon for which Logan has an old map, and they have some uninspired adventures along the way. Director Gerald Potterton's script wants clarity, lacks continuity, and even a better cast could not give it harmony, as Potterton's woeful attempts at humour do not amuse. One might expect that whenever a director is responsible for a film's screenplay, he should know how to tighten the action to align a story with his perceptions in order for the cast to avoid relying upon ad libbing, but such is not the case here, where torpor prevails and competent editing is an unfulfilled requirement. Pleasence therefore resorts, with scant control from the helm, to his customary hamminess while Reid simply seems to be befuddled throughout, leaving Calfa of the three principals owning the acting laurels, although his part as written lacks definition. The most rewarding aspect to this misfire, apart from the scenery, is its interesting scoring by always effectual Howard Blake, and although it seldom is matched with action on the screen, that is not a fault of the composer, but rather of generally shabby post-production efforts.