We sang Cecilia McDowall’s sparkling Music of the Stars in last November’s concert. In this postcard, bass John, who is also a pianist, explores some of the composer’s piano works.
Though McDowall has written many pieces for choir, I first encountered her music through her Four Piano Solos (1999). These are a marvellously varied collection of highly imaginative miniatures, each linked to other pieces.
Shades of Solace (below) is a syncopated, moto-perpetuo making much use of the growling lowest notes on the piano and hinting at Scott Joplin’s piano rag Solace before a more obvious recollection of it.
Vespers in Venice is inspired by Turner’s ‘Approach to Venice’
The music is misty and impressionistic – Venice is known to be foggy in the winter. One hears the rumble of low-pitched bells, a motif from Debussy’s Reflets dans l’eau, and eventually a whirlwind of ascending scales and higher pitched bells, reminiscent of the opening of Monteverdi’s Vespers, and then a more direct quote distant, high-pitched and slowed down.
Pavane – this features the old French song ‘Vive Henri Quatre’, but not as we know it. The tune is harmonised with added-note chords, the rhythm is amended to feature a number of 5/4 bars and the composer asks for much pedal.
Tapsalteerie, to quote the composer “uses James Scott Skinner’s Cradle Song in the slow, dream-like opening and later as feverish fiddle playing. Skinner’s poignant tune has been turned topsy-turvy or, as the Scots say, ‘tapsalteerie’.”
All these pieces deserve to be heard by enquiring listeners, investigated by proficient amateurs and programmed by professionals.
For more information see https://ceciliamcdowall.co.uk/2019/09/17/four-piano-solos-1999/
Turner image: Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
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