Liverpool Wind Collective: Close Up Concert – Liverpool Philharmonic

Liverpool Wind Collective’s annual March concert featured a repertoire of exclusively female composers, a nice touch for midway through Women’s History Month. The varied programme allowed each member of the quintet to showcase their skills and the intimate setting of Liverpool Philharmonic’s Music Room created a sense of closeness between the audience and ensemble.

Opening with the sprightly Quintette (Allegro) by Hedwige Chrétien, the evening began with an immediate sense that we were running towards something lovely. This was followed by the trio performance of Cecilia McDowall’s Century Dances which took us on a journey through both the world and time itself. Performed by Ruth Davies (Oboe), Ausiàs Garrigós Morant (Clarinet) and Gareth Twigg (Bassoon), this interesting and varied piece energised the evening. Beginning with the fun and rhythmic eighteenth century Allemande, the change to the Menuet ghost dance created a sense of mystery and hidden depths being brought to life. This theme was continued in the powerful Mazurka. The fun and teasing Argentinian Tango led nicely to the funky closing Last Dance, with heavy jazz themes and modern rhythms.

Dani Howard’s Three Vino Encores for Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon and Wine Glass added the fun touch of wine glass playing to the evening, performed by flautist, Helen Wilson. These haunting melodies were an interesting addition to the performance. It may, however, have been better to rearrange the programme so that this was the last piece performed before the interval, as the gap between this and the following piece, Jennifer Higdon’s Autumn Music, was quite long and when the quintet returned to the stage, the audience were in the midst of conversations and questioning each other as to whether this was in fact the interval and if the bar had opened with people wanting their own wine following the wine glass performance! This led to an unfortunate impatience during Higdon’s stormy piece which dampened the sense of cold and deep winter calm the close of the piece features.

The second half opened with Cecilia McDowall’s Winter Music, following on nicely from the autumnal feeling of the close of the first half. The opening bars create a sense of heavy rain with quick and stormy tones, leading to the high drama of an avalanche felt in Stephen Nicholls’ French horn. The much slower and darker second movement creates a sense of deep winter with the quicker and lighter third movement feeling like an awakening as we move towards spring. 

Jane Stanley’s Helix Reflection, a duet performed by Garrigós Morant and Wilson is inspired by DNA and utilises the rarely heard quarter tone to create a sense of reflection and echo between the clarinet and flute influenced by the double helix.

The evening closed with Valerie Coleman’s Tzigane an Eastern European inspired dance, which allowed each of the musicians to showcase their talents through strong solos. The dramatic strong base is nicely paired with Wilson’s breathy flute, creating a feeling of summer and days that merge into night with no one noticing. The staccato passages increase the drama and the nostalgic feeling of a summer both forgotten and never quite realised.

Frequent eye contact between the musicians created a strong sense of leadership within the group, but it was clear that nerves were running high. The ensemble have clearly put a lot of thought into the evening’s repertoire and have created a lovely tribute to female composers, who are sadly still often forgotten or neglected. The performances themselves were excellent and the familiarity created by the space, allowed for some of the teething issues between pieces to be dealt with light-heartedly and with good humour.

Reviewer: Donna M Day

Reviewed: 20th March 2023

North West End UK Rating: ★★★★