Barber Lunchtime Spring 22: The Hermes Experiment

The Hermes Experiment

Héloïse Werner voice Oliver Pashley clarinet Anne Denholm harp Marianne Schofield double bass Friday 11 March 1pm Elgar Concert Hall

Programme Fin like a flower

Anna Meredith arr. Marianne Schofield (b. 1978)

Reflets & Attente

Lili Boulanger arr. Schofield (1893-1918)

Written at Sunset

Raymond Yiu (b. 1973)

Pedalling Man from A Field Guide to Pebbles A Photograph to sleep on it (selected movements) Roman Holiday

Lynne Plowman arr. Oliver Pashley (b. 1969) Philip Venables (b. 1979) Ruari Paterson-Achenbach Olivia Chaney (arr. Schofield) (b. 1982)

Programme Notes Fin like a flower

Anna Meredith arr. Schofield

Fin like a flower was written by Anna Meredith in 2009 and was commissioned as part of the NMC Songbook: this was a large collection of songs composed and recorded specially to mark the twentieth birthday of the NMC record label and featured new works from ninety-six British composers.

The original song was written as a duo for countertenor and harp, and the new arrangement for The Hermes Experiment quartet was made in 2019 at the suggestion of, and in close consultation with, the composer. The text is by Philip Ridley: You wore your fin Like a flower And by petal And perfume Enticed me beyond Land's End to your teeth oh, consume me Piece by piece Oh, no release I'm in your power My fin like a flower.

Reflets and Attente

Lili Boulanger arr. Schofield

Reflets and Attente are two settings of poetry by Maurice Maeterlinck (1862-1949) made by the composer Lili Boulanger (1893-1918) in 1911 and 1912 respectively. The two songs show a remarkable depth of emotional expression for their short durations, and demonstrate an expert manipulation of complex chords and a mature compositional language from the teenage composer.

Attente (‘Waiting’) in particular builds on its opening harmonic richness by increasing the chordal complexity and tension towards the middle of the song, in line with the growing weariness and expectation of the poem’s second stanza, before finding a more stable, tranquil chordal base for the start of the final stanza: ‘My soul brings peace to the depths of my dreams’. Reflets (‘Reflections’) begins with a flowing, ascending quaver figuration in the accompaniment as the voice sings “Beneath the water of the dream that rises’. This rippling figuration continues, becoming more uneasy and darkening harmonically, like the murky depths of the water in the poem, and again the third stanza sees a sudden change to a more delicate, nostalgic atmosphere as ‘One by one the flowers shed their leaves’.

Written at Sunset

Raymond Yiu

With the lockdown in place during most of 2020, not only physical visits to friends and family were made difficult or impossible; the opportunities to say final farewells to those we loved were also taken away from a lot of us. Written at Sunset, a setting of a poems by the Taiwanese poet Hsiung Hung (b.1940) and Emily Dickinson, serves as a meditation on remembrance and a parting gift to a dear friend who passed away when the work was being composed.

Although written by two female poets from very different times and backgrounds, these poems share uncannily similar sensibilities, atmospheres and choices of imagery. Comprising of five movements, Hung’s poem provides the text for movement I, II VI and V. The central movement, featuring the Dickinson text, offers different formations of execution according to the desire of the performers.

Written at Sunset is dedicated to the memory of June Patricia Hughes.

Pedalling Man from A field guide to pebbles

Raymond Yiu Lynne Plowman arr. Pashley

This is a percussion duet dating from 2017, a collection of short pieces for percussion duo. In the words of the composer, they ‘can be performed individually or in any combination, in any order’. ‘Pedalling Man’ is the second of these short pieces, originally scored for marimba and almglocken, a set of tuned cowbells of Apline folk music origin.

Oliver Pashley A Photograph

Philip Venables

A Photograph is a collaboration between composer Philip Venables and writer Cordelia Lynn. It was commissioned by the Oxford Lieder Festival and was first performed there in October 2020 by The Hermes Experiment. The piece is dedicated to Philip’s mother, Christine, and takes inspiration from the photo below:

to sleep on it

Ruari Paterson-Achenbach

to sleep on it is a graphic score, with material varying from scatterings of notes and gestures of paint to specific textual instructions and inquiries into personal experiences and emotions. The piece aims to destabilise traditional relationships between composer, performer and audience, formulating a collaborative non-hierarchical creative environment which prioritises personal experience and subjectivity. The piece also challenges traditional conceptions around ‘notation’ and builds upon the work of composers such as Claudia Molitor and Alison Knowles to imagine alternative modes of sounding and improvising.

Ruari Paterson-Achenbach Roman Holiday

Olivia Chaney arr. Schofield

Olivia Chaney is a classically-trained folk singer, instrumentalist, composer and arranger. She was born in Florence, Italy, and grew up and studied in the UK at Chetham’s School and the Royal Academy of Music. The song ‘Roman Holiday’ features on her second solo EP, Shelter, and its lyrics allude loosely to aspects of Italian culture and landscapes, with references to ruins, pines and archaeology. Italian history is also embedded in the actual structure of the song’s composition: the precise combination of four chords that form the main repeating harmonic sequence of the song are a popular sixteenth-century ‘schema’, or pattern of chords, sometimes labelled the Monte Romanesca, or rising Romanesca sequence. Examples of this same chord sequence are numerous throughout baroque and classical repertoire from composers all across Europe: the Monte Romanesca can be found in works by Corelli, Bach, Purcell, Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven, and is a highly distinctive harmonic device. This arrangement of ‘Roman Holiday’ seeks to accentuate these links to the past, initially through using the instruments to suggest the sounds of a period ensemble, before taking Olivia Chaney’s song into a more modern soundworld.

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Biographies The Hermes Experiment is one of the UK’s most unusual ensembles: a contemporary quartet made up of harp, clarinet, voice and double bass. Capitalising on their deliberately idiosyncratic combination of instruments, the ensemble regularly commissions new works, as well as creating their own innovative arrangements and venturing into live free improvisation.

The ensemble won the prestigious Royal Philharmonic Society Young Artist Award 2021. They have commissioned over 60 composers at various stages of their careers. Their debut album HERE WE ARE was released in July 2020 on Delphian Records to critical acclaim: “an imaginative disc that mirrors our current musical landscape” The Observer. Their second album SONG was released on 22 October 2021, to critical acclaim. It has been selected by Presto Classical as one of their recording of the year finalists.

They Hermes Experiment are also winners of the Royal Over-Seas League Mixed Ensemble Competition 2019, Tunnell Trust Awards 2017, Nonclassical’s Battle of the Bands 2014, Making Music Selected Artists 2019/20 and Park Lane Group Young Artists 2015/16.

Recent highlights include performances at Wigmore Hall, Leeds Lieder, Oxford Lieder, BBC Radio 3 Open Ear at LSO St Luke’s, Tallinn Music Week, St Petersburg’s Sound Ways Festival, Southbank Centre, Kings Place and Spitalfields Festival. The Hermes Experiment were one of the showcase artists at the Classical NEXT Conference 2019. In January 2019, they celebrated their fifth birthday with a concert supported by Arts Council England and RVW Trust, which was recorded for BBC Radio 3.