John Pickard: The Gardener of Aleppo: and other Chamber Works

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Pickard has a compositional voice that is truly sui generis. Each work sounds different from any of the others (the composer’s stated goal) and all are expertly performed by members of the Nash... — Fanfare, Nov/Dec 2020 More…

Release Date: 29th May 2020
Catalogue No: BIS2461
Label: BIS
Length: 79 minutes

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September 2020

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2021

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Pickard: The Gardener of Aleppo

Work length11:17

$2.05

$3.85

$5.25

Philippa Davies (flute), Scott Dickinson (viola), Lucy Wakeford (harp)

Pickard: Daughters of Zion

Work length8:13

$1.50

$2.60

$3.50

Susan Bickley (mezzo-soprano)
The Nash Ensemble
Martyn Brabbins

Pickard: Snowbound, for bass clarinet, cello and piano

Work length10:27

$1.50

$3.85

$5.25

Martin Robertson (bass clarinet), Adrian Brendel (cello), Ian Brown (piano)

Pickard: Serenata Concertata

Work length20:53

$6.55

$6.50

$8.75

Philippa Davies (flute)
The Nash Ensemble
Martyn Brabbins

I. Cadenza I

Track length3:22

$1.50

$1.30

$1.75

II. Aria I

Track length4:29

$2.05

$1.30

$1.75

III. Scherzo - Notturno

Track length4:33

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

IV. Cadenza II

Track length2:13

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

V. Aria II

Track length6:16

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

Pickard: Three Chicken Studies

Work length4:42

$3.00

$3.90

$5.25

Gareth Hulse (oboe)

No. 1, Laying

Track length1:49

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

No. 2, Feeding

Track length1:33

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

No. 3, Fighting

Track length1:20

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

Pickard: The Phagotus of Afranio

Work length10:34

$1.00

$3.85

$5.25

Ursula Leveaux (bassoon), Ian Brown (piano)

Pickard: Ghost Train

Work length13:11

$1.00

$3.85

$5.25

The Nash Ensemble
Martyn Brabbins

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Four previous releases on BIS have all featured John Pickard’s music for large orchestra – or, in the case of the Gaia Symphony (BIS-2061), large brass band. This new album, on the other hand, presents scorings ranging from a solo oboe to a chamber ensemble of eight players. The seven works cover just over 30 years; the earliest one, Serenata Concertata, was Pickard’s first paid commission written at the age of twenty. In his liner notes, Pickard notes that he has an aversion to repeating himself: ‘so each new work tends to be a reaction against the character, structure and technique of the previous one… The result has been a body of work with a wide expressive range and this disc gives some indication of that. The pieces on it are grouped in a broad progression from the serious to the more lighthearted.’ The two opening works are indeed inspired by serious matters – the background to The Gardener of Aleppo is the war in Syria, while Daughters of Zion, the only vocal work on the album, sets a text that reflects on anti-Jewish aspects of certain early Christian celebrations. In the latter work, Susan Bickley joins the players of the celebrated Nash Ensemble, who go on to lighter fare in Three Chicken Studies (Pickard himself has kept chickens as pets) and Ghost Train, a perpetuum mobile built on a cantus firmus derived from the Dies iræ theme. For this and the other chamber ensemble pieces the conductor Martyn Brabbins, a longtime collaborator of Pickard’s, wields his baton.

Reviews

Nov/Dec 2020

Pickard has a compositional voice that is truly sui generis. Each work sounds different from any of the others (the composer’s stated goal) and all are expertly performed by members of the Nash Ensemble and the guest soloists, all of whose musical skills could simply not be bettered. Add to this the life-like sonics of BIS, and one obtains a winning disc all around and a real keeper.

September 2020

The seven works on this terrifically played, imaginatively programmed disc cover over 30 years of John Pickard’s career. They are not presented chronologically, however, but sequenced rather to form a trajectory from darkness...The Nash Ensemble are on top form here, and BIS’s sound is stunning.

September 2020

A very impressive range of works in excellent performances.

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