JEREMY THURLOW FOUR PLACES OF THE SOUL
JEFREMY IN ROBINSON COLLEGE MAGNIFICENT CHAPEL
Alive, Bold, Coruscating. That’s my ABC of the Creation Sinfonia’s performance of Jeremy Thurlow’s new work
The evening began with. Ralph Vaughan Williams: an apt taster as the ensemble showed its skill with the madly popular Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis. This wove a subtle skein of contact with Medieval times - as did the surprising Tudor experimental Mr.Picforth’s ‘In nomine’ ,( orchestrated by Jeremy Thurlow. Who was Mr.Picforth? Answer, we don’t remotely know.)
Both works were wonderful warmups for what was to come.
New Music can alarm listeners. Everyone is fine with work from the past - even hundreds of years old – but it’s almost as if it must be tried and tested before we trust ourselves to listen. In the dramatic interior of Robinson College Chapel last night - in the hands of composer Jeremy Thurlow , we made a remarkable plunge into the thoughts of early Medieval philosophers -mingled with reflections on what it is to be alone, to be alarmed ( the Covid pandemic) and ultimately consoled. Four places of the soul, lead to the Meditations of St. Augustine as interpreted by Ineke van Spijker (and for me the constant study of our souls in a Catholic education) was a wonderful work.
Wherever the inspiration came, it still cannot explain the sheer genius of musical composition, how it comes about, how it emerges - always a cause of deep admiration. To be present at the first emergence of this mysterious skill held a unique excitement .
Joely Koos the solo cellist lead the Creation Sinfonia with skilled support from conductor Francis Bushell Not simply an expert player, she shared a delightful emotional connection with the audience The work was an arc of experience. First peaceful ordered ‘Like a feather unencumbered’ now blended with the orchestral contrapuntal mood , the Soloist buoyed by friendly assistance. Next was Voices Awry where the Soloist is in a crowd of hectic volatile but overwhelming company – comforted by the sequential betwixt interlude with its own disappointments as the Soloist loses contact with others. Dark Night of the Soul, the most culturally familiar even unto today ,is where ‘ solitude curdles into loneliness and despair’ – here the orchestral interlude comforts and steadies a lost Soloist. And finally ‘We dwell in each other’ s triumphs with Solist and orchestra united in a celebration even a dance of joy.
A beautiful evening of intense expression in brilliant new music . I have seldom felt the mood of the music so inensely. And surprises there too. What about the immense xylophone with two players and the dazzling percussion so alarming it felt was if an angry angel had burst into the room.
As I left I plunged through the Green Room where the rightly rapturous Joely was talking to a violinist. Still under the spell of piece I called “ ‘We’re all better together ‘. And they beamed in agreement - and concurred. We are.
ROBINSON COLLEGE CHAPEL - OVERLOOKED MASTERPIECE
