Julie Cooper: The Renaissance Suite: II. PAVANE in Burnt Orange

Album review

This release, which made classical best-seller lists in early 2024, is of the orchestral crossover genre that makes up such a large strand of (especially) British musical life, and listener reactions to it will largely be determined by their general level of sympathy for diatonic music with rich string textures and ambient vocals. This said, composer Julie Cooper, known as a writer of television scores, offers unusual variety within the genre. One interesting feature is that the "Oculus" in the title of the album is different from that in the name of the group Oculus Ensemble, although related to it; the Oculus Ensemble was formed several years earlier by Cooper and has issued several other albums of her music. The Oculus, this time, in a general sense, is the "eye" in Renaissance art, which is alluded to in several ways. There are colors in several of the titles (Angel in Dark Green), and these are synaesthetic representations of keys, helped along by the fact that Oculus conductor Jessica Cottis is herself a synaesthete. Cooper also casts a musical eye on Renaissance styles in The Renaissance Suite, a set of pieces that refer obliquely and quite subtly to Renaissance dancers. Grace Davidson, a soprano who lends her ethereal vocals to various albums in this genre, is present, as is rising pianist Rebeca Omordia. Signum Classics contributes well-attuned studio sound to the project, which is likely to satisfy the audience it is aimed at unusually well.

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