Anna Clyne: Mythologies

Album review

Composer Anna Clyne has gained considerable popularity both in her native Britain and in the U.S., where she was composer-in-residence with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Her large, motoric scores owe something to John Adams, but the vivid colors in her works do much to tell the story and owe something to her background in electro-acoustic music, although all the music here is for traditional instruments. The pieces here cover a ten-year period; the oldest, rewind, is from 2005 and may require some explanation for younger listeners who have never seen a VCR: it evokes the feeling of a videotape being rewound, with hiccups and stops and starts along the way. One of the attractive features of Clyne's music is that it may take up lighter or more serious themes and may use a variety of tonal procedures without losing its essential brightness. Consider The Seamstress (2014), for violin and orchestra (featuring contemporary music specialist Jennifer Koh on violin), which features elements of both folk fiddling and 12-tone organization. The performances here are all by the BBC Symphony Orchestra under various conductors, including Sakari Oramo, and were recorded under different producers and engineers, yet here, too, Clyne's personality remains consistent. Expect to be hearing a lot more of this composer on concert programs in the future, and get in on the ground floor now.

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