Blewbury Air
Raphael Wallfisch Cello
Adrian Farmer Piano
Nimbus NI1570
Medium Price
The Review
I have known Richard Blackford since we were at school together fifty years ago so I should, in those Parliamentary words, declare an interest. Whatever that interest, I still think he is one of the finest composers in Britain, unusually far better known in the rest of Europe and America than he is here, which is to his credit. Most of his works tend to be for sizeable forces, whether choral or orchestral, so this music is untypical: a short piece for solo cello and piano from the summer of 2019. It is ‘a love song’ to Blewbury, the village where he lives just South of Didcot, in Oxfordshire, close to the ancient thoroughfare of the Ridgeway.
The Air sets out to capture the atmosphere outside Blackford’s house by the side of the village lake and the three movements carry appropriate titles: By the water’s edge, Incantation with bells, and The wind in the branches. The combination of cello and piano emphasises the meditative quality but the music works perfectly well without the programmatic prompts as an effective sonata.
The recording, made at Nimbus’s Wyastone studio in the Welsh border country in early June 2020, marks a release too; the first time musicians and composer had been able to work together after the first period of COVID lockdown. There is a sense that this was an opportunity grabbed to get back to playing out of isolation and Wallfisch and Farmer give a performance full of commitment.
In that context – a snapshot of a place and time – the disc makes perfect sense. As a CD for sale, though, it simply does not. Blewbury Air is only twelve minutes long and there is nothing else for the price of £7.99. Could Nimbus not have added a few more works, if not by Blackford then by other composers connected with that area – or even Nimbus’s? There is no shortage.
SM