Scenes of Reverie and Revelry

James MACMILLAN (b 1959): Cumnock Fair for piano & string quintet (1999)
-50th anniversary of the composer's birth

Percy GRAINGER (1882 -1961): Shepherd's Hey for flute, clarinet, strings & keyboard (1911)

Christopher ROUSE (b 1949): Compline for flute, clarinet, harp & string quartet (1966)

Maurice RAVEL (1875-1937) Introduction and Allegro for harp, flute, clarinet & string quartet (1905)

Gabriel FAURÉ (1845-1924): Piano Quartet No. 2 in G minor Opus 45 (1886)

What Grainger called the ‘keeping-on-ness’ of traditional dance fiddling, whether from Ireland, Scotland or elsewhere in the British Isles or from a huge range of Continental traditions, is one of the great sources of resilient energy in music. James MacMillan, widely regarded as the leading Scottish composer of today, strikes sparks off his own heritage in his Cumnock Fair for piano and string quintet. Grainger himself provides a thumbnail reminder of his exuberant re-creation of fiddling traditions in his Shepherd’s Hey, while the American composer Christopher Rouse favours reverie rather than revelry in his Compline, an impression of Rome that takes in its ecclesiastical traditions and the ever-present music of its bells. As Rouse’s piece is scored for the same instrumental forces as Ravel’s famous Introduction and Allegro, it might have seemed churlish not to include this piece as well, in which revelry occasionally seems on the verge of influencing the unforgettable reverie of its sinuous melodies. Fauré’s Second Piano Quartet alternates quiet eloquence and nimble brilliance, demonstrating how well these qualities can live together if their contrasts are handled by a master.