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Wallen - Orchestral Works

£13.98

Usually available for despatch within 3-5 working days

Label: Resonus Classics

Cat No: RES10358

Barcode: 5060262793961

Format: CD

Number of Discs: 1

Release Date: 28th March 2025

Works

Wallen, Errollyn

By Gis and by Saint Charity
Dances for Orchestra
Fondant
Mighty River
Postcard for Magdalena
The World's Weather
This Frame is Part of the Painting

Artists

Ruby Hughes (mezzo-soprano)
Idunnu Munch (mezzo-soprano)
Miwa Rosso (cello)
BBC Concert Orchestra

Conductor

John Andrews

Works

Wallen, Errollyn

By Gis and by Saint Charity
Dances for Orchestra
Fondant
Mighty River
Postcard for Magdalena
The World's Weather
This Frame is Part of the Painting

Artists

Ruby Hughes (mezzo-soprano)
Idunnu Munch (mezzo-soprano)
Miwa Rosso (cello)
BBC Concert Orchestra

Conductor

John Andrews

About

This new album of orchestral works by Errollyn Wallen, performed by the BBC Concert Orchestra under the direction of John Andrews, offers a rich journey through over two decades of the composer’s diverse and innovative music.

Wallen, a groundbreaking figure in contemporary classical music, showcases her distinctive voice across a wide range of orchestral moods. From the celebratory ebb and flow of The World’s Weather to the evocative imagery in Mighty River, the album explores themes of human resilience and natural forces. Works like Fondant and This Frame is Part of the Painting reflect Wallen’s playful and deeply personal inspirations, whether from cake or art.

Other highlights include By Gis and by Saint Charity, with its intense emotional depth, and the virtuosic Dances for Orchestra, which blends styles from jazz to classical. This album is a powerful testament to Wallen’s mastery and inventive spirit.

Sound/Video

Paused

1

Dances for Orchestra I. Dance I
2

Dances for Orchestra II. Dance II
3

Dances for Orchestra III. Dances III-V
4

Dances for Orchestra IV. Dance VI
5

Dances for Orchestra V. Dance VII
6

Dances for Orchestra VI. Dance VIII
7

Dances for Orchestra VII. Dance IX
8

Dances for Orchestra VIII. Dance X
9

Dances for Orchestra IX. Dances XI-XII
10

This Frame is Part of the Painting
11

Fondant
12

The World's Weather
13

By Gis and by Saint Charity
14

Postcard for Magdalena
15

Mighty River

Europadisc Review

Appointed in 2024 as the 22nd Master of the King’s Music, Errollyn Wallen started her musical career in dance (including a period training at the Dance Theatre of Harlem) before focusing her attention on composition. Little wonder, then, that her extensive musical output – across many genres, and including opera and ballet – is so richly infused with the spirit of dance. The new album of her orchestral music, compellingly performed by the BBC Concert Orchestra under John Andrews, starts with her 2023 Dances for Orchestra, a series of 12 Dances which embrace popular idioms including jazz, blues, spirituals and more than a nod to the American style of Bernstein and Copland at its most infectious.

Dance II carries echoes of Stravinsky’s ballet Petrushka, while Dance IX includes a snappy Irish jig for solo flute. Dance X pulls a surprise by paying contemplative tribute to the Sarabande from Handel’s Suite in D minor. Whether in effective instrumental solos or brilliantly scored tuttis, Wallen’s mastery of orchestral textures is most assured, and the wide-ranging 25-minute set builds to a thrilling conclusion, including a full orchestra return of the jig theme. It’s easy to imagine this cycle becoming a popular repertoire piece for more adventurous orchestras.

The 2019 piece This Frame Is Part of the Painting finds its inspiration in the vivid colours of British artist Howard Hodgkin (1932–2017). It includes fragments of texts by Hodgkin as well as words by Wallen herself, musing on the various stages and conditions of artistic creativity (Innocence, Solitude, Certainty, etc.). Mezzo-soprano Idunnu Münch delivers an impassioned performance of the texts, while the orchestral textures are rich and fabulously varied, being particularly effective in the bright woodwind and knotty, snarling brass.

Fondant (2018) reveals another strand of inspiration in Wallen’s music which may come as a surprise: cake. Incorporating snatches of ‘Happy Birthday’, this music ‘aspires to the condition’ of cake, and as well as the playful lightness suggested by the title, there are moments of more sumptuous textures, all characterised by an overriding feeling of good humour. The more extensive World’s Weather (a postgraduate work from 2000, premiered as recently as 2022) starts ominously, but gradually blooms into life as a single raindrop brings forth the world’s weather, ending in an exhilarating mood of celebration. The idea of steady and inexorable growth from small beginnings is clearly another recurring theme in Wallen’s output, and a most engaging one at that.

The final three works on the disc are more serious in mood. By Gis and by Saint Charity (2022) sets a text sung by the disturbed Ophelia in Act IV of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. It is sung here with intense commitment and wide emotional range by soprano Ruby Hughes (for whom it was originally composed), and includes spoken responses of ‘Shame, shame, shame’ from the orchestra as Ophelia dwells on the way in which men make false promises of marriage to vulnerable women. This is certainly the most intense work on the album, and also one of its highlights: hard-hitting and drawing on the full gamut of expression from this fragile character.

The short Postcard for Magdalena (2020) is dedicated to film director Margaret Williams (1950–2024), with whom Wallen has collaborated. Scored for solo cello, it is poignantly performed by the BBC Concert Orchestra’s co-principal cello Miwa Rosso, and gains in power from being framed by more fully-scored works. And it contrasts well with the album’s final work, Mighty River (2007), dedicated to Wallen’s 6th-great-grandmother. A 16-minute piece for full orchestra, it opens simply with ‘Amazing Grace’, at first on solo horn, and soon joined by woodwind, before a steadily driving ostinato pulse is set up which gathers momentum much as a river (or the human spirit) grows and broadens over time. There are further references to the spirituals ‘Deep River’ and ‘Go Down Moses’, but ‘Amazing Grace’ eventually returns in a mighty tutti, and then on solo horn once more against interjections from djembe drums before a rich, broad final cadence.

It’s a powerful conclusion to an absorbing and generously-filled disc which will be the perfect introduction for those new to Wallen’s music. Excellent recording, committed performances and helpful booklet notes by Leah Broad all make this a most attractive album.

Reviews

The pieces date from 2000 to 2023; all share a strong sense of momentum in these performances by the BBC Concert Orchestra and conductor John Andrews. ... Two works include voices. By Gis and by St Charity is a short and effective setting of Shakespeare, compellingly delivered by Ruby Hughes... Idunnu Münch is the vivid soloist in This Frame is Part of the Painting... The newest work, 2023’s Dances for Orchestra, zips through 1990s house music... It is here that Wallen’s variety is heard to its clearest and sparkiest effect. Erica Jeal

The Guardian 28 March 2025

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Condition	Description
New	Brand new item, only ever sourced from the official UK distributor. Usually seal-wrapped, although a minority of labels do not use seal-wrap.
Used - Mint	Used item in excellent condition. Not usually seal-wrapped.
Used - Good	Used item with some minor signs of wear and tear. Never seal-wrapped.
Used - Acceptable	Used item with obvious scuffs or cosmetic damage to the case or booklet. Never seal-wrapped.

Condition	Description
New	Brand new item, only ever sourced from the official UK distributor. Usually seal-wrapped, although a minority of labels do not use seal-wrap.
Used - Mint	Used item in excellent condition. Not usually seal-wrapped.
Used - Good	Used item with some minor signs of wear and tear. Never seal-wrapped.
Used - Acceptable	Used item with obvious scuffs or cosmetic damage to the case or booklet. Never seal-wrapped.

Wallen - Orchestral Works

Usually available for despatch within 3-5 working days

Despatch Information

Contents

Works

Artists

Conductor

Works

Artists

Conductor

About

Sound/Video

Paused

Europadisc Review

Reviews

Also Available

£13.98

£13.98

£13.98

£11.19

£11.19

Condition Information

Condition Information