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The music of Rhian Samuel draws strength from its composer's sensitivity to local cultural traditions and to contemporary European and American influences. In her work, melody, rhythm and harmony retain their time-honoured primacy as fully functioning elements of a committed and individual musical language, which is distinctive also for its rich generosity of expression. Born in Aberdare, Wales, in 1944, Samuel received her education in Britain and the United States, and taught for a number of years at the St Louis Conservatory before returning to Britain in 1984 to teach at Reading University, where she was appointed Head of the Music Department in 1993. She is currently Professor of Music at London's City University. A highly respected scholar and teacher, she is co-editor of the New Grove Dictionary of Women Composers, and the author of several authoritative essays on the stage works of Sir Harrison Birtwistle. In her own music, with the exception of the Elegy Symphony, premiered in 1981 by the St Louis Symphony Orchestra conducted by Leonard Slatkin, Samuel has so far avoided the standard genres. Instead, she has preferred to respond directly to the challenge of creating structures from explicitly poetical impulses, be they of words themselves or some other stimuli. Her concept of form arises from two principal sources: texts and their internal and external tensions both within themselves and with their musical setting; and - with or without the presence of words as an additional shaping force - dynamic currents of conflict within the musical action as sources of tension, drama and resolution. |
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An important group of pieces within the overall body of her work
relates to writings nuanced by the presence of a woman's point-of-view,
either as lyrical utterance or as narrative, in terms of women 'telling
their own stories'. Of the former category, the song-cycle The
White Amaryllis is exemplary. May Sarton's three reflections
on transience and loss speak with equal eloquence to both genders,
yet their unique voice is inseparable from the poet's experience
of writing from a female perspective. Of the latter, the two movements
of Daughters' Letters, one of Samuel's most popular scores
to date, are explicitly concerned with the plight of a pair of nineteenth-century
women, drawn in scenas of Ibsenesque power by the poet Anne Stevenson,
and drawing the listener inexorably into political and historical
judgements as part of their powerful effect. The same might be said
of Clytemnestra, for all the epic resonance of its Aeschylian
scenario. In contrast, in the quiet intensity of another Stevenson
setting, Path, time, memory and passion are subsumed into
a musical symbol, a fragment of the aria Bois epais ('Lonely
Woods') from Lully's tragédie lyrique Amadis - material
which in the purely instrumental Summer Path is further refined
in a rapt dialogue of harp and strings.
Within the sensibility of Samuel's music nature, locality and landscape are also important subjects whose spell, conversely, is frequently evoked through the medium of instrumental or orchestral colour. The most striking examples to date are two major scores, Dawnsiau'r Nant (Dances of the Stream) and Tirluniau (Landscapes). The Welsh titles form part of a shared Celtic resonance, though the composer for her inspiration casts her net more widely than the boundaries of her homeland: 'The Old Man of Storr', second movement of Tirluniau, is to be found on the Scottish Isle of Skye, a region that has also inspired the viola-and-piano pieces of Blythswood. Likewise, Eryri, first of the Three Pieces for trumpet and organ, takes a distant view of the vista of Mount Snowdon, while the distinctly Cambrian topography of the song-set Cerddi Hynafol / Ancient Songs neatly combines a medieval Welsh 'setting' with stories told from a woman's viewpoint.
No less adept in the handling of small as of large forms, Samuel is an accomplished miniaturist whose talent for incisive statement is displayed in a variety of instrumental suites, including Time out of Time, for cello and piano, the Five Miniatures for piano quintet, and Shaping the Air, for oboe or soprano and alto saxophones and piano. Each number in these sequences of character pieces focuses on a particular compositional challenge, conceived of and executed in accordance with the playful, reflective or sombre idea implicit in its title. To the last category belong a number of memorable pieces concerned specifically with lamentation, including Threnody with Fanfares, from the Three Pieces for trumpet and organ, and Galar ('Grief') from Ymddiddan (Dialogue) for two pianos. Other powerful stele to be found in Samuel's output are the second song of the Cerddi Hynafol cycle, Galarnad Heledd ('Heledd's Lament'), the solo organ meditation Fel Blodeuyn (Like a Flower), and the grief-laden arabesques of the final piece, 'Weeping Trellises', from the five-movement cycle for piano, Dream-Images.
Samuel's sensitivity to the practical needs of singers and instrumentalists
lends her music an enduring appeal to performers and their audiences.
Tin Soldier for cello and piano was commissioned by the Associated
Board for the Spectrum for Cello collection, published in
January 2004. A variety of her pieces feature on current examination
syllabuses. Approaching repertoire status, too, are several vocal
works, for example, the atmospheric narrative of The Hare in
the Moon for soprano and piano. With The Witch's Manuscript
for soprano and brass quintet, it is singled out for praise in Sharon
Mabry's essential guide for singers, Exploring Twentieth-Century
Vocal Music, and is one of a number of acclaimed works by a
composer whose diverse output and continuing creativity point to
increasingly impressive achievements still to come.
© 2004 Stainer and Bell Ltd
Works
These titles can be ordered in our online shop, or, in the case of rental works, through our Hire Library. The items with [PDF] after them are links to free sample pages in the Adobe Actobat format.
WoodwindAriel 1988 [7'] (Ref. Y149) [PDF] BrassBrass Express 1995 [6'] (Rental Ref. HL323) StringsBlythswood 1996 [10'] (Ref. H398) [PDF] KeyboardA Garland for Anne (2003) [10'] (Ref. Y200) [PDF] OrganFel Blodeuyn (Like a Flower) 1992, rev. 1993 [10']
(Ref. AC145) [PDF] ChoralLa Belle Dame Sans Merci 1982, rev. 1987 [14']
(Rental Ref. HL321) Chamber WorksEmerging (lightly) 2008 (Ref. Y244) [PDF] Voice & Piano/Solo InstrumentBefore Dawn 1988 [9'30''] (Ref. H406) [PDF] Voice & Ensemble/OrchestraClytemnestra 1994 [27'] (Rental Ref. HL328) OrchestraBrass Express 1995 [6'] (Rental Ref. HL323)
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Discography
The Hare in the Moon (Lucy Crowe, soprano, Simon Lepper, piano) [MP3 Clip - beginning]
Time out of Time (Gemma Rosefield, cello, Simon Lepper piano) [MP3 Clip - beginning of "Mechanical Doll"]
A Garland for Anne (Chenyin Li, solo piano) [MP3 Clip - beginning]
Trinity (Joana Seara, soprano, Adam Walker, flute John Reid,
piano) [MP3 Clip - beginning]
Piano Quartet: Light and Water (Fidelio Quartet: Michael Dussek,
piano, Tama Andras, violin, Sarah-Jane Bradley, viola, Gemma Rosefield,
cello) [MP3 Clip - ending]
Gaslight Square II (Duo Antithesis: Dimitris Karydis and Petros
Moschos) [MP3 Clip - beginning]
'Rhian Samuel: Light and Water'
Deux-Elles DXL 1128 www.deux-elles.co.uk [REVIEWS]
Threnody with Fanfares
Deborah Calland (trumpet), William Whitehead (organ)
'North Star' [REVIEWS]
Deux-Elles DXL 1097 www.deux-elles.co.uk
Jolly Wat the Shepherd
Joyful Company of Singers
'Plum Pudding'
White Line CDWHL2150 www.sanctuaryclassics.com
Nantcol Songs: A Perfect View
Gillian Keith (soprano), Simon Lepper (piano)
'A Garland for Presteigne'
Metronome METCD 1065 www.metronome.co.uk
Shadow Dance
Nancy Ruffer (flute), John Anderson (oboe), Helen Crayford (piano)
'British Music for Flute, Oboe and Piano'
Dutton CDLX 7181 www.duttonvocalion.co.uk
Songs of Earth and Air: The Kingfisher and April Rise
Sharon Mabry (mezzo-soprano), Rosemary Platt (piano)
'Music by Women'
Capstone CPS-8714 www.capstonerecords.org
Traquair Music
Cynthia Green Libby (oboe)
'Daystream Dances'
Hester Park CD 7707 www.vivacepress.com
Recent and Forthcoming Performances
Dream-Images
Claudia Schurr (piano)
14 September 2007. Schumann Festtage, Gewandhaus, Leipzig
A River (PREMIERE) for soprano, baroque oboe, harpsichord
and bass viol
"Music in the Village" concert series
Natalie Clifton-Griffith (soprano), Gail Hennessy (baroque oboe), Reiko
Ichise (viola da gamba), Terence Charlston (harpsichord)
21 February 2008. 7.30pm. (Pre-concert talk at 6.45pm) St. Mary's Church,
Walthamstow, London E17
Dance of the Curlews (PREMIERE) for harp duo
RAM Harp Ensemble JiMin Lee (harp), Nanako Murakami (harp)
7 March 2008. 1.05 pm. Duke's Hall, Royal Academy of Music
Emerging (lightly) (PREMIERE) for viola and ensemble
Mobius (flute, clarinet, harp and string quartet)
Vicci Wardman (solo viola), Jamie Martin (flute), Robert Plane (clarinet),
Maya Iwabachi and Philippe Honore (violins), Sally Pendlebury (cello),
Alison Nicholls (harp)
22 March 2008. 7.30 pm.Wigmore Hall, London
[REVIEW]
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For further information about Rhian Samuel and
her works,
please e-mail Caroline Holloway caroline@stainer.co.uk |
