Colin Matthews: Seascapes music review – music has more | Classical music

MeIt’s hard to think of a single person who has been more influential in UK classical music for longer. Colin Matthewswho turned 80 earlier this year. This release from the Nash Ensemble, directed by Jessica Cottis, showcases her vocal and chamber ensemble works.

What’s striking about these four sets of songs is the kaleidoscopic world they create in detail, whether they have seven players to work with or 17. The songs are rich; others can work without the caller. And yet the line of words remains straight.

The Island (2007), a set of three poems by Rilke, was written by Claire Booth’s cool-water soprano; he is also the soloist on Seascapes (2020) and A Land of Rain (2017), and he sounds as strong as ever, even if sometimes the voice gets lost in the straight lines he carves. In 2018’s As Time Returns, it’s singer Marcus Farnsworth who sings Ivan Blatný’s poetry, with a honeyed tone and a clear voice.

The greatest work is The Land of Rain: 10 Poems to the Words of the Poet Nicholas Moore, taken from the 31 different versions that made up one of Baudelaire’s poems (the entries in the newspaper competition, submitted under 31 ridiculously different versions). Matthews’ songs, moving like worms through different styles, bring them to life as a lesson in how words can be reinterpreted from multiple angles. The last song sets the tone for the original French – and when the songs come together, almost in a Mahlerian style, it’s as if the rest of the music was a dream.

Listen on Apple Music (above) or Spotify