Multi-part music for the same instrument, dating back to Elizabethan viol consorts, remains outside the typical orchestral repertoire nowadays, but, as ever, SOMM remains true to its stellar reputation for presenting rare and singular releases. Habanera, Music for Eight Cellos and Voice is a joyous recording that grew out of a collaboration between baritone Roderick Williams, cellist Joely Koos—joint Artistic Directors for the 2023 Endellion Summer Music Festival—and British-Spanish soprano, Ana Beard Fernandez. Together, they devised a concert featuring cello ensemble and voice.
Now, SOMM presents the formidable Endellion Cellists, together with Ana and Roderick, in a recording of these two artists’ uniquely colourful arrangements. The musicians are led by award-winning choral, orchestral, and operatic conductor William Vann. As an added bonus, Roderick Williams plays eighth cello, and recorder player Iain Hall joins the artists as fifth cello for this recital of shared pleasure and palpable fun.
The programme opens with the most famous original composition for cello ensemble and voice: Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5 for soprano solo and eight cellos by Heitor Villa-Lobos. The cycle of Siete Canciones Populares by Manuel de Falla is his most-arranged composition and one of the most frequently performed sets of Spanish-language art songs.
The best-known works by Spanish composer Xavier Montsalvatge are born of his fascination for the music and poetry of Antilles and the West Indies. His Cinco Canciones Negras came out of this aesthetic, and are among the finest examples of late twentieth-century Spanish art-song.
The individual songs that make up the second half of this recital include the haunting Vocalise-étude en forme de Habanera by Maurice Ravel, who was born in the Basque country near the Spanish border. Three varied songs collected as Tres Canciones include Yo Soy La Locura (I am the Madness) by the seventeenth-century French composer Henri du Bailly; an anonymous song, So el Encina (‘Neath the Holly Oak); and Negra Sombra (Dark Shadow) from Six Galician Ballads by the nineteenth-century Spanish composer Xoan Montes.
Two twentieth-century Russian songs are the much-transcribed Vocalise by Sergei Rachmaninoff, the last of his 14 Songs or 14 Romances, Op. 34; and a relatively unknown gem by Dmitri Shostakovich, Proshchaj, Grenada! (Farewell, Granada!) from his Spanish Songs, Op. 100.
By way of a rambunctious encore, the recital closes with the duet, Forêts paisibles (Peaceful forests) by the eighteenth-century French master Jean Philippe Rameau from his opera-ballet Les Indes Galantes.
On This Recording
Bachianas brasileiras No. 5, W. 389a (11:21)
- Ária (6:24)
- Dança (4:56)
Siete canciones populares españolas (Arr. Roderick Williams)a (12:30)
- I. El paño moruno (1:16)
- II. Seguidilla murciana (1:18)
- III. Asturiana (2:14)
- IV. Jota (3:10)
- V. Nana (1:41)
- VI. Canción (1:25)
- VII. Polo (1:24)
Cinco canciones negras (Arr. Roderick Williams)a (12:04)
- I. Cuba dentro de un piano (4:09)
- II. Punto de habanera (1:56)
- III. Chévere (1:56)
- IV. Canción de cuna para dormir a un negrito (2:35)
- V. Canto negro (1:26)
- Vocalise-étude en forme de habanera, M. 51 (Arr. Roderick Williams)a(3:00)
- Yo soy la locura (Arr. Ana Beard Fernández)ab(2:36)
- So el encina (Arr. Ana Beard Fernández)ab (3:08)
- Negra sombra (Arr. Ana Beard Fernández)abc(3:37)
- Vocalise, Op. 34 No. 14 (Arr. Roderick Williams)a (7:33)
- Proshchaj, Grenada! Op. 100 No. 1 (Arr. Ana Beard Fernández)b (2:42)
- Forêts paisibles (Arr. Ana Beard Fernández)abc (3:17)
The Endellion Cellists; William Vann, conductor
