More premieres continue at this year’s Vale of Glamorgan Festival. John Luther Adams, who never really left us after his Zoom call, had the next big outing this time, with his Nunutaks. Quite harsh in nature, the few minutes spent with it were emblematic of Adams’ style: one piece could be touching and minimal, the next coarse and prickly. Pianist Robin Green, a joy whenever featuring at the festival, played it with much consideration and peacemaking. The unease came from a tonal structure teetering on abstraction – you had to go along with it in order to take it in.
The Carducci Quartet, who performed after Adams’ cameo on Friday, graced us again this time with some Phillip Glass – a rare outing of the American composer’s this year, in the form of his String Quartet No.2, alternatively titled Company. Its lapping notes, minimalistic gimmicks and affirmed sense of motions are bog-standard Glass fare: the Quartet excel in any repertoire and you get the feeling this is child’s play for them, though no doubt some technical abilities in Glass’ demands never falter.
Green popped back on stage for a real treat – a selection of short works by Gÿorgy Kurtág. Now aged 96, this Hungarian eccentric is still going with newly written music. Green recalled a brief visitation with him as being like stuck in a Samuel Beckett play. Here, the pianist scrubs the keys in a flurry of notes, vocalises around a distilled melody amongst other whacky goings-on. It had the spirt of Ligeti to it and Green seemed to just strike away at them with a pleasing, nuanced playing.
Huw Watkins, another featured composer of this year’s festival, ended the night with his own String Quintet, giving all on deck on this night to play together. The 20-minute duration made for a passable finale – an issue I’ve grappled with all week in this series of concerts. Watkins seems to look both ways, to the history and future of music, though the concern is he remains far too much in the past, with his conventional phrasing and structure. Still, nature never feels far away and the grand playing with Robin on piano makes the strings work hard for a fine finale.
Robin Green & Carducci Quartet, Cardiff University Concert Hall, Sun 25 Sept
Vale Of Glamorgan Festival continues until Fri 30 Sept. Info: here
words JAMES ELLIS