Never has there been a better time for new music. With all the composers and students in Wales, Uproar have not needed to look far at all. This Wales-based contemporary music ensemble got a handful of outings prior to the pandemic and appear itching to start again, as was proven by this concert at the Royal Welsh College.
A stimulating programme featured composers of an international standard. Joseph Davies and his Collider started things off to varying levels of success. The piece didn’t necessarily know what it was, featuring various genres blanketed as being partly inspired by the particle collider in Geneva and the void nature of our streets during COVID. There is promise in Davies, though things still feel somewhat stuffy in the play.
Carlijn Metselaar’s Forest Bathing followed, a beautiful, Debussy-like exercise in tranquillity. Aptly named, with a genuine feel for the sublimeness of nature and its relationship with the artist, even with more harsh elements introduced later this was an entrancing evocation.
Artistic director and conductor Michael Rafferty is your go-to guy for new music in Cardiff, seen at Music Theatre Wales for decades. It’s his serious nature and love of the contemporary that shines through with every beat, seen on stage looming over the musicians. The opening jolt that came from Du Yun and her Impeccable Quake hardly waned throughout: with the addition of saxophone and electric guitar, this had a wild spirit, near jazz-like but buzzing with a unique aura.
Familiar face Guto Puw treated us to his Popping Candy (“welcome to the world of FIZZ and FUN!”). You got what you expected here – a Dadaesque feat in depicting the physical experience of eating the sweet which fizzles in your mouth as you eat it. Though a bygone treat that has passed in favour over the decades, it is still available to buy: in fact, we were treated to packets at the interval. There is a fine shimmer to the few minutes created, the expected pop and crackles heard throughout, ending with the musicians sharing some packets for themselves as their mouths controlled the pop symphony. As a beat of a tam-tam is struck, the closing of mouths to mute the noise concluded this absurd flutter. There were some jarring thoughts in what is essentially a novelty act, the laughter at the end proving this.
Korean composer Unsuk Chin and her Gougalon (Scenes From A Street Theatre, above) was a fabulous and highly ironic finale. Recalling memories from her childhood of street theatre, tricksters and snake-oil salesmen, she presents a highly theatrical vision. With folk elements, albeit not obviously native to her, Chin conjures up a duo of cans and bottles, percussive mischief and an all-round sense of gaiety. Hard to pinpoint for its electric nature, it’s an almost intoxicating feat which was arguably the finest piece heard on the night during Uproar.
Royal Welsh College Of Music & Drama, Cardiff, Fri 25 Feb
words JAMES ELLIS