H93 Cloud Shadow (2020)
Commissioned by the Nash Ensemble, with funds provided by Dr. Shirley Ellis and the Nash Concert Society Trust.
First performance scheduled on 27 April 2021 at Wigmore Hall, London, by the Nash Ensemble of London as part of a Nash Inventions concert.
Instrumentation: Oboe (Cor Anglais), Eb Clarinet (Bass Clarinet), Bassoon (Contrabassoon), Horn and Piano
Duration: c. 13’
Programme note:
My tenth piece for the Nash Ensemble, ‘Cloud Shadow’, takes its form from the ever changing shapes of clouds that cast shadows across the landscape where I live for some of the year in the south of Spain. In the piece, they seem to have minds of their own; utterly adrift, billowing with quixotic material. Eventually, all the reed instruments change one by one to their low doublings and the high clouds seem to be forgotten (apart from the occasional abrupt reminder). Shadows are all that is left, extending into a relatively long, slow coda.
SH
29 August 2020
Reviews:
“From the title, you might expect something drifting and melancholy, like Debussy’s Nuages. But Holt avoided the obvious with a series of abrupt and hard-edged statements, full of sudden scurryings and mysterious pauses. The oboe and clarinet seemed to shadow each other – sometimes closely, sometimes at a distance – before being shoved aside by an angry horn and piano. It was beautifully shaped.”
Ivan Hewett, The Telegraph, 28 April 2021
“El concierto comenzó con el estreno de Cloud Shadow de Simon Holt escrita para quinteto de piano y vientos, la misma formación de los famosos quintetos de Mozart y Beethoven, con la diferencia de que tres de los instrumentistas de viento tocaban dos instrumentos de su familia (por ejemplo, el oboísta tocaba también el corno inglés en algunas ocasiones). Es una obra basada en las impresiones que el compositor ha tenido en España y se compone de varias secciones que explotan las posibilidades del conjunto en muy diversos aspectos. Obra evocativa e impactante que muestra los grandes recursos del compositor. La interpretación del Nash Ensemble resultó impecable.”
Francisco Martínez Ramos, Bachtrack, 28 April 2021