H84 Llanto (para las chumberas) (2017)
Commissioned by Snape Maltings for the Aldeburgh Festival.
First performed at Aldeburgh Parish Church, Suffolk on 11 June 2018 by Melinda Maxwell, Clio Gould, Jane Atkins and Kate Gould, as part of the Aldeburgh Festival
Instrumentation: Oboe d’Amore, Violin, Viola, Cello
Duration: c. 8’
Programme note:
‘Llanto (para las chumberas)’, which translates as 'Lament (for the prickly pears)', is a quartet for oboe d’amore and string trio and takes the form of a single movement lasting approximately 7 minutes. I live, for about half the year, in southern Spain and I noticed that there seemed to be some kind of not so slow motion disaster happening with the prickly pears which grow wild there. The cochineal beetle has exacted a very cruel revenge on its host. Vast tracts of the emblematic plants have been laid waste by the pesky critter and it’s a sad sight indeed to see them rotting under what looks like skeins of white mould. I only hope that they somehow manage to survive this scourge as the landscape will not be the same without them. The piece itself is generally delicate, but seems at times to have the sense of a high wire act, with taut lines that freeze time. It is dedicated to Melinda Maxwell, for whom I have had the great pleasure to write many pieces over the years and to enjoy her extraordinary musicianship when she brings them to life.
SH
January 2018
Reviews:
“Dmitri Sitkovetsky’s 1984 string-trio version of the Goldberg Variations is one of the great Bach transcriptions, and this superb, late-night performance, in Aldeburgh’s packed Parish Church, confirmed its place as a classic reimagining and a moving hommage. It was neatly set up by the first performance of Simon Holt’s Llanto (para las chumberas), Lament (for the prickly pears). The prickly pear cactus is a familiar sight in southern Spain and is being infected by the cochineal beetle. The cactus becomes covered in a white froth that rots it – the insect is killing its host. Holt’s innate lyricism beautifully exploits the oboe’s keening quality, vividly realised by Melinda Maxwell’s mournful, long-phrased playing. If Llanto evoked feelings of decay and loss, this would have been down to the oboe’s teasing, ambiguous relationship with the string trio.”
Peter Reed, Classical Source, 11 June 2018