Tamsin Waley-Cohen - Richard Blackford: Niobe (2018) Hi-Res

Niobe is a work for solo violin and orchestra by Richard Blackford which was written for the violinist Tamsin Waley Cohen, who performs it on this new disc from Signum Classics with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Ben Gernon. The work is a single 23-minute span of symphonic music, which is here issued on disc on its own.

Blackford is inspired by the story of Niobe, who boasts that she is greater than the goddess of virtue, Leto, because Niobe has seven sons and seven daughters whereas Leto only has two. Leto sends Apollo and Artemis to kill all Niobe's children, Niobe's husband kills himself devastated, and Niobe is turned to stone and weeps ceaselessly.

The work was very much planned with Tamsin Waley-Cohen in mind and Blackford's discussions with her also touched on the way the story of Niobe relates to the plight of women unfairly treated in our own time, both those suffering under extreme religious laws and the double standard applied to Western women.

Described as a dramatic symphony for violin and orchestra, the work is not strictly a violin concerto in the 19th century sense.
At times the violinist leads but at other times she is subsumed and Blackford in his programme note describes how the soloist is hounded by the orchestra. The voice of Tamsin Waley Cohen's violin, though, is frequently heard soaring sweetly over the orchestra, and there are sensual as well as dramatic moments.

The work is not strictly programmatic, in the sense that there is no single thread of narrative, instead Blackford divides the piece into four sections, Niobe The Lover, Niobe the Blasphemer, Niobe the Pleader and Niobe the Mourner.

Blackford writes for a large orchestra and this is a richly imaginative and often richly textured work. Underlying everything is a sense of structure (Blackford's note talks about the reverse sonata-form structure and his use of motivic transformation and development). But what the listener will notice first is the richly romantic texture of Blackford's language and his highly developed sense of colour, all within the context of a complex harmonic language which combines lyricism with harmonic complexity.

Yet despite the modernity of Blackford's harmonic style, the sense of romanticism and lyricism is what colours the piece. Perhaps it is the influence of Tamsin Waley Cohen's wonderfully sweet singing violin. And this comes to its own in the eerie stillness of the final movement as well experience Niobe being turned to stone.

The performance from Ben Gernon and the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra is exemplary, with no sense that they are finding their way. In fact, the Czech players really illuminate Blackford's writing and give it an inner glow. This is no surprise, the orchestra commissioned the work and they premiered it oon 11 November 2017, two days before the recording was made in their home, the Dvorak Hall in the Rudolfinum in Prague.