Composer George Benjamin _320
IT WAS certainly not a performance for the faint-hearted.
George Benjamin’s music is always intense, condensed and bursting with an understated energy. Combine that with a librettist – Martin Crimp – who took on an old tale, retelling in a modern, politically correct way and they came up with Into the Little Hill.
It is a staged, lyric tale in two parts, retelling the story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin, but in a way which puts politicians into the seductive, two-faced role of the rat-catcher.
This was the UK premiere of the work, written in 2006, and only receiving its third performance anywhere in the world. It’s therefore quite a coup for this co-production, of which Liverpool Culture Company is part, to get a UK performance.
The concert opened with two short, fascinating works by Benjamin: his 1997 duet Viola, Viola – a self-explanatory title – which featured some expert playing by Garth Knox and Megumi Kasakawa. From the gentle opening, with barely audible harmonics, this piece grew, through a pulsating, violent central part, to a lush conclusion.
Violinist Jagdish Mistry played Benjamin’s Three Miniatures of 2002 – again pieces which took the instrument to the extremes of its register with the added fascination of hearing a soloist playing pizzicato and bowing the instrument at the same time.
Into the Little Hill, however, was a compressed, harrowing tale of deception. Both soprano Anu Komsi and contralto Hilary Summers accomplished themselves quite brilliantly.
