Concert review: Jeremy Huw Williams - King’s College Chapel, University of Aberdeen

By Neil Jones
Published on Saturday 5 November 2011 00:00

THURSDAY’S University of Aberdeen concert with baritone Jeremy Huw Williams proved British contemporary songwriting is alive and well, with world premieres of songs by five music students.

Williams started the concert with works by three more experienced composers, Paul Mealor, Mark Bowden and Michael Berkeley. Accompanied by organist Nicholas Wearne, Williams had a lovely rounded tone, though at full stretch his diction became just a little unintelligible. But there’s no doubting the passion: the final “lost” in Mealor’s setting of a Paul Davidson poem, Smoke at the Window, had real longing. Mark Bowden’s setting of three poems by Gwyneth Lewis gave ample scope for Williams to demonstrate his technique. Wearne too, especially in the section at the end of verse one. Michael Berkeley’s setting of four anti-war poems by Housman and Thomas Hardy, meanwhile, was a gloomy affair.

Things brightened considerably after the interval with the five student works. Immanuel Voigt’s deep, rhythmic setting of a Julius Sturm poem was a superb start, contrasting with the sparse scoring of Monica Webster’s setting of Emily Dickinson’s poem about the Battle of Thermopylae.

Joan Cummin’s On a Fine Morning – Hardy again – was full of warmth, optimism and compassion while Paul Murray’s long piano introduction beautifully set the mood in his setting of Jenny Bills’ Misty Mountain. Ed Jones’s dramatic three part The Dying Christian to his Soul was a fitting conclusion to the new works, though Williams gave us a bonus with works by Cecilia McDowell, Mealor and John Metcalfe.

Rating: ***

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