This summer Kenneth Woods will have three recordings released in as many weeks, and whilst the range music is vast, a hallmark of the three projects is Ken’s keen sense of discovery.

Philip Sawyers Premieres on Nimbus
Kenneth Woods’ first encounter with Philip Sawyers was with the Kent County Youth Orchestra, where Sawyers was a violin coach and his many years of experience as a member of the Royal Opera House Orchestra, Covent Garden, was an inspiration to the students as well as to Woods. A quick friendship ensued, but only several months later did Woods discover the breadth and depth of Sawyers’ compositions. “I was astounded,” admits Ken. “Here was a composer who combined a strong personal voice, a consummate technique and a powerful emotional energy. I couldn't believe his music wasn’t better known.” Woods began adding Sawyers’ symphonic output to his repertoire and started planning a recording shortly after starting his tenure as Principal Guest Conductor of Orchestra of the Swan. “I'm thrilled that it is finally a reality,” says Ken.

The recording opens with the most recently completed of the works, the Cello Concerto, which was commissioned by the Sydenham International Music Festival in 2010. Written for Maja Bogdanovic who also appears on this recording, the three-movement work is scored for a classical-size orchestra. “My approach was not to write a virtuoso showpiece, although there are some technically challenging passages,” explains Sawyers, “but to try and reflect what the cello means to me and convey the moods and nuances of expression that I find most appealing in the instrument.”

These qualities fit the Belgrade-born, Paris-based Bogdanovic like a glove, whose New York recital debut at Carnegie’s Weil Recital Hall was noted by The Strad for her “uncommon tonal beauty, distinctive character, interpretive maturity and technical security.” A cellist himself of some repute, when on the podium Ken brings a dual perspective to the Concerto’s inner workings. “I can confidently say that Philip’s Cello Concerto stands tall alongside such great 20th century British concertos by Elgar, Gal and Walton. And collaborating with Maja was a joy from start to finish. She’s a major talent and another great discovery for me.“

Another Sydenham International Festival commission, Sawyers’ Symphony No. 2 “is superbly orchestrated – as befits a composer who is also a distinguished orchestral and chamber musician,” wrote Musical Opinion upon the work’s premiere in 2008, concluding, “This is one of the finest new symphonies by a British composer I have heard in years.”

Sawyers describes the single-movement work as “one of almost continual development. The music is full of drama and contrasts … to give scope for the expression of a wide range of emotions.”

Rounding out the recording is the Concertante for Violin, Piano and Strings, with the Steinberg Duo – themselves champions of Sawyers’ music – providing the solo lines. According to Sawyers, “the work has something of the character of an 18th century Divertimento, [though] the slower central section is markedly darker in mood.

Brahms and Schoenberg on Somm
Ken discovered Brahms’ First Serenade through Istvan Kertesz's iconic recording and has since conducted it many times. His first encounter with Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht was on an old LP owned by his parents. Conducted by Jascha Horenstein, Ken recalls it sounding like the players were holding on for dear life, and finding that rather intriguing.

This recording pairs these seminal works, by two of music history’s most influential and closely-linked artistic personalities, in their original chamber versions, Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht for string sextet, and Brahms’s Serenade for nonet.

In the Brahms, Ken conducts members of Orchestra of the Swan. In the Schoenberg, he puts down his baton and picks up his bow, as cellist pairing his string trio Ensemble Epomeo with principal players of OOTS.

“I encountered Alan Boustead's reconstruction of Brahms's original version of the Serenade around the time I was recording Schoenberg's reductions of Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde and Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen for Somm. I'm fascinated by arrangements and transcriptions, and love the sound of one-on-a-part playing, so this version of the Brahms seemed like a natural successor to that recording,” remarks Ken.

He continues, “It was Somm’s Siva Oke who suggested pairing the Brahms with the Schoenberg. I've long loved the work, but approached it with some trepidation - it's full of traps for the performer. But the opportunity to come up with a fresh interpretation of the piece with such great colleagues was one I eagerly embraced.”  

Auricolae Storytelling and Music Troupe on AVIE
Ken’s sense of discovery is something he’s keen to impart to a younger generation. As a member of the Auricolae Storytelling and Music Troupe, (a transformed Ensemble Epomeo, in which violist David Yang takes on the dual role of narrator and artistic director) he does so brilliantly on the new AVIE release, Fairytales, Folk Tales and Fables, over two hours of new music dramatized via the ageless art of storytelling.

Whatever one’s background or culture, storytelling is a human impulse. Fairytales, Folk Tales and Fables includes tales from Eastern and Western Europe, Indonesia, Egypt, and South America, “famous stories told in an intelligent and accessible way accompanied by music created for such,” according to Audiophile Audition. “One cannot but admire the commitment and educational effort that goes into such an undertaking … The stories are presented with energy and great panache.”

Fairytales, Folk Tales and Fables features new music written by Ken set to Hans Christian Andersen’s The Ugly Duckling; original stories and music by Auricolae violist and narrator David Yang about Chelm, a mythical Jewish city of fools; adaptations of The Bremen Town Musicians, and more.

“For me, Auricolae embodies the powerful idea that you can create great music for any audience,” Ken remarks. “The music we’ve written and commissioned harks back to the age of composers such as Prokofiev, Britten and Copland who merged music and stories that appealed to both young and mature audiences.” He adds, “Great children's literature rewards everyone. As the father of children aged four and six, it's been wonderful to return to books I loved as child and rediscover the layers of meaning and humor that moved me when I was their age.”

RELEASE INFORMATION
Fairy Tales, Folktales and Fables
Auricolae Storytelling and Music Troupe: David Yang, narrator and viola? / Diane Pascal, violin / ?Kenneth Woods, cello
Works by Andrew Waggoner, David Yang, Gerald Levinson, Kenneth Woods, Kile Smith, Martin Kutnowski, Thomas Whitman
Release date: 23 June 2014
AVIE Records AV 2292

Schoenberg Verklärte Nacht Op. 4* (Sextet Version)?
Caroline Chin*, Diane Pascal violins / David Yang*, Tom Hankey violas / Kenneth Woods* , Matthew Sharp cellos?
*members of Ensemble Epomeo
Brahms Seranade Op. 11 (arr. Alan Boustead)
Kenneth Woods
Orchestra of the Swan
Release date: 30 June 2014
Somm Recordings 0139

Philip Sawyers Cello Concerto, Symphony No. 2, Concertante for Violin, Piano & Strings
Maja Bogdanovic cello
Steinberg Duo: Louisa Stonehill violin / Nicholas Burns piano Kenneth Woods
Orchestra of the Swan
Release date: 7 July 2014
Nimbus Records NI6281
world-premiere recordings