Reviewed by Andy Gill
3 out of 5
Fierce Tears offers further proof that the oboe’s contemporary repertoire continues to thrive; and in James Turnbull it has a worthy champion. Pianist Huw Watkins joins him for an engaging selection of world premieres ranging from Colin Matthews’ tranquil Night-Spell to the wracked shapes of Michael Berkeley’s Fierce Tears I & II. Named after the final stanza of Dylan Thomas’s “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night”, the latter pieces run as responses to bereavement; anger, bewilderment, resignation and reflection. Elsewhere, John Woolrich’s The Kingdom of Dreams form four vignettes based on Klee canvases, while Tansy Davies’s Forgotten Game (2) offers a pastoral meditation on nature.
