Mark Simpson and Richard Uttley
Queen’s Hall 6/8/25
Mark Simpson (clarinet), Richard Uttley (piano)
The Queen’s Hall concert of 6th August featured clarinettist/composer Mark Simpson and pianist Richard Uttley in a programme that presented the two Op.120 Brahms sonatas with an intriguing mix of shorter contemporary works, including two of Mark Simpson’s own compositions. All the pieces were individually introduced by Mark. Attendance was on the sparse side.
The programme opened with 3 modern miniatures. MacMillan’s 1988 ‘After the Tryst’ arose from an earlier setting of Soutar’s love poem ‘The Tryst’, originally for violin and piano, in a clarinet version from 1995. We heard dazzling effects like glissandi and flutter-tonguing crescendi. Mark-Anthony Turnage’s 2008 ‘Cradle Song’ was written for Mark. His part was a tender, if pensive, soliloquy imitative of the human voice, touchingly tender in places, but louder parts would wake a baby. In Jay Capperauld’s 2020 ‘So My Tears Flow’, the tears drop softly in the piano line. The clarinet’s sorrow builds to an outpouring of grief and an expression of shared cathartic anger. The piece concludes diminuendo with the tears back on the piano and a sense of calm acceptance. A super piece. The composer was present and went to the stage to acknowledge the applause and hug Mark.
The first of the two Mark Simpson compositions, his 2012 ‘Echoes and Embers’ started softly, fragmentary ideas on the piano prompting increasingly expressive reactions from the clarinet, the most emotive in response to birdsong emulations and a dark stoic figure in the bass. A return to the contemplative mood of the opening brought the piece to a close, with a rising chromatic scale. Fabulous playing.
Hearing the exquisite tone of virtuoso clarinettist Richard Mühlfeld drew Brahms out of retirement to pen 4 great works featuring the instrument. The 3-movement Second Sonata in E-flat major concluded the first half of the concert and it is radiant late Brahms chamber music at its best. It received the quality of chamber playing it deserves, with mutually responsive phrasing, deliciously teasing rubato, and moments of the tenderest intimacy. This permeated the rhapsodic first movement, the waltzlike second movement and the theme-and-variations finale. Glorious.
First up after the interval was a bravura piece written in 2006 by Mark for himself to perform in the Young Musician of the Year Competition, ‘Lov(escape)’, showcasing phenomenal technical brilliance, not without moments of expressive lyricism. Equally virtuosic for both players was ‘Pyrrhos’, a 2025 composition by Mark’s friend, the cellist Zoë Martlew, evoking a rite of purification through fire. Rapid burbling ascending arpeggiation depicted the flames, with sparks dancing spikily on the piano, but there was much more, including a looming demonic presence low in the piano and colourful impressionistic figures. The set concluded with Gavin Higgins’ 2006 ‘Three Broken Love Songs’, (a first commission for both Mark and Gavin), charting a failed love affair. ‘Two Bottles of Wine Later’ honoured the performance direction “Sleazy and Drunken”. ‘Three’s a Crowd’ was a thrillingly malicious tango. ‘Love Hurts’ was laden with rueful melancholy, the piano echoing Rachmaninov’s ‘Isle of the Dead’, but in 7 rather than 5. Superb piece. It was very well received and the composer took a bow and hugged the players.
Back to consummate Romantic chamber music for the 4-movement Brahms First Sonata in F minor. Dark brooding and stormy passion were awarded compelling expression in the first movement. The contrasting idyllic tender stillness of the A-flat major slow movement was so beautiful that I did not want it to end. The waltzlike third movement radiated insouciant charm. The playful rondo finale with more lyrical contemplative episodes was a joy, rounding off a performance to remember.