Recording Review #9: Pickard's Puffers

John Pickard: Symphonies Nos. 2 and 6; Verlaine Songs. Emma Tring, soprano; Martyn Brabbins, conductor; BBC National Orchestra of Wales. BIS 2721. 

I sometimes wonder if there's a certain transformation I missed. How does one go from wanting something catchy or otherwise viscerally pleasing out of music, to one for whom conceptual conceits are enough? When I was on Twitter (sorry, "X") I'd often raise such points in criticizing music like the works on this recording. The responses from the Geeks there amounted to pretending not to know what I was talking about, or assuring me that catchy things like a great melody or an infectious rhythm are no more important than anything else. Well, I never got there. Not after earning a PhD in musicology and having listened to classical music assiduously for nearly 30 years. I want so much more out of my music than Neat Patterns or Interesting Sounds. And I'm afraid I just don't hear much more than that in any of these Pickard works. 

Pickard's problem is that he has no feeling for anything that will likely appeal to the unschooled listener. These works show a meagre melodic gift (including the decidedly untuneful Verlaine Song cycle) and a restless sense of rhythm. Which leaves him emphasizing things that are interesting mostly to analysts, critics, and other geeks. There are lots of colorful timbres (especially in his use of brass) and interesting shifts of texture, tempi, and other sonic points. I'm sure I would find all kinds of structural cohesion and ingenuity in the symphonies if I were to look. But why bother? I just don't *like* any of it. It's the same old, faceless angularity and dissonance trotted out by so many academic symphonists since the middle-20th century. The same old puffy masses of sound. And they go on for too long. The one-movement Second Symphony, which occupies Track 1, clocks in at nearly half an hour. No sooner had the piece started than I groaned at the prospect of wasting this amount of my life sticking with it. (But I did!) The two-movement Sixth Symphony presents a similar experience, though here Pickard splits things up a bit with two 10+-minute spans. It would have been better-going (with more relief) if they had been shorter works and movements, though of course the 'all-important' structural considerations might have been affected. But nope. Robert Simpson would be proud. 

I feel a bit bad being so negative. But I also perceive that too many critics refuse to face the obvious with music like this: it's resolutely niche stuff that's either going to turn off most listeners or simply float past their ears. Let's be up-front and not pretend it is anything else. If you're an average Joe or Josephine looking to enjoy some nice classical music, I suggest you look elsewhere. Also, if you consider yourself to be this kind of listener, check back at The Ross Review often for more such honesty: I'll square with you even if other folks won't. 

Geeks Only