A CHALLENGING WORK PERFORMED WITH REAL PRECISION AND IMAGINATION

By Madeleine Anderson ⭐⭐⭐ | Press Invite

I do not claim to be a classical music expert, and in truth I have never seen anything quite like the London Sinfonietta’s performance of Gérard Grisey’s Quatre Chants pour franchir le seuil (Four Songs for Crossing the Threshold) at the Queen Elizabeth Hall. What was performed on stage was a gripping, disorienting and often mesmerising encounter with spectral music, delivered with a level of precision and commitment that made the experience feel both otherworldly and strangely intimate.

Grisey’s spectralism, which draws on the acoustic and harmonic properties hidden within single sounds, formed the backbone of the performance. This approach was made clear through the ensemble’s inventive use of glass bottles filled with water, which the musicians blew into to produce ghostly, wavering tones. Whilst creating a unique image, the sound the bottles produced was underwhelming. However, this inventive approach also carried a surprising touch of humour: at intervals, musicians would casually take a swig from the same bottles, adding a comic and slightly surreal note to music that was otherwise heavy with atmosphere and fractured emotion.

The mood throughout was serious, even sombre, but never static. Grisey’s score moves in unpredictable sequences that can shift from whisper-soft stillness to bursts of unsettling intensity. Conductor Jack Sheen maintained a steady calm over these volatile changes, guiding the ensemble with composed authority that gave the entire performance its essential shape. His leadership was mirrored by the poised and commanding presence of soprano Nina Guo, whose voice navigated Grisey’s demanding vocal lines with sharp control. Her authoritative, piercing notes cut cleanly alongside the jagged notes of the musicians.

Towards the end of the performance the musicians hurried together with an energy and pace that was genuinely exciting, producing a louder collective of organised noise that was welcome after the sometimes dragging pauses which followed when smaller groups of musicians had played their previous notes.

Quatre Chants is not an easy listen, it’s not catchy and without much rhythm, but in the hands of the London Sinfonietta it became something rare: a challenging work performed with real precision and imagination.

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