Catrin Finch, Raphael Wallfisch, Cardiff Ardwyn Singers - Metcalf: Mapping Wales, Plain Chants & Cello Symphony (2005)

Tracklist

01. Mapping Wales: Tranquillo
02. Mapping Wales: Poco Allegro
03. Mapping Wales: Adagio
04. Mapping Wales: Allegro Moderato
05. Mapping Wales: Vivace
06. Mapping Wales: Moderato
07. Plain Chants: Benedictus
08. Plain Chants: Ave Maria
09. Plain Chants: Hosanna
10. Cello Symphony: I. First Movement
11. Cello Symphony: II. Second Movement
12. Cello Symphony: III. Third Movement

In his works since 2000, John Metcalfe avoids using modernist techniques, chromaticism, and complex dissonances, and instead composes effusively lyrical, pan-diatonic music, occasionally modal but essentially tonal in its direction. Because Metcalfe's music is fairly devoid of conflict, and harmonically reduced to the vague blur of white-key harmony, one can only focus on his themes, which are pretty and soothing, but unmemorable for running on in a meandering, unchained melody style. Mapping Wales (2000) is regrettably close to MUZAK in its blandness, and the performance by harpist Catrin Finch and the Bulgarian Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Raitscho Christov, is so mild it goes in one ear and comes out the other. Plain Chants (2001) is more enjoyable for its intricate counterpoint and Tavener-like divisi harmonies, and the Cardiff Ardwyn Singers, under Helena Braithwaite, deliver an evenly balanced performance that is effective and moving. The Cello Symphony (2004) at first seems to depart from Metcalfe's aesthetic: after all, isn't tension implied whenever a solo cello is pitted against an orchestra? But it soon becomes apparent that cellist Raphael Wallfisch is assigned an endlessly rambling part that goes on and on in forgettable circles; and the English Symphony Orchestra, directed by William Boughton, has the unenviable task of providing unexciting washes of sound, which are better suited to a soundtrack than a symphony and all the form requires.