Fourteen virtuoso instrumentalists arrange themselves into a semicircle and some of them hand round from one to another a continuous but changing solo line, many of the players thus exploring the roles of both soloist and accompanist within this one piece.
A central position on the stage is reserved for whoever is carrying the solo at any one time; this creates a fascinating drawn-out dance as players move to the front of the stage and then peregrinate round the outer semicircle as others fill the physical and musical space they have just vacated.
Such an original ritualised game in sound immediately suggests the pre-eminent hand of Harrison Birtwistle, who has made such a specialisation of combining ritual, theatre and music during more than half a century of spectacular output. Cortege, which was written to celebrate the reopening of the Royal Festival Hall, London, is based on Ritual Fragment, an earlier piece dating from 1989. Both were conceived for and given their premieres by the London Sinfonietta, and Ritual Fragment become a signature piece for the ensemble. That is only fitting: both are dedicated to the memory of Michael Vyner, the tireless visionary who was the London Sinfonietta’s Artistic Director and who died in 1989 at the age of 46. Those who knew Michael well will recognise much of him in Cortege: the restless and almost exotic intensity; the constant concern with talent, dedication and modernity. These qualities will surely be present in conjuring his memory from the sounds of each performance.
© Marshall Marcus