What the critics said:
Alastair Macaulay, Financial Times “Alberga’s music is a complex piece for six players, its style highly eclectic…..I liked its energy and much of its detail.”
   
Lynn Walker/David Cohart, Kaleidoscope, BBC Radio 4 “A very original voice…..a stunning piece, it had such vitality and very sharply drawn.”
   
Barry Millington, The Times “Her evocative meditations have a poetic quality…..She also has the flair for striking gestures…..and for imaginative tone colouring.”
   
Daily Telegraph “An apt and evocative score by Eleanor Alberga.”
   
Nicholas Williams, The Independent “Textures were clear and crafted, their joyous spirit infectiously taken up by the players…..But for all its elan, this was also a contrapuntal study that gave pleasure from the sight of players sharing material and…..intricate accompaniments.”
   
Merion Bowen, The Guardian “Sun Warrior….provided an effective intermingling of musical traditions. This highly coloured piece…..symbolised a search for light and unity. The scoring was translucent and the ideas were displayed with a canny conciseness…..Sun Warrior showed real talent.”
   
David Lister, The Independent “A rich, colourful, atmospheric and often downright alarming mixture.”
   
The Independent Jupiter’s Fairground…..revelled in bright unmixed sounds of brass and wind.
   
Judith Mackrell, The Independent “Eleanor Alberga’s energetically coloured score.”
   
Michael Tumelty, The Herald “the rampantly spectacular display of writing…..in Eleanor Alberga’s String Quartet No.1, a rhythmic showcase, with a mesmerically beautiful slow movement.”
   
Phil Johnson, The Independent “The Festival (Bath) commission of ‘Chasm’ by Eleanor Alberga….was a triumph, brilliantly bold and contrapuntal…”
   
Christopher Morley, The Birmingham Post “Made a marvellous impression..Surely paced…..with a positive voice smiling with dancing lyricism, this was is a piece displaying genuine post-modernist affection for past “greats”. The Experience proved both refreshing and appetite-whetting.”
   
Thomas May, Washington Post “The Alberga uses a brilliant mix of violin and piano sonorities..…deeply moving….Alberga is a composer well worth getting to know.”
   
Joshua Kosman, San Francisco Chronicle “The Jamaican-born composer writes with undeniable pizzazz, and the score bristles with vivid orchestral colours.”
   
Gerard McBurney "I was very impressed indeed and struck by the sense of drama, the passion of the music and the playing, the way the amazing long orchestral introduction set up the entry of the fiddle most daringly, the moments of tenderness and the way the music gets torn apart in the final section." (on the violin concerto)
   

Henrik Svane
Thisted Dagblad, 31 July 2006

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Langvad" - a World Premiere

Eleanor Alberga, London, has composed a work for the annual Chamber Music Days at Kirsten Kjaer's Museum in Langvad, where it was performed for the first time on 29 July 2006. A work for wind quintet and string quintet. I listened to it when it was again performed at the art museum in Aalborg on 30 July 2006.

The long, flowing introduction draws a poetic landscape, a tone painting in which long tones and small figures suggest long, soft shadows. Later the story becomes more intense with an increasing rhythmic conciseness, with sharp musical attacks leading to a violent climax. This was followed by a passage for violin that paints a peaceful mood, almost as refreshing as the sound of a blackbird after a violent thunderstorm. The violinist Thomas Bowes interpreted this passage with an intensely beautiful tone. The clarinetist Cristo Barrios' role in the performance should also be mentioned for his sensitive and beautiful phrasing.

The compser gives a role and character to each instrument. She conducted the work herself - lasting about 12 minutes. An elegiac composition that deserves great attention and, it is to be hoped, will be given further performances.

The performance was a very fine musical experience, brought forward by the joyousness of the playing and the professional enthusiasm of the musicians. A beautiful work that was deservedly received with enthusiasm.

Once again the audience has been enriched by great musical experiences in Langvad. The 7th Jamboree has ended, but the very fine performances will continue to live in our memories.