Reviews: Classical: A good Job, well done

Max, Britten and Tippett

Barbican, London

Earlier this year, when news got out that Sir Peter Maxwell Davies was writing an oratorio on the Book of Job, the obvious question was: "What, all of it?" Prolific he may be, but even Max would have needed a nimble choral recitative to cover the entire 42 chapters in a single evening.

As it happens, Job, which had its UK premiere at the Barbican on Saturday, lasts about an hour. Shortened if not improved by David Lemon, the word of God was presented as excerpts from Stephen Mitchell's 1979 translation. Hardly resonant to read, its short, prosaic lines proved rather apt for musical setting, rarely deferring their sense beyond immediate comprehension, and leaving space for the composer's scenic effects. These were striking, written with the same kind of ear for instrumental drama that marks out a classic work like his opera The Lighthouse. From a moderately sized orchestra, in this case the City of London Sinfonia conducted by Richard Hickox, patterns of aural chiaroscuro were drawn, using brass and strings in terraced levels of sound. Extra yet by no means otiose percussion included flexatone, bell and the unmistakable Lion's Roar.

Job opens and closes with choral quasi-plainchant, a sculpted tonal melody sung here by the BBC Singers and at the work's premiere - of which Collins Classics have just released a recording - by the amateur Vancouver Bach Choir. Over the years, Max has specialised in writing for non-professionals, and much of this oratorio was direct and tonal, as if the need to be simple had honed and qualified the style. While the chorus took the Lord's part, a quartet of soloists - soprano Catherine Pierard, contralto Catherine Wyn-Rogers, tenor Mark Padmore and baritone Kevin McMillan - shared the roles of suffering Job, tempters and friends. Their music was most alluring, a glittering foreground to the robust choral statements that at times recalled the tone of Mendelssohn's Elijah.

All this, incidentally, took place beside a marble bust of Beethoven belonging to the Royal Philharmonic Society, which sponsored the concert and of which Sir Peter is an honorary member. Also on the programme of this second in the City of London Sinfonia's two-concert "" series were Sir Michael Tippett's Fantasia Concertante and Benjamin Britten's King Arthur Suite.

For contrast, the CLS on Friday had given the London premiere of Max's 10th (and final) "Strathclyde" Concerto. Compared with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra's CD version, this was not a landmark reading. Missing, presumed lost below Mezzo forte, was the ensemble's range of dynamic shading. Even so, it was good to hear this often dazzling Concerto for Orchestra, a splendid end to an extended cycle of unusual concertos, and proof positive of Max's powers of self-regeneration.