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Journeys after …
Brian Noyes composer
Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra | Petr Vronský conductor
St. Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra | Vladimir Lande conductor
Journeys after…, the debut release on Navona Records by Welsh composer Brian Noyes, features two orchestral works that reference the life and works of John Clare-a Northamptonshire peasant-poet from the early 19th Century.
Inspired by Clare’s Journey Out of Essex – a poignant account of his escape from a mental asylum and his 80-mile walk home looking for his imaginary love, Noyes has sought to reflect the poet’s real and illusionary worlds as depicted in his evocative text.
The first composition, Points of Decision, exuberantly portrays the poet’s gamut of moods starting his flight from imprisonment, while Shadows of Memory seeks to portray the elation, exhaustion, and difficulties of his progress. Noyes describes the music as “the shadowy reflection…seen as a somewhat distant dream-like shadow of Clare’s sad and poignant text.”
Journeys after… features performances by the Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra and the St. Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra. The works on the album show Noyes’ affinity for John Clare, the man and artist: “For me it was his poetic, yet steely, character…that became the impetus for many of my compositions. I felt a certain kinship with his artistic aspirations,” says Noyes.
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Artist Information
Brian Noyes
Brian Noyes grew up in Cardiff, South Wales, and began his music education by studying the classical guitar at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, subsequently freelancing as a performer and teacher until his interest in composition took him to University College Cardiff and then Goldsmiths' College, London. This was the time, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, when his first pieces were performed by ensembles such as Lontano, Music Projects London, Singcircle, etc., and also, pivotally for him as a composer, when he attended Dartington Summer School, under the tutelage of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, and Aldeburgh School of Advanced Studies, with Sir Harrison Birtwistle.
Vladimir Lande
In 2008, Lande was appointed principal guest conductor of the St. Petersburg State Symphony, and in 2011 he led the orchestra on a 24-concert "Tour of the Americas” including New York’s Alice Tully Hall, Boston’s Symphony Hall, Philadelphia’s KimmelCenter, Baltimore’s Meyerhoff Hall, and the Society of the Performing Arts in Houston, as well as the most prestigious venues in Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Peru, Chile, and Uruguay.
Petr Vronský
After successes in several important international competitions for conductors — including the competition in Besancon France in 1971 and the Karajan Competition in Berlin in 1973 — his career began at the opera company in Pilsen. From 1974 to 1978, he was Chief of Opera of the State Theater in Usti nad Labem, Czech Republic. In 1978, he was appointed Chief Conductor of the Brno Philharmonic Orchestra, a position he held until 1991. Vronsky was later appointed Chief Conductor of the Janacek Philharmonic Orchestra Ostrava in 2002.
