Nature is among the most common topics in music of all eras. Matthew Whittall’s nature-composing continues this tradition with strong nostalgic tones.

Reviews

The Nature of Nostalgia

Nature is among the most common topics in music of all eras. Matthew Whittall’s nature-composing continues this tradition with strong nostalgic tones.

Musically he follows many paths, notably one beaten by John Luther Adams. Tonal sections bring to mind late-Romantic tradition from Mahler to Zimmer. Instrumentation resembles recent practices, and the plentiful use of drones, pedal-points and open intervals refers to ambient music as well as to common techniques for evoking the sense of nature in music.

Whittall’s combination of influences is unique, and composition-technically he is, without doubt, an exceptionally skilled music-maker.

Northlands is a series, an album of musical visions guided by the solo horn. The choral work ad puram annihilationem meam adopts a tad more archaic hues. Although Arctic in inspiration, the amalgamations of choir and orchestra in The Return of Light bring to mind a rainforest as well.

Whittall’s works long for a world that does not exist. They depict nature as a realm of romanticised and mystified beauty. Obviously, today’s natural environment could also evoke somewhat gloomier views. But we need fantasies and idealised models, too. 


WHITTALL: Northlands – Music by Matthew Whittall
 
Tommi Hyytinen, horn
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra
Helsinki Chamber Choir
Tapiola Sinfonietta
Cond. Nils Schweckendiek 

Alba ABCD 416

Reviews

Nature is among the most common topics in music of all eras. Matthew Whittall’s nature-composing continues this tradition with strong nostalgic tones.

Musically he follows many paths, notably one beaten by John Luther Adams. Tonal sections bring to mind late-Romantic tradition from Mahler to Zimmer. Instrumentation resembles recent practices, and the plentiful use of drones, pedal-points and open intervals refers to ambient music as well as to common techniques for evoking the sense of nature in music.

Whittall’s combination of influences is unique, and composition-technically he is, without doubt, an exceptionally skilled music-maker.

Northlands is a series, an album of musical visions guided by the solo horn. The choral work ad puram annihilationem meam adopts a tad more archaic hues. Although Arctic in inspiration, the amalgamations of choir and orchestra in The Return of Light bring to mind a rainforest as well.

Whittall’s works long for a world that does not exist. They depict nature as a realm of romanticised and mystified beauty. Obviously, today’s natural environment could also evoke somewhat gloomier views. But we need fantasies and idealised models, too. 


WHITTALL: Northlands – Music by Matthew Whittall
 
Tommi Hyytinen, horn
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra
Helsinki Chamber Choir
Tapiola Sinfonietta
Cond. Nils Schweckendiek 

Alba ABCD 416