On 1 May Leo Hussain gave the New Zealand debut of George Benjamin’s Three Consorts with the Auckland Philharmonia, his 2021 transcriptions of Henry Purcell for chamber orchestra.
Lasting 12 minutes, Benjamin’s orchestrations “express my intense attachment to this music while, at the same time, exploring – and, indeed, exposing – the fabric of its intricate polyphony.” Indeed, Three Consorts is the second time Benjamin has transcribed Purcell’s music. In 1995 he arranged the middle movement Fantazia 7 for the Aldeburgh Festival for cello, clarinet, violin, and celesta; he remarks that it was a piece whose ‘mesmerising intersection of line and harmony… changed my path as a composer’. The final Purcell piece in this triptych of realisations, Fantazia on One Note, was also part of the 1995 ‘Purcell Garland’ at Aldeburgh – though then in a version by Oliver Knussen. Benjamin talks more about his music and Henry Purcell in this Radio France podcast.
Three Consorts was first performed by the Mahler Chamber Orchestra at the BBC Proms in August 2021, conducted by the composer, and subsequently appeared at the Berlin Philharmonie and Elbphilharmonie. It has also been taken up by Daniel Harding with the Bayerische Rundfunk Akademie and Roberto González-Monjas with the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra at the Concertgebouw.
Benjamin’s subtle additions of muted horn and layerings of orchestral colour gently heightened all this, without losing the music’s essential muted gravity – a remarkable feat of artistic empathy as well as skill.
The Daily Telegraph (Ivan Hewitt ) 28 August 2021