Curious Monologues but credible Mahler: BBC Philharmonic and Storgårds at the Proms

Tom Coult (born London 1988) was the 2021-24 Composer-in-Association with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, which premiered a number of his pieces. This BBC commission, Monologues for the Curious, is scored for solo tenor and a large, colourful orchestra, requiring three percussionists. Coult’s own programme note describes Monologues for the Curious as less a song cycle, but rather “a set of four dramatic monologues, with the tenor adopting different characters for each movement.”

The four monologues have texts crafted by Coult from ghost stories by M R James. In the first, Twice I saw him, the composer tells us “the tenor recounts an erotically-charged encounter with a mysterious man”, and it closes with a line in French – Deux fois je l’ai vu, mille fois je l’ai senti (“Twice I saw him, a thousand times I felt him”). In the second item The Dreams I’ve Had, the singer is “on edge, anguished” and recounts “various surreal and chilling dreams he has had”. In the third piece, A lonely hearts ad, he presents potential romantic partners with a self-portrait. The tenor is even required to play a harmonica here. (The score notes" “This can be played without any training”.) In the last movement, Letitia has left me for Brighton, “the narrator mourns the end of a relationship that has been torn apart by the loss of a child”. It closes with the same French line heard at the end of the first song.

The vocal writing, while often lyrical in manner as in the third song’s refrain “I have a kindness for owls”, sounded melodically constrained by the need to elucidate these rather gnomic texts. Even a couple of re-hearings on BBC Sounds did not quite mitigate this feeling. But in this world premiere, Allan Clayton encompassed all the needs of a demanding work, and John Storgårds, Chief Conductor of the BBC Philharmonic, brought out the varied timbres of the highly skilful orchestration. Certainly the composer, taking a bow onstage, seemed well pleased with his interpreters as well. He entrusted them with an intriguing set of musical challenges over the 25 minutes of the work, and they repaid his trust.

Reviewing an LSO performance of Mahler’s Seventh Symphony in February this year, I wrote “Mahler’s Symphony no. 7 is still the Cinderella among his cycle – even the programme called it Mahler’s ‘problem’ symphony.” This time the programme announced it was “no longer the Cinderella of his symphonic output” but “remains a challenge for the newcomer”. Certainly the work gets out more than it did, and packed the Royal Albert Hall for this Prom. Players nowadays, to judge by the BBC PO’s fine playing, know their way round its 75 minutes and five movements. The composer, having directed it himself a few times, knew where to warn conductors of its perilous moments, with such negative injunctions in the score as nicht eilen (don’t rush), and nicht schleppen (don’t drag).

These markings are so frequent and detailed it must be like having the composer behind you at a rehearsal. Storgårds used his score yet never looked over his shoulder as if to say “Gustav, are you sure?”. Rather he led a performance detailed yet unfussy, with tempo relations convincing, and switches between fast and slow, loud and quiet, that avoided any stop-go feeling. This was an interpretation of persuasive continuity, both within and across movements, in a work often seen as too diverse in its varied musical styles. With performances this good, the Seventh could even continue its rise up the rankings of favourites among Mahler’s symphonies.