Tamsin Waley-Cohen and Huw Watkins reflect on 'Reflection'

Released on Signum Classics in February, Reflection sees violinist Tamsin Waley-Cohen and pianist Huw Watkins join forces for a programme of Prokofiev, Stravinsky and Knussen - plus Watkins's own twenty-minute sonata for violin and piano. In some ways it falls into two pairs of two along lines of nationality, but at the same time all four works bring something to the table in terms of the album's overall feeling.

Tamsin and Huw shared some of their thoughts with us on what makes this recording so unique, and how all the ingredients come together...

If you had to pin down an idea or a few that draw this recital-programme together, what would it be? There’s a certain sense of cleanness and clarity in the pieces featured - was that one of the jumping-off points?

Tamsin Waley-Cohen: In many ways, the programming of this disc was very instinctive. For years we searched for the right programme in which to place Reflection in a recording, and nothing felt quite right. As soon as we premiered Huw’s Sonata, I knew that his work would sit beautifully along side Olly’s. We had long talked about recording the Prokofiev, which we had toured extensively from 2016-2019, and we all three have a shared love of Stravinsky’s music. I immediately felt that these four works would compliment each other.

Huw Watkins: For me, the interesting thing to explore are the connections between these two pairs of composers: two Russians, writing in the first half of the twentieth century, and two Britons writing in the first quarter of the twenty-first. That neoclassical cleanness so perfectly exemplified in the Stravinsky, is also there in the Prokofiev; and yet the emotion in his music comes over in a completely different way. Olly has been a hugely important figure in my musical life; I’m interested to hear the different ways the influence of Stravinsky manifests itself in our respective pieces. 

The late, great Oliver Knussen is a composer who’s always defied easy categorisation or being slotted into a ‘school’ or a musical genealogy. What influences do you hear in his music?

HW: As well as Stravinsky, I hear Britten, Berg, but most of all in Reflection, I hear French influences, in particular Debussy. However, like all great composers, the voice we hear is unmistakably his own.

TW-C: As well as the composers that Huw mentioned, I can sense the huge impact that Messiaen had on Knussen’s music. Most of all - I hear a sense of light and dark in his sound world that is unmistakably his, intricate detail married with absolutely clarity, and yet a sense of freedom when we play Reflection. The music feels as if it carries us through it, dancing, swirling, singing, pulsating with life. 

Huw, you’ve alluded to the risk contemporary composers face of being criticised simultaneously for being ‘modern’ and ‘old-fashioned’! What should listeners expect - on both those fronts and generally - when they encounter your sonata?

HW: I have indeed! I care less now about what might be fashionable or not; and would ask listeners (and especially critics) not to be overly concerned with how “modern” my music appears. I hope though that they will find it fresh; perhaps having some difficulty pinpointing quite what else it might sound like.

Tamsin, what are the main things that Huw’s sonata evokes for you when you’re playing it? (Feel free to confer with him on this obviously - though it would be quite funny if you had totally different reactions!)

TW-C: Huw’s sonata has an elusive, ethereal quality to it, always just out of reach, but like the most powerful of ethereal beings, also a huge power. It’s always dancing and spinning, never to be held too tightly or pinned down, never static. The luminous beauty of the sound world is thrilling to be a part of while we are playing it - and I know I have to stay light on my feet to meet the technical demands with a light and easy touch. 

More broadly, it seems as if individual composers (Oliver Knussen, Huw, and anyone else writing today) in many ways have more 'finding-their-voice' to do than ever before. The field is so wide open, and genres perhaps don’t have the hold they once did. What do you think the future holds for forms like the violin sonata?

HW: I can’t predict the future, but I hope composers will continue to write things called Sonata and Symphony; for me it’s a wonderful way of being linked with Prokofiev, Ravel, Brahms, Beethoven - this rich collection of composers who have written such a diversity of music under the umbrella title Sonata. 

TW-C: As an interpreter, I know how vital strong form is to the success of a work. Of course, there are many other ways to tackle form than a Sonata, and many forms composers may adopt when they are writing one. I believe that discipline and elements of constraint are a great catalyst for creativity and invention, and equally that nothing exists without the work done by those which have come before. The Sonata is a great pillar of western music and many composers have moulded into innumerable musical expressions.