{TABLE} Three songs on words by E. E. Cummings ................. Fergus Johnston Runic variations for flute and clarinet ................ Victory Three Zen Texts for soprano, cello and piano ........... Fergus Johnston Signals! for violin solo ............................... Fergus Johnston Kaleidophone for string quartet harp and percussions ... Fergus Johnston {/TABLE} CONCORDE'S lunchtime recital in the John Field Room on Friday was of particular interest in presenting four works by Fergus Johnston, with Victory's Runic Variations as a light hearted interlude. The two vocal works by Johnston the Three Songs for soprano, flute, clarinet and cello and the Three Zen Texts - were brooding and medita live; the two instrumental works were less gracious, more thought provoking in their intensity.
The composer's own words are helpful in coming to terms with the music: "The underlying principle behind most of my instrumental music is the process of change things accumulate, piling up (often at different speeds), reaching a threshold, and then suddenly the horizon shifts, the landscape changes, and everything is different."
This process was most evident in Kaleidophone (1992); the work needed a conductor and the part was ably filled by Proinnsias O Duinn who directed the ensemble across and through the Johnstonian landscapes with heartening intrepidness.
Perhaps the most substantial work was Signals! for solo violin, a seven movement work with titles taken from the paintings of Kandinsky. Kandin sky developed his own theory of the affective values of colours and shapes and their relations to each other; Johnston could be said to be doing the same with sounds, distributing, them in new ways whose significance is not easy to grasp, at any rate on first hearing. Signals! however had a rhythmic drive which carried the listener along to the finale, described in the programme as "a summary of the other movements". It turned out to be a rather summary summary, which was disappointing in view of some of the commanding moments that had preceded it.
