Reviews
Artist:Helen Gentile & Lewis Wood Album: Violet Sky
Label: Grimdon
Tracks: 11
Website: https://www.gentileandwood.com/
Back in the late nineties, the manufacturers of a certain Irish stout reassured us that 'good things come to those who wait'. After nearly a decade of playing together, renowned clarinettist Helen Gentile and violinist Lewis Wood release their 11-track studio debut, 'Violet Sky', a collection that takes its name from the gentle mazurka written by Lewis in the Summer of 2023, on a day when weather conditions conspired to create exactly that phenomenon.
Music written specifically for clarinet and violin is somewhat unusual. Swedish composer Anders Hillborg wrote a piece in 2009, and Mozart composed an entire set of twelve duets back in 1786, but, by and large, it is rare to hear a clarinet and a violin playing alongside each other, except in a full orchestra. In the worlds of country, folk and jazz, it is the violin that is more universally associated, whereby the clarinet is favoured more as an instrument of the jazz player. Therefore, for formally and deliberately bringing these two instruments together, credit is certainly owed to Helen Gentile and Lewis Wood.
As well as being a member of eight-piece Hampshire traditional dance band Threepenny Bit, Helen Gentile is also founder and teacher at Southampton Woodwind Academy. Since 2009, Lewis Wood has been a member of the BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award nominated folk trio, Granny's Attic.
'Violet Sky' begins with 'Limousin Bourrées', two traditional triple-time dance tunes from the Aquitaine region of France. Later in the album the duo also perform specially re-arranged versions of the Swedish 'Skrap-Ollas Polska', and also 'Kost Ar C'hoats', a piece based around a pair of traditional Breton dance tunes.
Wood swaps violin for guitar on two tracks, firstly for Gentile's 'Triangle', a contrasting tune of two halves, opening with a clarinet-led piece that could have been lifted straight off a Rachel Portman film soundtrack, and concluding with a lively Scottish manouche inspired by the well-loved 'Raggle Taggle Gypsy'. Later, on his own composition, 'Four Forty-Five', the guitar reappears in a gentle gavotte, intended to soothe the ravaged brows of early-morning insomniacs. Gentle exchanges clarinet for whistle during a couple of lively 'Jigs', co-written with Woods, and perfectly suited for a quick Chapelloise dance.
The remainder of 'Violet Sky' delivers a variety of times and tempos, ranging from the lovely, almost Baroque, waltz of Wood's 'Coffee and No One', to the closing reflective gentleness of 'Meditation', a tune by Gentile that steadily gathers pace, is played in triple time and is infused with the rural beauty of Breton dance.
Recorded in Bristol, and mixed by The Drystones' Alex Garden, I have become totally enchanted by this innovative studio debut from Gentile and Wood, and look forward to hearing these tunes performed live at some point soon.
David Auckland
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