REACHING FOR THE MOON

Cellist Laura van der Heijden and pianist Jâms Coleman speak to Tom Stewart about the imaginative programming behind their new album Path to the Moon – their second recording together as a duo – which features an eclectic selection of lunar-inspired repertoire

Acraggy road rises from the blackness to guide the viewer through the starry night sky. The moon, its ultimate destination, hangs bright and heavy in the distance. The Path to the Moon is an 1898 expressionist drawing by American graphic artist William Thomas Horton that lends its name to a new recording by British cellist Laura van der Heijden and pianist Jâms Coleman. The duo intersperse songs and reflections on lunar beauty with three major 20th-century sonatas by Benjamin Britten (1960–1), Claude Debussy (1915) and George Walker (1957), who was the first AfricanAmerican to win a Pulitzer Prize for music. Much of the repertoire on the disc is drawn from the middle of the century, Coleman says, a time when the prospect of a human journey to the moon became a real possibility.

Two themes run through the eclectic choice of works, as Van der Heijden explains. ‘The first is the moon itself and the second is the sense of exploration, of a journey from here to somewhere far away.’ Debussy and Gabriel Fauré’s versions of Clair de lune (c.1880 and 1887 respectively) clearly fall into the first category, as does Coleman’s own arrangement of the surreal and elegiac ‘Everyone’s Gone to the Moon’, a 1965 chart hit by British singer-songwriter Jonathan King that’s best known from Nina Simone’s 1969 cover version. The three big sonatas on the disc are more abstract, she says, but no less enchanting.

‘THE SOUND I WANT TO MAKE IS LIKE A VINYL RECORDING OF ONE OF THE OLD-SCHOOL GREATS’

‘There’s something kind of mystical about them. They use all these different playing techniques and each feels so exploratory.’ Coleman agrees. ‘All the music we included encourages the listener to imagine things beyond the notes themselves.’

The duo met several years ago at International Musicians Seminar masterclasses at Prussia Cove in Cornwall. This is their second disc together, following 2022’s Pohádka: from Prague to Budapest, a collection of Czech and Hungarian music. The producer for both recordings, on the Chandos label, was Jonathan Cooper. ‘His ears are fantastic – he’s a really special musician,’ says Coleman. ‘Working with him is demanding in the best sort of way. If he thinks you can do better he’ll say so, which means you trust him when he says he doesn’t need you to play anything again.’ Finding the right producer is the key to a successful disc, Van der Heijden adds. ‘The challenge of getting the sound you want can be worked out if you just put yourself in their hands.’ The repertoire on Path to the Moon is less technically demanding for the cellist than that on Pohádka, she says, but the ‘perfect’ sound remained as elusive as ever. ‘Listening back to the recording is a bit like listening to a recording of yourself speak. You have an idea in your head of what it sounds like but then when you hear what everyone else hears it’s completely different.’

William Horton’s illustration The Path to the Moon

MATTHEW JOHNSON

Jâms Coleman and Laura van der Heijden at the sessions in Potton Hall, Suffolk

CHANDOS RECORDS

As someone who by her own admission has limited understanding of the technology involved in creating a particular sound, Van der Heijden says that being able to trust the producer is even more important. ‘The sound I want to make is like a vinyl recording of one of the old-school greats. But I don’t know if that’s even possible with my cello, modern strings and a high-tech recording set-up.’

When we spoke, Van der Heijden, Coleman and Cooper were in the process of making final edits to the recorded tracks. ‘I remember we had a slightly challenging first morning because I was so in my head about how I was sounding,’ Van der Heijden says. Whereas Cooper had adjusted the recorded set-up between tracks on Pohádka, Van der Heijden wanted to stick to the same set-up throughout the recording process of Path to the Moon. ‘In the end we ended up using three different mics on me so there’d be versions to choose from later on,’ she says. ‘We’re still deciding on the sound.’

While listeners may know a great deal of the music on Path to the Moon, some of the repertoire will be much less familiar. Firmly in the latter category is the arrangement of Japanese composer Tōru Takemitsu’s late song ‘Will Tomorrow, I Wonder, Be Cloudy or Clear?’ (c.1992). Bluesy and bittersweet, this short piece has much more in common with the King/Simone cover than the silvery soundscapes we usually associate with its composer. Another less well-known track is Night, a 1946 song by AfricanAmerican composer Florence Price which has the same poise and soaring, swooping lines as composers such as Mahler and Richard Strauss. ‘I first came across Price and George Walker while I was playing with the Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective, which spends time looking for music that should be heard a lot more than it is,’ says Van der Heijden. ‘That’s something I really want to do in my own recordings too.’

‘The process of making the recording was more familiar this time around,’ Coleman says. ‘You have your routine, which actually allows you to be at your freshest and most creative because you know what to expect.’ For him, this recording was all about colour. ‘Even though each piece has its own flavour, you have to find a way of using colour to create a road through them,’ he says.

‘And there’s enough moon-themed repertoire out there for us to have filled ten or more discs,’ he laughs. So how did they choose? ‘We wanted things that would give contrast to the bigger pieces so it’s reflections on the moon rather than a specific linear journey,’ explains Van der Heijden.

‘It’s as much about the thoughts and feelings that humans project on to the moon than the moon itself,’ Coleman adds. ‘Whether or not we actually make it to the moon is a matter for the audience to decide!’

WORKS Korngold Schönste Nacht op.36 no.25 Walker Cello Sonata Boulanger Reflets Price Night Britten ‘Sonetto XXX’ from Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo; Cello Sonata op.65 Debussy Beau soir; Cello Sonata; ‘Clair de lune’ from Suite bergamasque Fauré ‘Clair de lune’ from Deux Mélodies op.46 no.2 Takemitsu Will Tomorrow, I Wonder, Be Cloudy or Clear? King/Simone Everyone’s Gone to the Moon ARTISTS Laura van der Heijden (cello)

Jâms Coleman (piano)

RECORDING VENUE Potton Hall, Dunwich, Suffolk, UK RECORDING DATES 27–29 March 2023

CATALOGUE NO Chandos CHAN 20275

RELEASE DATE 16 February 2024