Adès: Alchymia album review – Exquisite recording of an extraordinary masterpiece | Dive into the captivating world of Music

When Mark Simpson and Quatuor Diotima premiered Thomas Adès’s Alchymia two years ago, critics praised it as one of the composer’s most remarkable recent achievements. Fast forward to this EP recording by the same performers, and it becomes evident that Alchymia is among the finest chamber music creations by any composer, period.

The piece commences with downward-pulling music, an immediate injection of melancholy reminiscent of the opening of Adès’s 2005 Violin Concerto. Simpson’s basset clarinet takes prominence in this performance, offering a meticulously delicate rendition with lines that emerge like tendrils growing not towards the sun but descending into darkness. Adès’s characteristic, paradoxical approach to achieving a timeless atmosphere is achieved by skillfully referencing and transforming music from earlier eras. While listeners may overlook the fact that the airy and almost formless second movement is based on Byrd, the third movement, titled “Lachrymae” as a tribute to Dowland, undeniably evokes the essence of an Elizabethan viol consort. The fourth movement quotes a melody from Berg’s opera Lulu, transitioning from a lively street song to delicate bubbles bursting upon the surface of the music. The tempo then gradually slows, culminating in a passage of emotional intensity reminiscent of Mahler. The result is an immediate and intriguing experience, akin to a symphony encapsulated within a 20-minute chamber work.