Phantasy

Overture Fanfare Finale Here is quite a substantial offering from this Liverpool-born composer. It takes its starting point from the competition originally inaugurated in 1905 by Walter William Cobbett who was trying to create a 20th century catalogue of chamber works that fitted under the general banner of «Phantasy« as understood by the Elizabethan era of composers.
Our composer has therefore written a three-movement work that certainly has that Unmistakable English quality to it, not that the harmonies are Elizabethan, far from it!
The opening Overture has a dramatic edge to it right from the word go. Based on a repeated E bass note, it builds and builds over the opening minutes, gradually establishing itself with harmonies that are undoubtedly «English modern«. There are plenty of clashing seconds and lots of modal harmony work too. After a considerable 53 bars of Adagio, the work segues into an animato fugue. The work is truly contrapuntal and more than once one is reminded of the old style of Phantasy before one is brought back to the present day with Houghton's lovely crunchy harmonic style of writing. The writing is quite difficult and never allows you to relax for any length of time, meaning good players are essential to this work. The second movement is a Fanfare which has a definite mix of the old and the new about its melodic sound. A slightly relaxed middle section eventually brings about a return to the opening fanfare idea, and a strong finish to the movement. The last movement, marked Finale is an Allegro 6/8 in E minor. Even here the main melody is very original in its contours and the dotted rhythm that occasionally crosses into the piece, really lifts the work forward. The feeling of this is one of a relentless and inevitable forward motion that catches hold of you and pulls you along with it. All in all a fabulous end to a very approachable but different sounding 17 minutes or so of music. Chris Dumigan (Classical Guitar Magazine)