Royal Albert Hall, London A little programme note can be a dangerous thing. Tansy Davies's new work, Wild Card, is a 20-minute orchestral traversal through the tarot deck and the "Fool's journey" it depicts. In her note, Davies professes her fascination with the "game-like" nature of the tarot and lists the musical motifs she has assigned to the 22 main cards. It is as if she is challenging us to her own game: divine a story from the musical flashcards, and so tell our fortune in her music. It's not as simple as that, though, and no surprise there. The motifs are as much a matter of texture as instrumentation or shape, and some are so elusive that one half suspects Davies might be taking us all for fools. The Devil's stuttering dance pattern, on low winds punctuated by an itchy rattle, opens the work and provides one of its most distinctive ideas, as well as introducing the kind of misaligned rhythmic patterns in which Davies delights. Temperance and the Star together bring swirls...
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