Composer Simon Jeffes (1949-97) was one of the great individuals of the past century, as idiosyncratically English as Cornelius Cardew, Gustav Holst and the Beatles. Recording and touring with his evolving collective the Penguin Cafe Orchestra, he made world music from an alternate universe, composing jingles, folk tunes and even a ballet.
This late-night Prom brought Jeffes's work to life once more courtesy of the second-generation Penguin Cafe, a new band led by his son Arthur. The pieces are easy on the ear, but tricky to play well – as the first Covent Garden performances of his ballet, 'Still Life' at the Penguin Cafe, proved. Jeffes the younger has happily assembled a young band with a mix of personalities and skills similar to the original PCO: they play like friends. The ensemble expertly negotiated the asymmetric patterns of Perpetuum Mobile as if they were nursery rhymes, while From the Colonies and Dirt retained the slight sourness and louche swing of the originals. Arthur played the loop from Telephone and Rubber Band "from a modern telephone" – an iPhone perched on his piano.
Special guest Kathryn Tickell played the Northumbrian pipes part she contributed to the original PCO recording of Organum, and brought a moving opening passage to Arthur's new composition Bramble May. Tickell also augmented the band on fiddle for Swing the Cat and Salty Bean Fumble, giving the ensemble a ceilidh-like exuberance.
The more eccentric, experimental aspects of Simon Jeffes's oeuvre were missing from the repertoire, and the pace flagged a couple of times, but for the most part Penguin Cafe proved how well his music has survived in the new century. The deceptively simple Paul's Dance, for cuatro and ukelele, was a charming triumph – a courtly dance from a kingdom of the imagination.
