|
CCA Composer of the Month – NOVEMBER 2013
CCA Composer of the Month – November 2013
http://www.paulharristeaching.co.uk/index.php
YOUR FEATURED COMPOSITION OF THE MONTH:
Buckingham Concerto No.5
INSTRUMENTAL AND/OR VOCAL RESOURCES USED:
Piano duet and chamber orchestra (strings and percussion)
FIRST PERFORMANCE DETAILS – IF RELEVANT:
There was a performance on Sunday November 10th at Stowe School:
An ambitious concert in Stowe School Chapel last Sunday featured Buckingham Concerto No. 5 by Buckingham-based composer Paul Harris. An approachable and well-crafted work, it was performed by talented pianists Hannah Dixon and Clarissa Llanaj playing four hands on one piano. Perfectly matched in skills, they captured the very essence of this charming concerto.
Ben Andrew, Stowe’s head of keyboard, followed this with a technically accomplished performance of Rachmaninov’s famous Piano Concerto No. 2 on the school’s splendid new Steinway grand piano.
Accompanying the concertos was the Horsham Symphony Orchestra under their conductor Stephen Dummer. This most able of orchestras really demonstrated its mettle in Beethoven’s Choral Symphony in the second half. Quite exceptional were the superb individual performances by the lead horn, the principal bassoon, piccolo player and timpanist. The finely balanced vocal soloists added to the overall enjoyment.
But the highlight proved to be the outstanding young chorus who, under the skilled training of Simon Dearsley, produced a fresh and clear yet powerful sound that rode triumphantly over the volume of the orchestra. No mean feat in such an exhausting work. This concert should remain in the memories of those young musicians for a lifetime.
Review by David Fisher, Central Composers’ Alliance, published in the Buckingham Advertiser, November 13th 2013.
PERFORMERS ON YOUR RECORDING – IF RELEVANT:
OF THE WORK(S) YOU HAVE SELECTED FOR THE COMPOSER OF THE MONTH FEATURE, WHAT WAS THE SOURCE/INSPIRATION/COMMISSION WHICH SET THIS PIECE OR THESE PIECES IN MOTION?
I wrote it when I was teaching at Stowe School and there were two particular good pianists. It was fifth in a series of concertos for players of about Grade 8 standard with a very playable and non-complicated orchestral accompaniment.
WHAT WOULD BE A GOOD PROGRAMME NOTE FOR THIS WORK (OR THESE WORKS) WHICH EXPLAINS THE STRUCTURE, USE OF MELODY AND HARMONY AND ANY TECHNICAL POINTS RELATED TO THE PERFORMERS?
It’s cast in the usual 3 movements, has moments of drama and beauty (I hope!) and an underlying energy and sense of joie de vivre that drives the music forward.
From the Stowe concert programme:
"There seems to be surprisingly few concertos for piano - four hands. The opportunities for exciting textures and sonorities in writing for four hands at one piano are considerable.
The first movement is based around three ideas – the rather dramatic tolling first subject which makes use of the piano’s powerful low notes, the cheerful second tune and the rhythmic and rather cheeky central episode with its constant timpani interruption. Throughout this movement the opening idea is always close at hand.
The central slow movement introduces the vibraphone, one of the most colourful of instruments. The movement is based on a seemingly simple melody mostly moving in crotchets – but the music is not as gentle and innocent as it seems at first.
The final movement, which is set on its way by the timpani, is a pure roller-coaster of fun.”
WHEN DID YOU FIRST START COMPOSING AND WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST PIECE?
When I was about 6. My very first piece was for my electric organ and called ‘Aribics in Arabia’.
WHO WAS IT THAT FIRST ENCOURAGED YOU TO DEVELOP YOUR INTEREST IN COMPOSING AND HOW DID THEY HELP?
It was my clarinet teacher John Davies. He particularly wanted me to write a piece for him entitled ‘God save Mr Davies’. That was about the extent of his technical help and guidance! But he was hugely encouraging. I still have it – in the same book as resides Aribics in Arabia. There’s also a very grand sounding ‘Sonata’ for clarinet! I remember discovering a fun fast idea using some interesting low register fingerings, which I incorporated into the piece. Must have been about 9 or 10 when I wrote it.
WHO DO YOU CONSIDER YOUR GREATEST INSPIRATIONS IN TERMS OF THE MAJOR COMPOSERS AND WHICH OF THEIR WORKS HAS INFLUENCED YOU THE MOST AND WHY?
Poulenc and Ravel, Malcolm Arnold and Richard Rodney Bennett. I love the entire oeuvres of these four wonderful composers.
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR STYLE TO SOMEONE WHO HAS NEVER HEARD YOUR MUSIC BEFORE?
Accessible. Tuneful. On occasion witty.
WHAT DO YOU FEEL IS ORIGINAL IN YOUR MUSIC?
Perhaps only that I’ve tried to bring a musical integrity to the many educational pieces I’ve written.
HOW DO YOU WORK? WHAT METHODS OF CREATIVITY AND WORK ETHIC DO YOU HAVE? DO YOU SOLELY USE MUSICAL TECHNOLOGY OR DO PAPER AND PENCIL STILL FORM A PART OF YOUR PROCESS?
I sketch out the whole first – usually quite quickly, and then revise and refine until it seems to do what I intended it to. Paper and Pencil for the complicated pieces. Straight into technology when writing, for example, Sight-Reading pieces.
WHAT PROJECTS ARE YOU CURRENTLY WORKING ON?
A series of operas for instrument and piano! More Sight-Reading pieces!
TO FINISH, WHO OR WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE:
GENRE OF MUSIC?
I’m afraid I like all music too much to pick out one genre.
INSTRUMENTALIST?
Karl Leister, Alfred Brendel, Maxim Vengerov, Pablo Casals
SINGER?
Don’t have any favourite singers!
CONDUCTOR?
Simon Rattle is exciting and insightful
CHAMBER ENSEMBLE?
Nash Ensemble
ORCHESTRA?
National Youth Wind Orchestra and Vienna Philharmonic
CONCERT VENUE?
Holywell Music Room
PIECE OF MUSIC
Well… can anyone have an absolute favourite? It changes daily…hourly!!! At the moment it’s Rachmaninov’s The Bells. The other day it was Schubert’s C Major Quintet, last week it was Malcolm Arnold’s mighty Seventh Symphony.