Huw Watkins - Spring

[ardcarp]

Did anyone hear this in tonight's Live in Concert from the BBCNO of Wales?
I found it quite intriguing, and was impressed by Watkins' obvious gift for writing idiomatically for instruments. (So many recent composers don't... or can't... it seems.) He certainly gave the flautists a run for their money! The harmonic language was not extreme; probably nothing beyond what Copeland or Poulenc might have used. It seemed to rest on a tonal centre for a few bars before shifting to the next, so you were never plunged into an aural wilderness. I was sorry it was so short; I was expecting a longer piece from the description given in RT.

[Barbirollians]

I haven’t heard this piece but I was very taken with his Symphony when Mark Elder and the Halle played it in Sheffield in 2017 . Yes his music is tonal but to my ears neither derivative or pastiche .It doesn’t sound much like anyone else.

I bought the CD on NMC of the Symphony coupled with his Flute Concerto of 2013 and violin concerto of 2010 with Adam Walker and Alina Ibramigova as soloists and like all three works immensely especially the Flute Concerto.

[edashtav]

I haven’t heard this piece but I was very taken with his Symphony when Mark Elder and the Halle played it in Sheffield in 2017 . Yes his music is tonal but to my ears neither derivative or pastiche .It doesn’t sound much like anyone else.

I bought the CD on NMC of the Symphony coupled with his Flute Concerto of 2013 and violin concerto of 2010 with Adam Walker and Alina Ibramigova as soloists and like all three works immensely especially the Flute Concerto.

I heard and enjoyed the premiere of his Violin Concerto at Proms and, like you, Barbirollians, I invested in the NMC CD. Huw's engaging personality shines through his presence - whenever I've seen him he's been surrounded by doting female acolytes - and through his work. But, ... I feel guilty when I enjoy his music, ... terms such as 'slick', 'easy on the ear', 'conservative' , and 'redundant' haunt me and make me feel like a sinner and traitor to the cause of progressive music.

[Serial_Apologist]

I heard and enjoyed the premiere of his Violin Concerto at Proms and, like you, Barbirollians, I invested in the NMC CD. Huw's engaging personality shines through his presence - whenever I've seen him he's been surrounded by doting female acolytes - and through his work. But, ... I feel guilty when I enjoy his music, ... terms such as 'slick', 'easy on the ear', 'conservative' , and 'redundant' haunt me and make me feel like a sinner and traitor to the cause of progressive music.

I feel much the same myself about my liking for figures in English music such as Finzi, but take some comfort from Uncle Arnold's words about good and bad music, and his statement that there was still a lot of music to be composed in C major... but not (the implication) by him.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I feel much the same myself about my liking for figures in English music such as Finzi, but take some comfort from Uncle Arnold's words about good and bad music, and his statement that there was still a lot of music to be composed in C major... but not (the implication) by him.

No - his Suite for Strings (1934) was in G major.

[Serial_Apologist]

No - his Suite for Strings (1934) was in G major.

Django Bates once wrote a piece for Loose Tubes, which he titled "Accepting Suites from Strangers"

[edashtav]

Django Bates once wrote a piece for Loose Tubes, which he titled "Accepting Suites from Strangers"

Not heard that one before!

[edashtav]

No - his Suite for Strings (1934) was in G major.

Was that not written as a bridging piece for his new American students, one of whom was soon to be John Cage?

Has it not been argued that the fugal writing in Cage's Second Construction derived from his study of AS's Suite in the Old Style?

Of course... later on JC dismissed his Second Construction as 'bad music'.

[Barbirollians]

I heard and enjoyed the premiere of his Violin Concerto at Proms and, like you, Barbirollians, I invested in the NMC CD. Huw's engaging personality shines through his presence - whenever I've seen him he's been surrounded by doting female acolytes - and through his work. But, ... I feel guilty when I enjoy his music, ... terms such as 'slick', 'easy on the ear', 'conservative' , and 'redundant' haunt me and make me feel like a sinner and traitor to the cause of progressive music.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Was that not written as a bridging piece for his new American students, one of whom was soon to be John Cage?

Yes. (It turned out to be too difficult for his own students, who weren't all the Music Specialists he'd been expecting.)

Has it not been argued that the fugal writing in Cage's Second Construction derived from his study of AS's Suite in the Old Style?

Of course... later on JC dismissed his Second Construction as 'bad music'.

Yes - Severin Neff argued this precise point in Contemporary Music Review in 2014; the whole article available online:

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07494467.2014.998414

... although it should be pointed out that she quotes Cage as describing his Construction as a "'poor piece', too influenced by 'theory and education'" - not quite as dismissive as "bad Music".

[edashtav]

Yes - Severin Neff argued this precise point in Contemporary Music Review in 2014; the whole article available online:

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07494467.2014.998414

... although it should be pointed out that she quotes Cage as describing his Construction as a "'poor piece', too influenced by 'theory and education'" - not quite as dismissive as "bad Music".

Thanks for that link and correction, ferney.

I loved the article.

Never in my wildest dreams did I anticipate a scholar would link Arnold with our dear Ebenezer!

"Like Prout before him, Schoenberg understood that the writing of polymorphous canons would serve as an excellent preliminary study for the handling of stretti in fugues.

So.... John Cage is by Arnold out of Ebenezer !

Goodness Gracious Me!

[Barbirollians]

Thanks for that link and correction, ferney.

I loved the article.

Never in my wildest dreams did I anticipate a scholar would link Arnold with our dear Ebenezer!

"Like Prout before him, Schoenberg understood that the writing of polymorphous canons would serve as an excellent preliminary study for the handling of stretti in fugues.

So.... John Cage is by Arnold out of Ebenezer !

Goodness Gracious Me!

Isn’t this all rather off topic ?