Barrett, Richard (b. 1959)

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Using the brass and woodwinds of the Concert Band, there's Ferneyhough's Carceri d'Invenzione III - and which was included in the R3 series Iconoclassics many years ago, introduced by Richard Barrett.

(I was going to post the work on the "YouTube with Scores" Thread, but the video only had a static photo of the first page, rather than the whole score )

[BBMmk2]

There's Birtwistle's incomplete Trilogy for Brass Band, of course - Grimethorpe Aria and Salford Toccata. But Birtwistle's reasons for not completing the trilogy sums up the difficultiesRichard mentions. Without the encouragement of Elgar Haworth, Brass Bands are not enthusiastic for new repertoire that takes them out of their accustomed playing techniques. How often are the two extant panels performed these days? (We're moving a little off topic - might there be interest in a dedicated Thread devoted to New works for Brass Band?)

Ah yes, GA, is a classic but we be better off with a more contemporary work by this composer. James Macmillan has written for the Black Dyke Band. We need more compositions by Ades, Turnage. Ofcourse George Benjamin has written one as well,. Need another from him as well.

[Bryn]

Ah yes, GA, is a classic but we be better off with a more contemporary work by this composer. James Macmillan has written for the Black Dyke Band. We need more compositions by Ades, Turnage. Ofcourse George Benjamin has written one as well,. Need another from him as well.

If it keeps them away from other compositional work, I'd be all for it.

[Richard Barrett]

James Macmillan has written for the Black Dyke Band. We need more compositions by Ades, Turnage. Ofcourse George Benjamin has written one as well.

As I said, contemporary music for such ensembles is quite conservative in nature and, given the dearth of brass band works even by people like this, the chances of bands commissioning anything more exploratory would appear to be approximately nil.

I'm reminded of an experience some years ago when I suggested to my then publisher that I'd be interested in writing something for a viol consort, which won't surprise any members of this forum; they sent some recordings of my work and that of some of their other composers to a well-known group of this kind, which then promptly commissioned one of my colleagues (who as far as I know had no particular affinity with early music). On the other hand, the musicians and ensembles who do commission my work probably do so from a position of knowledge of the field and commitment to less conventional ways of doing things, rather than wanting "a contemporary work" by someone or other in their repertoire. It means I generally enjoy fruitful and creative musical partnerships with performers I collaborate with. I'm not sure that would be the case with such ensembles as brass bands whose idea of contemporary works is exemplified by Macmillan and Benjamin.

[BBMmk2]

Time to redress that I think. But as in your case, you have more than enough on your plate, at the moment.

[Richard Barrett]

Time to redress that I think.

I agree! and many thanks for your interest. Maybe such a thing will come about one day. I listened yesterday to Birtwistle's Aria and the sound is very attractive indeed. I couldn't find the Lumsdaine anywhere though.

[BBMmk2]

I agree! and many thanks for your interest. Maybe such a thing will come about one day. I listened yesterday to Birtwistle's Aria and the sound is very attractive indeed. I couldn't find the Lumsdaine anywhere though.

I was conducted by Elgar Howarth in Grimethorpe Aria at Lancaster Universty. a most inspirational man, who has the gift of talking about music, that few people have.

[Joseph K]

Dark Matter I have listened to countless times. I particularly enjoy 'Khasma' - the section beginning around 8 minutes into that is especially spine-tingling. I could be mistaken, but it sounds like some kind of sophisticated canonic/contrapuntal structure.

[Richard Barrett]

Dark Matter I have listened to countless times. I particularly enjoy 'Khasma' - the section beginning around 8 minutes into that is especially spine-tingling. I could be mistaken, but it sounds like some kind of sophisticated canonic/contrapuntal structure.

That's right, Joseph - there are many different kinds of canon in the cycle as a whole, and this one has the five string instruments playing through the same ten-note melodic contour (from which the whole of khasma derives) at different speeds and with different intervallic expansions. I'm glad you like that section, it was a moment when I finally realised how to create a particular kind of sound-form I'd been trying to get into focus for a long time.

[teamsaint]

In depth interview with RB from the programme notes for the first complete performance of Dark Matter in 2003.

http://richardbarrettmusic.com/DARKMATTERinterview.html

[Joseph K]

it was a moment when I finally realised how to create a particular kind of sound-form I'd been trying to get into focus for a long time.

It does have a cosmic sense of 'Eureka!' about it. :D

[Beef Oven!]

Quoting Richard Barrett from another thread .....

Sounds very interesting, indeed .....


"I'm just finishing a quartet for clarinet, trombone, cello and piano (with "tape" in one section) which ought to have been delivered to the players some weeks ago, although most of it has been... the first performance is a month from today, in the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, which ought to be an interesting place to visit. Each of its four parts is dedicated to a different American composer/performer: Cecil Taylor, Thelonious Monk, Eric Dolphy and Miles Davis."

[BBMmk2]

Will you be composing a large scale work for orchestra, soon? I do have a pen chant for virtuosic orchestral showpieces!

[Richard Barrett]

Will you be composing a large scale work for orchestra, soon? I do have a pen chant for virtuosic orchestral showpieces!

I don't do showpieces, Bbm! My most recent piece for orchestra had its first performance in February of this year, and, given the opportunity, it will be expanded in future from its present two parts into five. But there are very few chances even for more "mainstream" composers to write "large scale" works for orchestra; commissioning bodies in the main like to get the new work out of the way as quickly as possible in the hope the audience won't notice it at all. (Plus, if I were to write say an hour-long piece for orchestra it would be my full-time occupation for the best part of a year, with all the accompanying financial implications!) While I love orchestral music a great deal, this isn't a complaint - writing for orchestra (still less an opera house) isn't as far as I'm concerned some kind of pinnacle of what a composer can do, even in terms of the depth and complexity of sound that orchestras have historically been the medium for.

[BBMmk2]

What a great shame. Current thinking of contemporary composers writing large scale symphonic works.