Hear & Now : Howard Skempton, etc 04.10.2014

[Keraulophone]

We once commissioned a carol from Howard Skempton for Truro's Nine Lessons with [sic] Carols. He attended the rehearsals and first performance.

We didn't enjoy singing it very much - 'clever' repetitive minimalism doesn't really lend itself to that well-loved occasion. AFAIK it has not been sung since.

[edashtav]

Did anyone hear Howard Skempton’s Piano Concerto last night?

Enjoyed reading this conversation again.

Goodness gracious, I missed that, Alison . I must locate it on SOUNDS.

Oh dear, only one channel working Skempton may have been a minimalist but …

[Serial_Apologist]

I don't know if Faber Music's little selection of Skempton's shorter piano pieces is still in print. They were delightful, and a welcome change for amateurs who would not have the technique to tackle a Tippett or Boulez sonata.

Tackling any one of Tippett's piano sonatas would be a doddle compared to Boulez's!

[Serial_Apologist]

I was completely unaware of Skempton until I went to see the BBC Welsh play Lento in Cardiff a few years back. I was fascinated by the music - the irregular rhythms that leave you in doubt of where the beat is, and then the way it just stops without attempting any kind of "ending". Oddly though, I have the "Ancora" CD featuring this work but find it an unsatisfactory listen - the live orchestral experience is always better (discuss).

I've tried listening to the Piano Concerto a couple of times but I've found it disappointingly unsubstantial.

I would agree were you to have voiced the same opinions about the two works in question, but swapped them around!

[smittims]

I don't know if Faber Music's little selection of Skempton's shorter piano pieces is still in print. They were delightful, and a welcome change for amateurs who would not have the technique to tackle a Tippett or Boulez sonata.

[esmondo]

I missed the broadcast too, which is a shame because it's exactly the kind of thing I want to be hearing on R3.

I was completely unaware of Skempton until I went to see the BBC Welsh play Lento in Cardiff a few years back. I was fascinated by the music - the irregular rhythms that leave you in doubt of where the beat is, and then the way it just stops without attempting any kind of "ending". Oddly though, I have the "Ancora" CD featuring this work but find it an unsatisfactory listen - the live orchestral experience is always better (discuss).

I've tried listening to the Piano Concerto a couple of times but I've found it disappointingly unsubstantial.

I do greatly enjoy playing some of his little pieces from the OUP "Collected Piano Pieces", though - things like Saltaire Melody and Quavers 5.

[Serial_Apologist]

Thanks, I missed that. Howard was a breath of fresh air in the somewhat stuffy air of British composing. I enjoyed his approach to music.

Well worth listening to - the new piano concerto was a delight, almost the sort of thing Malcolm Arnold would have composed, and the rest of the pieces were more than interesting.

[smittims]

Thanks, I missed that. Howard was a breath of fresh air in the somewhat stuffy air of British composing. I enjoyed his approach to music.

[Serial_Apologist]

Did anyone hear Howard Skempton’s Piano Concerto last night?

Enjoyed reading this conversation again.

Me too - and thanks Alison for drawing attention to last night's concert, missed by me: for others too, here's the listen again link:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001vd91

[Alison]

Did anyone hear Howard Skempton’s Piano Concerto last night?

Enjoyed reading this conversation again.

I haven't heard Lento for years. I like it well enough, but I prefer Howard's more intimate works, the solo piano and accordion pieces in particular.

[Bryn]

Well I'm a relative newcomer to Mr. S. Kempton's* work, having only got to hear any of it a little over 45 years ago. I was much impressed by the first performance of Lento at the Barbican on March 12 1991, and indeed by the recording made at the RAH during (though not at) the Proms that same year. However, later performances directed by the likes of Porcelijn and Rundell have, I think, got closer to the heart of the work than did Wigglesworth. Sorry to find that the work does not fit the prescription imposed on it by some others.

I do, however, wish Saturday's Hear and Now had not included Lento, much as I admired the performance. I'd much prefer to have heard something else by Howard that has not been played again and again on Radio 3.


* An early review of his Scumbling thus attributed the work.

[MrGongGong]

Some of you might be interested in this

http://www.bcmg.org.uk/news-and-blogs/2013/12/field-notes-by-howard-skempton-and-matthew-harris/

[Colonel Danby]

I've always been a bit a fan of Howard Skempton from his early days with Cardew and the Scratch Orchestra (don't start me off on the old conspiracy theories as I believe them all): I was there when 'Lento' was done in the Albert Hall all those years ago, and it is a work of genius, a latter day 'Adagio for Strings'. Top composer in my book.

I'll take your word on this.

But on a different level, it's an absolutely marvellous listen. Emotional and visceral - its flawlessness and consummate appeal is almost ineffable. A veritable a desert island piece.

Just tucking into his third scotch of the evening when he wrote this, I imagine