New Music Show - 15 February

[Serial_Apologist]

Sat 15 Feb - 10pm
Presented by Kate Mollenson.

Linda Buckley Fire and Ice - Red Note Ensemble
Stefan Prins Piano Hero No 1 - Zubin Kanga
Carola Bauckholt Zugvögel - Calefax
Kenneth Hesketh Uncoiling the River -
Clare Hammond (piano) BBC National Orchestra of Wales, conductor Martyn Brabbins
Lisa Illean Cantor - Alice Rossi (soprano)
Birmingham Contemporary Music Group.

Recorded here and from around the world in concert, and including a new piano concerto from Wales.

[Serial_Apologist]

Link to the programme:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000fffy

Things started to become interesting with Ms Bauckholt's piece, with its extraordinarily realistic simulation of bird cries using conventional instruments leading the way into a complex, abstract composition. Kenneth Hesketh was just a name to me until tonight's piano concerto, "Uncoiling the River" - a richly atmospheric and highly original single movement work that seems on first impression to successfully straddle a wide stylistic gulf: significantly the fullest write-ups on him reference Henze and Dutilleux, without his music sounding like either. From reading up what is available on him Hesketh does not flinch from difficult issues, political or musical, and one would like to hear more of his music. I am probably too saturated at this point to form a view on Ms Illean's piece, which followed.

[Constantbee]

Link to the programme:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000fffy

Things started to become interesting with Ms Bauckholt's piece, with its extraordinarily realistic simulation of bird cries using conventional instruments leading the way into a complex, abstract composition. Kenneth Hesketh was just a name to me until tonight's piano concerto, "Uncoiling the River" - a richly atmospheric and highly original single movement work that seems on first impression to successfully straddle a wide stylistic gulf: significantly the fullest write-ups on him reference Henze and Dutilleux, without his music sounding like either. From reading up what is available on him Hesketh does not flinch from difficult issues, political or musical, and one would like to hear more of his music. I am probably too saturated at this point to form a view on Ms Illean's piece, which followed.

The Hesketh piano concerto had been recommended to me so I was looking forward to it. The fact that is was a (co-)commission by BBCR3 certainly added to its interest. Claire Hammond, who specialises in the contemporary repertoire, is Hesketh's performer of choice for new compositions, and has an impressive and growing discography in her own right. This concerto is a big and complex piece,and there's an interview with Hammond about it here:

https://arcana.fm/tag/john-woolrich/

[Quarky]

Link to the programme:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000fffy

Things started to become interesting with Ms Bauckholt's piece, with its extraordinarily realistic simulation of bird cries using conventional instruments leading the way into a complex, abstract composition. Kenneth Hesketh was just a name to me until tonight's piano concerto, "Uncoiling the River" - a richly atmospheric and highly original single movement work that seems on first impression to successfully straddle a wide stylistic gulf: significantly the fullest write-ups on him reference Henze and Dutilleux, without his music sounding like either. From reading up what is available on him Hesketh does not flinch from difficult issues, political or musical, and one would like to hear more of his music. I am probably too saturated at this point to form a view on Ms Illean's piece, which followed.

Thanks for your impressions.

The rest of the items broadcast largely formed a lucky dip. There was no item I disliked, apart from the Avatar piece, which was heavy on theory, but thin on musical content. There's such a wide variety of musical forms within current contemporary music, that it's difficult for the average listener to make any sort of value judgement. As regards Lisa Illean, Cantor, this was unexpectedly very soothing on the ear for a new composition.