Our online listening club is held monthly from 7-8pm on a Friday and is a chance to come together regularly to listen to new music and find out more about a selection of contemporary composers.
We will invite a variety of different guest hosts who will explore the music of a new contemporary composer each session. You'll be invited to spend some time listening to one of the composer's works before we meet, but there will also be an opportunity to listen to the work during the session if you don't get around to it beforehand.
Like a book club but with less homework!
For this month's listening club we'll be exploring Errollyn Wallen's Concerto Grosso (~14'30)
You can listen to the piece and read more about it here:
Full score: https://issuu.com/editionpeter...
PROGRAMME NOTES
Errollyn Wallen Concerto Grosso
My Concerto Grosso is in four movements and was composed in 2007 for piano, violin, double bass and strings. It was my third commission for Orchestra of the Swan and for the world premiere I played the piano part. The leader of Orchestra of the Swan is David Le Page with whom I have performed and recorded many times. He was also the soloist in the first performance of Concerto Grosso and his sound and spirited way of playing are important influences in this work.
Another influence was from my student days. Thinking about the Concerto Grosso took me back to my BMus Course at Goldsmiths’ College when we studied a range of compositional styles as part of our Techniques class, taught by Edward Gregson. Apart from Palestrina, Schumann and Beethoven, we learned to copy the styles of Corelli and Bach. I didn’t know I was going to have a career as a full-time composer then, but I loved this course which, in hindsight, offered every music student the chance to closely analyse another composer’s signature through their own creative responses.
In composing my Concerto Grosso I took the opportunity not to merely imitate but to pay homage to composers who have remained very important to me. Working with the two groups — concertino (the small group of soloists) and ripieno (the full orchestra) was intellectually stimulating. I have incorporated elements from popular music, revealing the unexpected connections and universal principles of all music. Importantly, there is a strong element of dance in this piece and, as in so much of baroque and popular music, buoyant rhythms are at the forefront.
© 2019 Errollyn Wallen
Errollyn Wallen - Biography
Errollyn Wallen is a multi-award-winning Belize-born composer. Her output includes over twenty operas and numerous orchestral, chamber and vocal works. She composed works for the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games in 2012, for Queen Elizabeth II’s Golden and Diamond Jubilees and a re-imagining of Parry’s Jerusalem for the Last Night of the Proms. Her acclaimed Concerto Grosso was released on the NMC label in January 2020, performed by Chineke. [. . .]
BBC Radio 3 featured her music across the first week of 2022 for its flagship programme, Composer of the Week and she has made several radio documentaries including Classical Commonwealth, nominated for the Prix Europa, which explored the impact of colonialism on music in the Commonwealth. Her carol, Peace on Earth was part of the Nine Lessons and Carols broadcast from King’s College, Cambridge at Christmas Eve and Christmas Day 2022.
Please register in advance by clicking BOOK on the right hand side. After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the session.
You can join the session on Zoom via an internet browser on your computer or mobile device or you can phone in on either a mobile or landline to listen using the Dial by your location number.
If you have any queries please email info@sound-scotland.co.uk
