Ralph Vaughan Williams was born on October 12th 1872 – to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the composer ‘Choir & Organ’ have published a a special book/magazine, and asked David to write two articles about the composers considerable output of choral music. Other contributors include the pianists Mark Bebbington and William Van, the organist David Goode, singers Nicky Spence, Kitty Whately, and Roderick Williams, writers David Gutman, the late Michael Kennedy, and Geraint Lewis, and the conductors David Hill, John Wilson, Sir Antonio Pappano, and Sir Andrew Davis.
Writings
Alan Bush 100th
Alan Bush would have been 100 years old on December 22nd 2000. When I got to know him, around the time of his 85th birthday, it seemed as if he would make it to his century.
(Classical Source, November 2000)
Out of the Depths
Many composers would agree that the biggest difficulty when writing a choral or vocal work is finding a text that might be suitable for a musical setting and sets off their imagination
(This article was first published in the Mar/Apr 2010 issue of Choir & Organ. Copyright Rhinegold Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.)
I Hear America Singing
The earthy Walt Whitman poem I Hear America Singing, written ten years before the birth of Samuel Barber and William Schuman, could have been a signature tune for both US composers
(This article was first published in the Sep/Oct 2010 issue of Choir & Organ. Copyright Rhinegold Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.)
John Ireland in Chelsea Festival
Welcome to ‘John Ireland in Chelsea’; a Festival to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the death of John Ireland.
(Welcome from the programme book, June 2012)
A Subversive Conventionalist
It is perhaps unlikely that many composers profiled by Choir & Organ can list such a varied and diverse collection of collaborators as Gavin Bryars.
(This article was first published in the Jan/Feb 2013 issue of Choir & Organ. Copyright Rhinegold Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.)
A profile of Sir Andrzej Panufnik to celebrate his centenary
Andrzej Panufnik was born in Warsaw on September 24th 1914. His father was a respected violin maker and his mother a talented violinist who studied with Carl Flesch. The young Panufnik began to compose, completed a Piano Sonatina at the age of 9
(Written for the Cheltenham & Presteigne Festivals, Summer 2014)
Lux Perpetua
It seemed inevitable that at some stage in his life Pawel Łukaszewski would write a Requiem. Born in 1968 into a musical family (Łukaszewski’s father Wojciech, 1936-78, was also a composer), Pawel was brought up in the city of Czestochowa in southern Poland
(This article was first published in the Jul/Aug 2014 issue of Choir & Organ. Copyright Rhinegold Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.)
Play On
“If music be the food of love, play on….” Shakespeare’s lyricism, imagery and wit has fired the imaginations of the playwright’s contemporaries through to present-day composers
(This article was first published in the Sept/Oct 2014 issue of Choir & Organ. Copyright Rhinegold Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.)
A Tribute to Ligeti
Playful, satirical, touching, witty, bizarre, amusing – hardly words that one might attach to the heady world of contemporary music. There were however two great composers of the late twentieth century for whom they seemed perfectly applicable. One was Luciano Berio, and the other was György Ligeti – who died on 12 June.
(Classical Source, July 2006)