SCORE OF THE MONTH

THE BROKEN SEA

Control and click on this title for a performance of this great work by Chris Painter which received its second performance on Sunday 21st April, conducted by Tony Houghton in a wonderfully planned concert celebrating the centenary of Benjamin Britten.

What a great programme Tony conducted in honour of the centenary of the birth of Britten as part of the University celebrations. Tony wrote:

Entitled 'Benjamin Britten : His Contemporaries : His Influences', the Painter as the finale was to represent his legacy and his influence on the creativity of the next generations - the true mark of the great composers. I felt that the 'Broken Sea' owed something, consciously or subliminally, to Britten's epic sea paintings from Peter Grimes. I did indeed enjoy working on the Painter - it was challenging and hard work to extend the students that far out of their comfort zone and get them to stretch their attention span long enough to create/imagine/feel the fragile and even the ferocious atmospheres in rehearsals and consequentially very risky to finish the concert with such an epic but in the performance the students were brilliant and gave 100% focus and concentration so finally able to bringing out the full range of the fragile and furious moods and colours, to hold all enthralled. Yes I really did enjoy the piece and would love to do it again.

NO COMPROMISE

It was nice to do a serious programme that appealed and without compromise for once and I am proud of my young orchestra for bringing it off with great style and panache. I felt all the pieces had their individual merits but they also gelled into a fascinating and balanced evening. I was very glad to have an appropriate opportunity to programme the Peter Racine Fricker, a work that had been in the library for a while. I loved its Stravinskian edge and the Russian Funeral too - quite powerful. Excellent foils to the more familiar harmonic and melodious language of Ireland and Bridge, such wonderful composers - shame they didn't write more for us.

Sheffield University Wind Orchestra

Sunday 21 April, 19:30, Firth Hall

Benjamin Britten arr Fussell: Overture Paul Bunyan
Peter Racine Fricker:Sinfonia Op 76 (In Memoriam Benjamin Britten)
John Ireland: A Downland Suite
Benjamin Britten: Russian Funeral
Frank Bridge: The Pageant of
London Suite
Benjamin Britten:Gloriana Courtly Dances
Christopher Painter:The Broken Sea


Anthony Houghton(conductor)


Chris Painter writes;


Many. many thanks to Tim Reynish for having the faith in me to originally commission this piece, to première it with the RWCMD Wind Orchestra and to persuade Maecenas Music to publish it.

http://soundcloud.com/christopher-painter/the-broken-sea