̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - Composers

Music inspired by a survivor of the Nazis wins international recognition

ehs33 — Fri, 24 May 2019 14:18:19 +0000

BBC Radio 3 have selected a new orchestral composition by the Music Faculty’s Reader in Composition, Richard Causton to represent the UK at the annual International Rostrum of Composers to be broadcast across 27 countries worldwide. ̽��ֱ��Rostrum is run in association with UNESCO and the International Music Council.

̽��ֱ��piece - Ik zeg: NU - was based on a story of survival. Three quarters of the World War II Jewish population of the Netherlands were killed by the Nazis. One of some 16,000 Dutch Jews to survive the war was a relative of Richard Causton, Salomon Van Son (now 98 years old), who survived Nazi persecution hidden in a hay barn for almost three years. ̽��ֱ��farmer who hid him was interrogated by the Germans repeatedly but never revealed where he was. This work is based on Salomon Van Son’s memoir about his experience.

Richard explained, “ ̽��ֱ��title, Ik zeg: NU (‘I say: Now’) comes from Sal van Son’s ten-year-old great nephew, who remarked philosophically, ‘I say now now, and a moment later it is already history’.

“This child-like observation of how time passes seemed a brilliant description for music and how we experience it; but beyond that, it also describes life itself. We can never hang on to the moment, it is always slipping through our fingers. So my piece is about the passage of time and a homage to my 98-year-old relative, whose book traces the history of his Jewish family through four centuries, including his own years in hiding from the Nazis in occupied Holland during the Second World War.”

Richard constructed a new set of specially-tuned tubular bells especially for use in the piece, and together with the sounds of detuned vibraphones, a prepared piano and accordion, their haunting, resonant sound evokes the complex and elusive nature of passing time. ̽��ֱ��piece was commissioned by the BBC for the BBC Symphony Orchestra and was first performed at the Barbican Hall, London, in January to huge critical acclaim.

“Richard Causton's new work for the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Ik zeg: NU, holds two timeframes in play simultaneously, and brilliantly.” ( ̽��ֱ��Guardian)

“Now-ness and then-ness move in parallel in this spacious, beautifully constructed work.” ( ̽��ֱ��Times)

“It was a fabulously ear-tickling display of compositional skill, which every now and then took on a poetic resonance.” ( ̽��ֱ��Daily Telegraph)

Image: Richard Causton pencil score of Ik zeg: NU

A new orchestral composition - Ik zeg: NU by Richard Causton - has been chosen by BBC Radio 3 for worldwide broadcast.

BBCSO Credit Sim Canetty-Clark

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̽��ֱ��“Unpublished Prodigy” who caught Mendelssohn’s eye

tdk25 — Thu, 09 Jul 2015 05:00:35 +0000

A signed letter, believed to be one of the last ever written by the German composer Felix Mendelssohn, is going on public display for the first time as part of an exhibition about an unrealised musical prodigy of the Victorian age.

̽��ֱ��document, which was written by the composer just months before his death in 1847, was a reply to the father of John Robert Lunn – a gifted musician and composer who is the subject of a new exhibition at St John’s College, ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, where he studied.

Although he is now regarded as a highly talented composer, Lunn never pursued a musical career and his compositions remain almost entirely unknown. ̽��ֱ��letter suggests, however, that not only was Mendelssohn impressed by the young Lunn’s musical ability, but that Lunn’s father had requested a meeting with the great composer, who regretfully had to decline as he was due to leave the country and return to Germany.

Lunn’s father wrote to Mendelssohn in 1847, following a performance of the composer’s oratorio Elijah, during which the 16-year-old Lunn transcribed the music he was listening to by ear. Judging by the response, his original correspondence, now lost, appears to have sought guidance regarding how best to develop his son’s musical talents. Mendelssohn replied, saying that Lunn “must possess a very good ear for music and must be able to form at once a correct idea of what he is listening to”.

̽��ֱ��letter expresses Mendelssohn’s regret at not being able to meet with Lunn and his father before leaving England, and states that he would have liked to have the time to form “a personal acquaintance” with Lunn in order to best advise him in his future career.

It offers a tantalising insight into what might have been had the meeting taken place. Professor John Rink, a Fellow of St John’s and Director of Studies in Music at Cambridge, said:

“Mendelssohn’s letter is fascinating. Presumably the questions put to him by Lunn’s father had to do with his son’s musical prospects and how his talents might best be developed. Lunn might well have followed a different musical path had he met and been advised by the composer. His ability to “form at once a correct idea” of the music he was listening to indicates that he had an excellent ear. No doubt he would have excelled in music had he not chosen to study mathematics instead.”

As it was, Lunn never took on a career in music, choosing instead the quiet life of a country vicar in Yorkshire. Music remained his passion, however, and he wrote a great number of settings and compositions, most of which were never published. During his lifetime, Lunn performed only small concerts and recitals in local church halls. His music is today regarded as being an outstanding paradigm of Victorian composition.

Mendelssohn’s letter was given to St John’s after Lunn’s death in 1899, but was presumed lost several decades ago after the College Chapel’s Song Room where it was held was flooded. It was only recently rediscovered in a vault in the College by Library Graduate Trainee Richard Sellens, who curated the exhibition. Richard said:

“It was surprising to find such an important document among a stack of frames and papers. ̽��ֱ��letter was probably the last Mendelssohn wrote in England, and one of the last in his lifetime. It acts as a bridge between a brilliant composer coming to the end of his career and one who could have been just starting out on his, had things taken a different turn”.

̽��ֱ��exhibition, which can be seen in St John’s College Library, explores Lunn’s life and influences from being a childhood prodigy, through his time at St John’s, when he refused to allow himself a piano in his room so as not to distract him from his mathematical studies, to his many unpublished and unheard compositions.

“Lunn may not be very well-known”, Richard said, “but he is a great example of a typically Victorian composer”.

Featuring previously unseen material from Lunn’s own personal collection, the exhibition brings to light the creative process of this gifted, but obscure, musical figure.

Unpublished Prodigy will run until 25 September. It can be seen free of charge Monday-Friday from 9:00-5:00 in the Library of St John’s College, Cambridge.

A previously unseen letter by Felix Mendelssohn is to go on public display in an exhibition about an unrealised British musical prodigy, revealing that he narrowly missed an opportunity to meet the great composer and perhaps transform his career.

Mendelssohn’s letter is fascinating. Presumably the questions put to him by Lunn’s father had to do with his son’s musical prospects and how his talents might best be developed. Lunn might well have followed a different musical path had he met and been advised by the composer.

John Rink

St John's College, Cambridge

Left: Mendelssohn’s 1847 letter to the father of John Robert Lunn, then aged 16. Mendelssohn was excited by the young man’s musical talent, but unable to meet him. Lunn (right) never entered a career in music, but his compositions are highly regarded.

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. For image use please see separate credits above.

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Kettle's Yard New Music Series 2014

jfp40 — Wed, 22 Jan 2014 04:49:00 +0000

̽��ֱ��eclectic and wide ranging music series has been programmed by Richard Causton in his first year as Kettle’s Yard New Music Associate. Lecturer in Composition in the Faculty of Music, Causton has been described as “one of the finest of the new generation of British composers”, ̽��ֱ��Guardian. His inspirational programme explores themes of lineage, with several performances of works by teachers and their students. In the first concert on 26 January, the highly acclaimed Chroma Ensemble perform Causton’s award winning Phoenix (2006), alongside works by one of his Italian teachers, Franco Donatoni, and a newly commissioned piece by one of Causton’s students, Andrew Thomas. ̽��ֱ��series also celebrates Italian 20th century music, and the works of Jeremy Dale Roberts, one of the unsung heroes of British New Music.

̽��ֱ��second concert on 16 February, a memorial to Michael Harrison, Director of Kettle’s Yard from 1992 to 2011, presents new works by every one of the composers he appointed whilst Director - an extraordinary homage to his legacy and a chance to hear world premiers by composers including John Woolrich, Richard Baker and Kenneth Hesketh. Kettle’s Yard is delighted that the works will be performed by Anton Lukoszevieze, cello (a former New Music Associate) and Mark Knoop, piano.

On March 2 , Jeremy Dale Roberts’ Oggetti for piano (an homage to the Italian artist Giorgio Morandi) is presented alongside music by Morandi’s contemporary Luigi Dallapiccola and Dallapiccola’s pupil Edwin Roxburgh. ̽��ֱ��Kreutzer String Quartet (with cellist Bridget MacRae) will also be performing a vibrant string quartet by Dale Roberts on 25 May, which draws its inspiration from the art of Edvard Munch along with Virginia Woolf, Marina Tsvetayeva and Janaceks.

Further new commissions are showcased in the fourth concert on 27 April, in which ̽��ֱ�� third year music student Kate Honey’s substantial new work will be performed by Peter Sheppard Skaerved, violin and Roderick Chadwick, piano (kindly supported by the PRS for Music Foundation).

̽��ֱ��series also presents works outside the classical mainstream including the electronic music pioneer Trevor Wishart, with a selection of his electroacoustic works on 11 May. ̽��ֱ��programme closes with a final concert on 15 June, featuring Errollyn Wallen, a composer who is “not afraid to take risks in her music” (International Record Review), who will perform a selection of her own compositions. Wallen, MBE, was recently the recipient of an Ivor Novello Award.

To see the full programme and to book tickets: https://www.kettlesyard.cam.ac.uk/music/newmusic/

On Sunday 26 January Kettle’s Yard plays host to a dynamic programme of new Italian music to mark the start of its 2014 New Music series.

Richard Causton‘s Phoenix uses idiosyncratic techniques (slow-motion trills and tremolando, for example), to paint a vivid picture

Allan Kozinn, New York Times

Claire Shovelton

Chroma Ensemble

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