A bracing density of musical incident

By Roy Westbrook, 05 March 2017

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Reviewed at Wigmore Hall, London on 3 March 2017

Carter, Canon for 4

Boulez, Dérive 1

Davies, Unbroken Circle

Grime, Piano Concerto (World premiere)

Grime, A Cold Spring

Carter, Triple Duo

Birmingham Contemporary Music Group

Oliver Knussen, Conductor

Huw Watkins, Piano

Pastel-perfect hell: To See The Invisible

Charlotte Valori, 8th June

Emily Howard's new opera, an Aldeburgh Festival commission, takes an ambitiously modernist approach to a dystopian story of loneliness: a tough, but thought-provoking work.

****1

Proms at... Wilton’s: Conference of the Birds

Danny Riley, 2nd September

The Birmingham Contemporary Music Group present an ambitious mixture of experimental chamber music and disquieting monodrama.

***11

Singing from the same Songbook

David Fay, 24th February

John Woolrich's Songbook project provided the vocal material on show at the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group recital at Wigmore Hall, featuring sopranos Gillian Keith and Rebecca von Lipinski.

***11

Birtwistle's early gems mesmerise

Katy Wright, 6th September

Lean yet nuanced performances from Oliver Knussen and the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group in commemoration of Harrison Birtwistle's 80th birthday

****1

Barbican’s Birtwistle at 80 over-eggs the pudding during its exploration of the chamber works

Penny Homer, 25th May

Birmingham Contemporary Music Group are masterful, but chamber works lack context during the birthday celebrations at Milton Court.

***11

Birmingham Contemporary Music Group play Britten at Turner Sims

Edward Whitney, 21st April

Birmingham Contemporary Music Group is celebrating its 25th anniversary this season, and as it does so it is marking the anniversary of Benjamin Britten’s birth. BCMG is touring a programme of Britten’s early compositions, the second stop of which was at Turner Sims in Southampton.John Woolrich, BCMG Artist-in-Association, was introduced as a “master programmer” by the Turner Sims representative.

****1

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Roy Westbrook

Roy Westbrook gained a diploma in music history at London University (Morley College) and was for some years the head of music day schools at Oxford University, where he also led music summer schools. After some years leading the University's business school he has returned to music teaching and writing, and recently took part in the Arts in Residence courses on Bruckner, Mahler and Bach He is co-author (with Terry Barfoot) of a history of opera, and has taught day schools on Sibelius in Oxford and elsewhere.

A bracing density of musical incident: Helen Grime's Piano Concerto given world première