Fortissimo Autumn 2019

Martin Suckling
When Martin Suckling burst onto the scene in 2011 with
Candlebird, a spectacular setting of poems by Don
Paterson for baritone and ensemble commissioned by the
London Sinfonietta, audiences were introduced to a vibrant
and staggeringly assured new voice. With each finely-crafted
work that has followed, Suckling has continued to combine
innovative microtonal investigations with a direct and lyrical
communicative instinct.
In 2017 The Times selected Suckling as one of Five British
Composers to watch and singled out his ‘absorbing mood piece’
Psalm for harp and spatialised groups for special praise. The range of
Suckling’s influences is wide ranging – from Rădulescu and Grisey to
Celan and Goya – but what unites all his music is a fastidious ear and
the tireless pursuit of rich new modes of expression.
Dear colleagues,
Diversity is the buzz word in cultural circles these days and it
would be impossible and ill-advised for a music publisher to
be outside a trend which is recognising a wide range of cultural
activity, and promoting it to mainstream platforms. You will see
inside these pages reports on music of many different types. In
our case I feel we are representing stylistic diversity rather than
jumping on any box-ticking bandwagons.
Different composers have different ambitions, different outlets,
different hopes for their music. Some of these are hard to
categorise, although we try to make approximate attempts to
represent these clearly. We hope that the music we publish is
effective in realising the purpose for which it was created whether
by commission or volition.
Throughout the diversity and the recent signings our aim is to
find quality in all its manifestations.
Turning to our current roster and the choices we make in
choosing composers to invest in, it is always a balance between
our own belief in what he/she is doing, and how this is either
already reflected by performing institutions, or whether we think
it is likely to be!
One inspiring affirmation of a good choice is Francisco Coll.
He came to us as little more than a student, and he now has not
only major commissions from international orchestras, but there
are soloists including Sol Gabetta, Xavier de Maistre, and Javier
Perianes all lining up with requests for concertos. Although the
request for a second opera from Music Theatre Wales and Royal
Opera here is now unlikely to be fulfilled in the immediate
future, it is great to have the recognition that Francisco, as a
major talent, is receiving. Read more about Francisco on page 8.
Sally Cavender
Performance Music Director/Vice Chairman, Faber Music
The coming months will see the premieres of two substantial works
commissioned by the BBC Philharmonic and Oxford Lieder Festival,
as well as the recording of an all-Suckling orchestral disc for NMC
with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Ilan Volkov.
BBC Philharmonic commission
The BBC Philharmonic will soon announce the premiere of a
substantial new 20-minute orchestral work entitled This Departing
Landscape as part of the series of studio concerts. ‘Morton Feldman
used this phrase to highlight how music slips away from us even as
we are hearing it’ explains Suckling. ‘The sometimes-hyperactive
energy of my new work is far removed from Feldman’s soundworld,
but his characterisation of music’s elusiveness provided the starting
point for a journey across an imaginary landscape in constant flux.’
There are two movements, which run together without a break. The
first presents a kaleidoscope of sharp-edged fragments constantly
shifting into new configurations. There are abrupt changes of
material and tempo: patterns loop, repeat and transform irregularly.
In the second movement the pace is radically reduced. This is music
of glacial energy: extremely heavy, extremely slow, an inexorable
continuity of gradual transformation. Tone becomes microtone
becomes noise – and out of the noise, pulsation returns, a series of
accelerations spiralling unceasingly, and then suddenly cut off.
An orchestral disc on NMC
In February the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Ilan Volkov
will record a selection of Suckling’s orchestral music for NMC’s
Debut Discs series. Tamara Stefanovich will record the compendious
five-movement Piano Concerto (2014-16), whilst flautist Katherine
Bryan performs The White Road, the flute concerto she premiered in
2017. The disc will also include the orchestra’s live recording of the
audacious 12-minute concert opener Release, recorded at Volkov’s
2013 Tectonics Festival in Glasgow, and the BBC Philharmonic’s
recording of This Departing Landscape.
Release unfolds as a vivid drama covering a dizzying range of
emotions and a vast orchestral canvas. Loud common-chord strikes
by the whole orchestra leave behind a trace of microtonal clusters,
which eventually blossom into rich, resonant harmonies; a viola and
cor anglais melody gradually expands to fill the available space; and
chaotic, dense harmonic exhalations which gradually coalesce into
simple pulses. In the uppermost register of the violins, a song begins
to emerge.
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