Fortissimo Autumn 2019

The Silent Film Scores of Neil Brand
cues do… the ‘trip’ is full of incident and the exhilarating
climax of the finale shows his prowess and relish for the big
gesture but also a deeper instinct by resisting the big finish
and returning to the lachrymose beginnings of the piece.’
Gramophone (Edward Seckerson), June 2019
‘A substantial four-movement work, a full-on fusion of
lush late-Romanticism and feverish 20th-century rhythmic
fire… Luxuriously scored, it also possesses the gold label
charisma of film music, tracts of irrepressible lustre and a
whopping great cinematic climax. Playing it calls for more
than straightforward musicianship; it calls for performance
art, which is what Cameron delivered with pinpoint finesse
and agility.’
Faber Music is delighted to announce a new agreement with respect
to the much-lauded silent film scores of Neil Brand. Brand is wellknown
for his remarkable work as a composer, accompanist and
broadcaster, and Faber already publish his concert works. The new
live cinema catalogue includes orchestral and chamber scores for
films including Hitchcock’s Blackmail, the 1922 version of Robin
Hood, Anthony Asquith’s Underground, and the Laurel and Hardy
short, You’re Darn Tootin’. Recent and upcoming performances
include Hitchcock’s The Lodger at both the New Zealand
International Film Festival and Indiana State University, and the
1922 version of Oliver Twist at the Dartington Summer School.
BBC Proms commission for Greenwood
A new violin concerto from Jonny Greenwood, Horror vacui, is set
to be one of the highlights of this year’s BBC Proms. The 25-minute
work will be the culmination of a late-night event curated by
Greenwood on 10 September and is scored for solo violin and 68
individual string parts (18.18.12.12.8). The soloist is long-time
Greenwood advocate Daniel Pioro, who will be joined by the BBC
National Orchestra of Wales, the Proms Youth Ensemble, and
conductor Hugh Brunt. 88 No.1 for piano, and one of the Three
Miniatures from Water will also be featured and the composer himself
will take to the stage playing tampura and bass guitar. The concert
will be broadcast on both Radio 3 and BBC4.
‘Propulsive and exhilarating’ Elfman Concerto
Widespread praise has greeted the premiere recording of Danny
Elfman’s Violin Concerto ‘Eleven Eleven’, with Sandy Cameron, the
Royal Scottish National Orchestra and John Mauceri, which is now
available from Sony Classical. The RSNO and Thomas Søndergård
included the 40-minute concerto in their US tour in March, joining
Cameron for performances in Tucson and Northridge.
The Scotsman (Ken Walton), 1 April 2019
Elfman focus at Paris Philharmonie
Elfman’s Violin Concerto and the Piano Quartet will be centre-stage
in Paris on 14 and 15 September, as part of an Elfman Weekend at the
Philharmonie. Sandy Cameron and John Mauceri will join the Brussels
Philharmonic, whilst the Piano Quartet’s commissioners – the Berlin
Philharmonic Piano Quartet – will give its European premiere of their
commission. The UK premiere of the Quartet takes place as part of
Music@Malling in September, with Chamber Domaine.
Elfman’s next concert work will be a percussion quartet for Third Coast
Percussion, to be premiered as part of Philip Glass’s Days and Nights
Festival in Big Sur, California on 10 October.
Scottish Ensemble debut Sigurðsson
Exploring the extraordinary story of a transplanted heart, We Are
In Time is a new theatrical work by Valgeir Sigurðsson and writer
Pamela Carter. Jointly produced and commissioned by Scottish
Ensemble and Untitled Projects, the 70-minute work is scored for
two singers, strings and electronics. It premieres on a 7-date Scottish
tour in February and March 2020.
Sigurðsson’s Dust released by Daniel Pioro
Sigurðsson’s Dust is the title track of the debut album by violinist
Daniel Pioro, out now on the Bedroom Community label. Pioro
describes the three-movement work for solo violin and electronics as ‘a
bed of electronic sound and layers of improvised violin playing, pulled
around, re-shaped, and improvised over again.’ The result is a hypnotic
15 minutes of perfectly blended acoustic and electronic sounds. Dust
has frequently been performed live by the duo, and they will include it
in a forthcoming Bedroom Community night at the Philharmonie de
Paris on 8 November.
The concerto receives its UK premiere later this year with Cameron
and Mauceri rejoining the RSNO for performances in Edinburgh and
Glasgow on 29 and 30 November. Cameron joins JoAnn Falletta for
performances with the Buffalo Philharmonic in October and gives
the London premiere with the BBC Concert Orchestra and Bramwell
Tovey at the Royal Festival Hall on 21 April.
‘The solo writing - not least in the cadenzas (gatecrashed in
the motor second movement by the percussion section) - is
propulsive and exhilarating. On the flipside of the coin is
the darkly lyric minimalism of Shostakovich and I like the
composerly way in which Elfman has the soloist emerge
from the string oration at the start of the third movement
‘Fantasma’, the four-note idea hooking us like the best film
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PHOTO: IMAGE FROM NEIL BRAND SILENT FILM PERFORMANCE, DAVID RUSSELL HULME CONDUCTING © KEITH
MORRIS