Joseph Addison, the 18th-century essayist and statesman, thought that music was ‘the greatest good that mortals know, and all heaven we have below’. If we assume that
he was right (and he was), then creating new music must also be a great good. And if that in turn is true, then the 2006 festival will be a very great good indeed, as it features a host of new music.
On 9 May at the Assembly House, pianist William Howard performs the world première of Martin Butler’s Funérailles. ‘Funérailles was written during the summer of 2005. Despite its title, the piece is not intended to be a morbid or even particularly sombre reflection on death or mortality,’ writes Butler. ‘Rather... it can probably best be thought of as an extended study in piano sonorities, at times deep, dark and resonant, at others vivid and bright.’
Across the city, Norwich Cathedral plays host to two new works. On 13 May, the city’s inspirational Bigger Sky choir will perform Glossolalia, a new commission by Andy Sheppard, the renowned jazz musician and composer. Several days earlier, on 6 May, the soaring space will have resounded to Mozart’s Requiem and Ave Verum Corpus, and to English composer Joby Talbot’s new work. ‘When I was offered the commission by Jonathan Holloway, I jumped at the chance,’ says Talbot. ‘The Ave Verum Corpus is one of my all-time favourites. My piece is a new musical setting of its words, something I hope will stretch the Festival Chorus, who are clearly a very good choir, but not give them nervous breakdowns!’
Also commissioned by the festival was Alexander Balanescu, a musician-in-residence in 2005. ‘I got to really love Norwich last year, with its many churches, and the Norfolk countryside, the coastline and the Broads,’ he explains. ‘And I played at the end of last year’s festival, so there’s a very nice feeling of continuity that I’ll be playing at the beginning this year, and in the same venue. Now I’m looking forward to visiting Norfolk again as I complete the new work.’ Hear the première of Norfolk Quartet No.1 in St Peter Mancroft Church on 5 May.
New music of a very different sort is on offer throughout the festival at the church of St John Maddermarket and in the remarkable Eagle Ward at the Great Hospital. At St John Maddermarket, Artmusic (composer Helen Ottaway and sound designer Alastair Goolden) will create an installation where the movement of visitors inside the church will trigger unique combinations of hymn tunes and choirs, solo voices and memories. Here, Ottaway and Goolden will produce musical possibilities, and you, the living, breathing audience member, will produce your own performance.
In the atmospheric setting of the Great Hospital, Scanner (Robin Rimbaud) will also make a sound installation, this time inspired by the medieval setting of Eagle Ward, which was adapted in the early 20th century to house elderly people. Scanner is
a multitalented musician who has recorded many albums of electronic music, often incorporating ‘found’ and eavesdropped sounds, and has collaborated with a range
of instrumentalists and artists.
But in most people’s minds, the Norfolk & Norwich Festival is all about classical,
jazz and world music. Is there really a big enough audience here for cutting-edge electronic compositions? Absolutely, according to Dave Ramage, a Norwich-based maker of electronic music and one of a team of three who last year created a high-energy contemporary soundtrack for Metropolis, Fritz Lang’s classic silent film – the one-night-only performance played to a packed house. ‘It’s a very engaging type of music,’ he says. ‘I’ve been playing on Tuesdays at the Playhouse bar for about seven years, and they’ve not thrown me out yet. We do it for love and free beer, and we’re almost Luddite when it comes to the technology we use, but it’s a real antidote to commercial funk, soul and R&B.’
So don’t miss all the new music on offer at this year’s festival – whether you’re a fan of classical or choral music, jazz or electronica, there’s something here for you. And in case you’re worried that new music is only for experts, consider what Elvis Presley had to say: ‘I don’t know anything about music. In my line you don’t have to.’ What would Joseph Addison have said to that?
6-March-06
|
 |