Alasdair Nicolson (Born 1961) - Punch!

Credits

Psappha Ensemble

Punch!

Schoenberg, to accompany the vocalist in Pierrot lunaire, devised a mixed quintet consisting of two woodwind players (flautist and clarinettist), two string players (violinist and cellist) and a pianist, to which Peter Maxwell Davies, just over half a century later, added a percussionist. Hey presto, an ensemble was born, one that goes on ricocheting through contemporary music. Alasdair Nicolson wrote his piece for this grouping in 1994, to a commission from the St Magnus Festival in Orkney, and gave it a title we can read in at least two ways. Its vivid, even at times strident energy might suggest the puppet character, but this is also music that packs a punch.

Beginning with outbursts and alarm calls, all tightly controlled, the music soon has all the instruments jolting together, in chords cut with diamond precision. The next episode brings forward the violinist and the percussionist, joined by intermittent piano and fulltime cello as the texture begins to build towards a tutti climax. From here flute and clarinet start singing together, eventually joined by the strings, after which the piano has a solo. Then suddenly everyone is back. A mini-concerto for cello descends into muttering before the grand finale of ultimate exacerbated unanimity, not quite surviving to the end.

Programme note © Paul Griffiths

Alasdair Nicolson composer
A native of Inverness, Alasdair Nicolson studied at Edinburgh University, and made his early career teaching there and as a theatre composer. Winning the IBM Young Composer's Prize in 1993 for his orchestral piece The Tree of Strings brought him wider attention, and since then he has been highly productive across the board, writing for orchestra, instrumental ensembles and amateur groups, as well as continuing to work frequently in the theatre. He has also been an energetic and imaginative presenter, founding the Platform Festival in London in 1991 and becoming artistic director of the St Magnus Festival in 2011. Next year he takes the same position with the Bath Festival.