Edward Cowie (born 1943) - Psappha Portraits (world premiere)
Recorded Live on 8th March 2008
Duration: 27 minutes 45 seconds
Credits
Nicholas Kok
Conductor
Psappha Ensemble
Kevin Gowland
Flute
Dov Goldberg
Clarinet
Richard Casey
Piano
Tim Williams
Percussion
David Routledge
Violin
David Aspin
Viola
Jennifer Langridge
Cello
Psappha Portraits (world premiere)
1. Berthe Morisot (featuring viola)
2. Georges Seurat (featuring alto flute)
3. Wasily Kandinsky (featuring violin)
4. Jackson Pollock (featuring percussion)
5. Mark Rothko (featuring piano)
6. Bridget Riley (featuring clarinet)
7. Heather Cowie (featuring cello)
Psappha Portraits is a
series of seven portraits in sound. For nearly 40 years my music
has been (mainly) inspired by three things namely; natural
phenomena; the visual arts, and human nature. This suite of
sonic-visualisations is the result of careful (and caring) studies
of seven visual artists whose life and work has moved, enlightened,
and inspired me.
I am not at all surprised that many who have played or listened to my music, find it both aurally and visually stimulating. I have always preceded any new composition with a series of drawings and/or paintings. I love to test acoustic ideas with and against visual mark-making.
But this is also a series of 'portraits' of seven different instruments. For each of the artists I made subjects for a movement, I first composed a solo piece which was intended to be the most direct response to the techniques, ideas and forms employed by each individual artist. In fact, this piece can be performed in two ways, the first being that we hear the solo piece first and then hear it embedded within the context of an ensemble-piece with the six other instruments. The second is the way you are going to hear it tonight, that is, a suite of seven movements, each featuring a specific instrument from the ensemble.
In either case, once you know which instrument is featured within a movement, it is relatively easy to search for and find that soloist, and the role the instrument plays in defining and shaping the special characteristics of each artist portrayed.
The work is dedicated to tonight's conductor, Nicholas Kok, who gave such a magnificent world premiere of my National Portraits in The National Portrait Gallery last year. He is also to premiere my enormous INhabitAT (with the BBC Singers and a much-enlarged Psappha), in London next week. So it is to his special imagination and musical skills that I owe the cause of this work. Without his friendship and very special musical mind, this piece would not be in the form it is.
I am not at all surprised that many who have played or listened to my music, find it both aurally and visually stimulating. I have always preceded any new composition with a series of drawings and/or paintings. I love to test acoustic ideas with and against visual mark-making.
But this is also a series of 'portraits' of seven different instruments. For each of the artists I made subjects for a movement, I first composed a solo piece which was intended to be the most direct response to the techniques, ideas and forms employed by each individual artist. In fact, this piece can be performed in two ways, the first being that we hear the solo piece first and then hear it embedded within the context of an ensemble-piece with the six other instruments. The second is the way you are going to hear it tonight, that is, a suite of seven movements, each featuring a specific instrument from the ensemble.
In either case, once you know which instrument is featured within a movement, it is relatively easy to search for and find that soloist, and the role the instrument plays in defining and shaping the special characteristics of each artist portrayed.
The work is dedicated to tonight's conductor, Nicholas Kok, who gave such a magnificent world premiere of my National Portraits in The National Portrait Gallery last year. He is also to premiere my enormous INhabitAT (with the BBC Singers and a much-enlarged Psappha), in London next week. So it is to his special imagination and musical skills that I owe the cause of this work. Without his friendship and very special musical mind, this piece would not be in the form it is.
Edward Cowie © 2008
Watch now:
- Leonard Bernstein (1918 - 1990) - Trouble in Tahiti
- Ian Wilson (b.1964) - Humpty Dumpty (world premiere)
- Claude Vivier (1948-83) - Glaubst du an die Unsterblichkeit der Seele?
- Peter Maxwell Davies (b.1934) - The Lighthouse (Act 1)
- Peter Maxwell Davies (b.1934) - The Lighthouse (Act 2)
- Claude Vivier (1948-83) - Et je reverrai cette ville étrange
- György Ligeti (1923 - 2006) - Aventures and Nouvelles Aventures
- Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) arr. after Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951) - Das Lied von der Erde
- Claude Vivier (1948-83) - Journal
- György Kurtág (b.1926) Signs, Games and Messages
- György Kurtág (born 1926) - Scenes from a Novel, Op.19
- György Ligeti (1923-2006) - Chamber Concerto
- György Ligeti (1923-2006) arr. Elgar Howarth - Mysteries of the Macabre
- Larry Goves (b.1980) - Four Letter Words
- Steven Mackey (born 1956) - Five Animated Shorts
- Gordon McPherson (born 1965) - Celeste Unborne
- Edward Cowie (born 1943) - Psappha Portraits (world premiere)
- Claude Vivier (1948-83) - Shiraz
Listen now:
Watch:Psappha supporting young composers
- Josh Kopecek - the warrior fallen (world premiere)
- Yvonne Eccles - Multiple Infection (world premiere)
- Chris Swithinbank - Wegen & Waldstille (world premiere)
- Soojung Park - Looking over the Land (world premiere)
- Mauricio Pauly - La Prisa Educable
- Ailis Ni Riain (born 1974) - 2 Steep 4 Sheep (some hills are)