BritSymphCup
@britsymphcup.bsky.social
Originally, World Cup of 500 British & Irish symphonies. From Jan 2025 #britsymphyear, tweet a day exploring 20/21C British/Irish classical music. Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7BWeL8ZjWAQ4L1aPdtOGOK?si=kBxDnR42SwGZnHv0dfua4Q&pi=RQ5cU2bVSVGcA
The recording features the BBC Philharmonic & BBC Scottish Symphony orchestras, conducted by Ilan Volkov. The piece has been nominated for a prestigious Ivor Novello Award in the Large Scale Composition category, a testament to its critical reception & importance within the composer's career.
November 29, 2025 at 11:44 AM
The recording features the BBC Philharmonic & BBC Scottish Symphony orchestras, conducted by Ilan Volkov. The piece has been nominated for a prestigious Ivor Novello Award in the Large Scale Composition category, a testament to its critical reception & importance within the composer's career.
This Departing Landscape gives its name to an acclaimed orchestral portrait album released by NMC in February 2021, which also features Suckling's flute concerto The White Road and his Piano Concerto.
November 29, 2025 at 11:44 AM
This Departing Landscape gives its name to an acclaimed orchestral portrait album released by NMC in February 2021, which also features Suckling's flute concerto The White Road and his Piano Concerto.
The 1st movt features a "kaleidoscope of sharp-edged fragments constantly shifting into new configurations," while the 2nd "freezes" time with a "glacial stillness" & gradual transformations, before ending with accelerating pulses that spin the "musical landscape permanently away into the distance".
November 29, 2025 at 11:44 AM
The 1st movt features a "kaleidoscope of sharp-edged fragments constantly shifting into new configurations," while the 2nd "freezes" time with a "glacial stillness" & gradual transformations, before ending with accelerating pulses that spin the "musical landscape permanently away into the distance".
The 2019 work was commissioned by BBC Radio 3 for the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. The 20-minute piece is a significant work in Suckling's output, exploring his fascination with how music's inherent dynamism relies on constant change.
November 29, 2025 at 11:44 AM
The 2019 work was commissioned by BBC Radio 3 for the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. The 20-minute piece is a significant work in Suckling's output, exploring his fascination with how music's inherent dynamism relies on constant change.
The title is drawn from an observation by Morton Feldman, who characterized music as "this departing landscape" that slips away from us even as we hear it. Suckling was inspired by this "strangely melancholic characterisation" & the idea of music as a physical space through which listeners move.
November 29, 2025 at 11:44 AM
The title is drawn from an observation by Morton Feldman, who characterized music as "this departing landscape" that slips away from us even as we hear it. Suckling was inspired by this "strangely melancholic characterisation" & the idea of music as a physical space through which listeners move.
Suckling's substantial orchestral work is a 2-movement composition that explores the ephemeral nature of music & sound.
November 29, 2025 at 11:44 AM
Suckling's substantial orchestral work is a 2-movement composition that explores the ephemeral nature of music & sound.
Today, the quintet stands as a testament to Harrison’s understated yet distinctive voice in mid-20th-century British music.
November 28, 2025 at 7:51 AM
Today, the quintet stands as a testament to Harrison’s understated yet distinctive voice in mid-20th-century British music.
After divorce in 1959, she lived in rural Dartmoor, drawing inspiration from English landscapes & friendships with performers. Writing for Brymer exemplified her collaborative approach & her resistance to the dominance of serialism, favoring a tonal idiom enriched by colour & rhythmic vitality.
November 28, 2025 at 7:51 AM
After divorce in 1959, she lived in rural Dartmoor, drawing inspiration from English landscapes & friendships with performers. Writing for Brymer exemplified her collaborative approach & her resistance to the dominance of serialism, favoring a tonal idiom enriched by colour & rhythmic vitality.
In the context of Harrison’s life, the quintet belongs to her mature post-war phase, when she focused on chamber music after earlier orchestral & vocal successes.
November 28, 2025 at 7:51 AM
In the context of Harrison’s life, the quintet belongs to her mature post-war phase, when she focused on chamber music after earlier orchestral & vocal successes.
This recording brought renewed attention to Harrison’s music, highlighting the quintet’s 3-movement structure: an opening Allegro moderato of irrepressible songfulness, a deeply elegiac Lento forming the emotional core, & a finale marked by urgent, jazzy cross-currents & Finzi-like joie de vivre.
November 28, 2025 at 7:51 AM
This recording brought renewed attention to Harrison’s music, highlighting the quintet’s 3-movement structure: an opening Allegro moderato of irrepressible songfulness, a deeply elegiac Lento forming the emotional core, & a finale marked by urgent, jazzy cross-currents & Finzi-like joie de vivre.
Despite its quality, the piece remained unpublished & largely neglected for decades. Its 1st commercial recording only appeared in 2023, as part of the album Pamela Harrison: Chamber Works (Resonus Classics), with Robert Plane (clarinet) & members of the Gould Piano Trio & colleagues.
November 28, 2025 at 7:51 AM
Despite its quality, the piece remained unpublished & largely neglected for decades. Its 1st commercial recording only appeared in 2023, as part of the album Pamela Harrison: Chamber Works (Resonus Classics), with Robert Plane (clarinet) & members of the Gould Piano Trio & colleagues.
After the quintet’s first performance, a BBC broadcast then followed on 6 January 1959, featuring Brymer & the Arnici String Quartet, which helped introduce the work to a wider audience at a time when British chamber music was overshadowed by continental avant-garde trends.
November 28, 2025 at 7:51 AM
After the quintet’s first performance, a BBC broadcast then followed on 6 January 1959, featuring Brymer & the Arnici String Quartet, which helped introduce the work to a wider audience at a time when British chamber music was overshadowed by continental avant-garde trends.
It was composed for clarinettist Jack Brymer, a close friend & collaborator, who inspired several of her clarinet works, including the earlier Clarinet Sonata (1954).
November 28, 2025 at 7:51 AM
It was composed for clarinettist Jack Brymer, a close friend & collaborator, who inspired several of her clarinet works, including the earlier Clarinet Sonata (1954).
Harrison’s Clarinet Quintet (1956) is one of her most significant chamber works, written during a period when she was deeply engaged with intimate instrumental forms. The piece reflects Harrison’s lyrical style, combining English pastoral warmth with subtle modernist inflections.
November 28, 2025 at 7:51 AM
Harrison’s Clarinet Quintet (1956) is one of her most significant chamber works, written during a period when she was deeply engaged with intimate instrumental forms. The piece reflects Harrison’s lyrical style, combining English pastoral warmth with subtle modernist inflections.
Works like Diversions illustrate his commitment to chamber music & collaboration with performers, a hallmark of his output. It also exemplifies his stylistic synthesis—melding chromatic expressiveness with modal clarity—achieved after years of exploration in orchestral, vocal & instrumental genres.
November 27, 2025 at 8:53 AM
Works like Diversions illustrate his commitment to chamber music & collaboration with performers, a hallmark of his output. It also exemplifies his stylistic synthesis—melding chromatic expressiveness with modal clarity—achieved after years of exploration in orchestral, vocal & instrumental genres.
Diversions belongs to Routh’s later creative phase, following decades of activity as composer, promoter, & writer. By the 1980s & 1990s, he had established the Redcliffe Concerts of British Music & Redcliffe Records, championing neglected British composers while continuing to compose prolifically.
November 27, 2025 at 8:53 AM
Diversions belongs to Routh’s later creative phase, following decades of activity as composer, promoter, & writer. By the 1980s & 1990s, he had established the Redcliffe Concerts of British Music & Redcliffe Records, championing neglected British composers while continuing to compose prolifically.
The piece lasts approximately 15 minutes and is structured as a sequence of contrasting sections, reflecting the title’s suggestion of playful variety.
November 27, 2025 at 8:53 AM
The piece lasts approximately 15 minutes and is structured as a sequence of contrasting sections, reflecting the title’s suggestion of playful variety.
The first recording of Diversions was made by the same performers-Adam Summerhayes & Alan Brown-& released on the SAR label. This recording helped bring the work to a wider audience and remains a key reference for Routh’s chamber music.
November 27, 2025 at 8:53 AM
The first recording of Diversions was made by the same performers-Adam Summerhayes & Alan Brown-& released on the SAR label. This recording helped bring the work to a wider audience and remains a key reference for Routh’s chamber music.
The premiere concert showcased contemporary British works, and Diversions stood out for its inventive interplay between instruments & its characteristic rhythmic vitality.
November 27, 2025 at 8:53 AM
The premiere concert showcased contemporary British works, and Diversions stood out for its inventive interplay between instruments & its characteristic rhythmic vitality.