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Adrian Sutton: Violin Concerto
Adrian Sutton: Violin Concerto in Bloomington, MN
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This 2024
Chandos
release comes with a compelling backstory that may have helped propel it onto classical best-seller charts in the autumn of that year. Composer
Adrian Sutton
-- after receiving a diagnosis of an incurable cancer (but one that can be treated to extend his life) -- switched from writing theatrical incidental music to abstract concert music that presumably may have a better chance of the immortality that all crave. However, the music also deserves to be heard on its own terms, and here, the news is good. There is a certain knack to making the switch, one that composer
John Williams
doubtless has, for example. It consists of being stylistically recognizable -- audiences have less interest in a whole new idiom -- but in convincingly incorporating the soundtrack idiom into extended classical forms.
Sutton
is an interesting case of a modern composer who has worked primarily in theater, writing incidental music rather than in films. An extended sample of his theatrical style is included in the form of his
War Horse Suite
, taken from his music from the play
War Horse
, an adaptation of
Michael Morpurgo
's World War I novel War Horse. The new works are a short (programless) orchestral work called
Short Story
, which presents
's new ideas in a concise form, and an energetic piece called
A Fist Full of Fives
; preceding these is the main attraction,
's
Violin Concerto
. Violinist
Fenella Humphreys
, backed by the
BBC Philharmonic
under conductor
Michael Seal
, is an ideal choice for this work, with her lyrical, winding tone putting across material that was intended as a counterpart (or concert pairing) with
Vaughan Williams
'
The Lark Ascending
and took direct inspiration from
Richard Bach
's inspirational novel Jonathan Livingston Seagull in its three movements. (Did those who were around when that novel appeared suspect that it would last long enough to become common knowledge in a different country 55 years on?)
's language is of the tonal crossover sort but with strands of earlier English music (
Walton
,
, and a bit of
Erich Korngold
as well) connecting it with tradition. Will this concerto become part of the repertory? Time will tell, but the music is highly listenable right now. ~ James Manheim
Chandos
release comes with a compelling backstory that may have helped propel it onto classical best-seller charts in the autumn of that year. Composer
Adrian Sutton
-- after receiving a diagnosis of an incurable cancer (but one that can be treated to extend his life) -- switched from writing theatrical incidental music to abstract concert music that presumably may have a better chance of the immortality that all crave. However, the music also deserves to be heard on its own terms, and here, the news is good. There is a certain knack to making the switch, one that composer
John Williams
doubtless has, for example. It consists of being stylistically recognizable -- audiences have less interest in a whole new idiom -- but in convincingly incorporating the soundtrack idiom into extended classical forms.
Sutton
is an interesting case of a modern composer who has worked primarily in theater, writing incidental music rather than in films. An extended sample of his theatrical style is included in the form of his
War Horse Suite
, taken from his music from the play
War Horse
, an adaptation of
Michael Morpurgo
's World War I novel War Horse. The new works are a short (programless) orchestral work called
Short Story
, which presents
's new ideas in a concise form, and an energetic piece called
A Fist Full of Fives
; preceding these is the main attraction,
's
Violin Concerto
. Violinist
Fenella Humphreys
, backed by the
BBC Philharmonic
under conductor
Michael Seal
, is an ideal choice for this work, with her lyrical, winding tone putting across material that was intended as a counterpart (or concert pairing) with
Vaughan Williams
'
The Lark Ascending
and took direct inspiration from
Richard Bach
's inspirational novel Jonathan Livingston Seagull in its three movements. (Did those who were around when that novel appeared suspect that it would last long enough to become common knowledge in a different country 55 years on?)
's language is of the tonal crossover sort but with strands of earlier English music (
Walton
,
, and a bit of
Erich Korngold
as well) connecting it with tradition. Will this concerto become part of the repertory? Time will tell, but the music is highly listenable right now. ~ James Manheim
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