Stephen McNeff
 | Stephen McNeff is Composer in the House with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (funded by the PRS Foundation and the Royal Philharmonic Society) and has already written two major orchestral works for them as well as a number of chamber pieces. This season his music was heard on Radio 3 with the BSO in October, conducted by Jan Pascal Tortelier, and will also be broadcast next March with Marin Alsop. His new music theatre work, Strip Jack Naked, will be premiered in April 2007. |
As well as working with the BSO, McNeff has recently written for BAC (Battersea Arts Centre) and Opera North, and projects like Names of the Dead and What I Heard About Iraq reflect an interest in music forming part of a debate about important current issues.
He has also written a great deal of music for young people including the Beatrix Potter Suites for the BBC Concert Orchestra and Oscar nominated Imelda Staunton (recently released on Chandos to outstanding reviews), and has just completed an opera based on Henry Williamson’s Tarka the Otter for the Two Moors Festival. Gentle Giant was commissioned by the Royal Opera House, and played at Covent Garden before touring as part of ROH On the Road, whilst his music for wind orchestra is performed world-wide and with an increasing number of commercial recordings.
As well as working intensively with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra on orchestral projects, McNeff is committed to broad-reaching work in the community. Initiatives like the South West Composers’ Project – where as part of his time in the South West he works with non-professional individuals and groups – form an important element in his work. He currently has commitments to write new works for the Swansea Philharmonic Choir, and his new song cycle for mezzo soprano and wind ensemble will be premiered in Ireland next July.
For more information, you can visit www.stephenmcneff.co.uk and http://www.editionpeters.com/php/artist_details.php?artist=MCNEFF§ion=composer
We spoke to Stephen to find out what he's been listening to recently...
Judith Weir - A Night at the Chinese Opera
(Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Andrew Parrott, NMC D060)
I’ve know the recording since it came out a few years ago and I also saw the RAM’s excellent production earlier this year (authoritatively conducted by Dominic Wheeler). Unusually among her contemporaries, Judith Weir impresses in this work - and in Blond Ekbert at the Linbury in the Opera Group’s production - as someone who fully understands the alchemy of opera. A firm grasp of music in the theatre and what it can achieve – full of subtleties and with a power to move and impress – this work stands out as a shining example, excellently performed.
http://www.nmcrec.co.uk/?page=catalogue/item.html&id=59
John Corigliano - Symphony No 1
(Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Daniel Barenboim, Elatus 092749011)
This is an impressive work in its scale and ambition even if it is taking me time to become convinced about the extra-musical elements. Still, it repays repeated listening and, although its language may be regarded as conservative on this side of the Atlantic, it makes a clear statement and knows what it wants to achieve.
http://www.warnerclassics.com/release.php?release=4083&work=37728
John Adams - Shaker Loops
(Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Marin Alsop, Naxos 8.559031)
It’s very difficult to follow the composer’s own recording of a work, especially if, like Adams, the composer is already a good exponent of his own work. Marin Alsop doesn’t let this put her off, and what I most like about this recording is that it is not deferential. She gives the BSO strings (not exactly known for their sluggishness) an energy and drive which makes them sound very American and absolutely right for this work.
http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.559031
James Dillon - Andromeda
(Noriko Kawai piano, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Ilan Volkov, BBC Prom/Radio 3 10th August 2006)
A phenomenally good new concerto in a genre for which one might be forgiven for thinking that everything that needed saying has already been said. Dillon’s work is powerful and has a masterly command of the orchestra, but (if this isn’t too much of a cliché) isn’t afraid to be lyrical. An important contribution to the repertoire and one I want to hear again soon. I hope there’s a commercial recording on the way – there certainly should be.