Philip Venables

A composer of ferocious dramatic instincts
— Alex Ross

Tag: BBC Radio 3

  • Successful premiere for ‘Venables plays Bartók’ at the BBC Proms

    Successful premiere for ‘Venables plays Bartók’ at the BBC Proms

    Venables plays Bartók, my new violin concerto written for Pekka Kuusisto, received a warm response at its premiere at the BBC Proms on Friday 17th August, with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Sakari Oramo.  A huge thanks to Pekka, Sakari, the orchestra, Ian Dearden and Jot Davies for their roles in the performance.

    Press reviews were generally good, including a 5-star review in Bachtrack (“something intensely moving, profound even, in the way the work unfolded”) and 4 stars in the Guardian (“virtuosity and substance”).  I also wrote a piece for the Guardian in the run up to the premiere about the providence of the piece and the life of Rudolf Botta, the main protagonist of the piece – you can read it here.

    The BBC Radio 3 broadcast is still on BBC iPlayer until Sunday 17th September. The preamble and interviews to the concerto begin around 18’30” and the performance (with the introduction by Pekka, which is part of the piece) at 27’30”.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/events/evv4mb/play/ajbpd4/b0bf4kvq

  • Illusions at Hull City of Culture and Royal Festival Hall

    Illusions at Hull City of Culture and Royal Festival Hall

    In conversation with Sara Mohr-Pietsch at the Royal Festival Hall.

    Illusions, my collaboration with performance artist David Hoyle, was premiered in its new extended version at Hull 2017 City of Culture on 2nd July as part of the PRS Foundation New Music Biennial.  The following week it was performed at the Southbank Centre – my Royal Festival Hall debut!  The audience response was wonderful, and the press too.  The Guardian said:

    Philip Venables’ collaboration with performance artist David Hoyle, however, is astonishingly powerful, with Hoyle’s garishly made-up face delivering a rant about everything from elections and gender to sodomy and revolution, precisely edited to Venables’ score with its echoes of expressionist music theatre and Weimar cabaret. Scabrous, fierce, and sometimes very funny, it’s a perfect fusion of music and image.

    The BBC covered the events, and the piece was broadcast along with an interview with me and Sara Mohr-Pietsch on 15th July on Hear and Now (albeit without the video component, of course).  The broadcast can be heard here on iPlayer – my segment is from 1h42 onwards.

    Illusions was recorded on 10th July in the studio for NMC , for my forthcoming album next year.  Huge thanks to the London Sinfonietta, Richard Baker and Sound Intermedia for wonderful performances, and to the PRSF for their support.

    Performance of Illusions at the Royal Festival Hall

     

  • BBC Radio 3, In Tune, with Phoenix Piano Trio

    BBC Radio 3, In Tune, with Phoenix Piano Trio

    Wonderful news: one of the movements (the Scherzo) from my new piano trio, Klaviertrio im Geiste, will be performed live on BBC Radio 3 on Friday afternoon, 10th June, from about 4.45pm.  It’ll be performed by the Phoenix Piano Trio as part of a performance and interview about their Beyond Beethoven series.

    They very nicely commissioned me last year to write this new trio, as a companion to Beethoven’s Ghost trio, which they’ll perform together with my piece at The Forge in Camden, London, on Wednesday evening, 8th June, and in Oxford at theHolywell Music Room on Saturday 11th June.

    It feels like this piece is a big compositional step forwards for me: lots more process-based musical structure and much more clarity and simplicity than earlier pieces.  It feels like a very positive change. So I’m particularly excited to hear it realised.

    UPDATE:

    You can listen again on iPlayer for the next 5 days – click here.

    The Phoenix are on from the beginning, and the bit with me in starts from about 12:45 minutes in.