Composer John Pickard My last few blog postings have, admittedly, been a tad on the dour side. So let’s strike a happier tone, with a return to my irregular yet ongoing series of posts about new music I like.
I’d never heard of John Pickard, until I stumbled upon his music the other day. It turns out this 50-year-old English composer is quite a going concern. He’s composed a substantial number of orchestral and choral scores, lots of chamber music (including four string quartets), and seems to have a fondness for brass band music. He currently teaches at the University of Bristol. (For more information on John Pickard, see here.)
I’d never heard of John Pickard, until I stumbled upon his music the other day. It turns out this 50-year-old English composer is quite a going concern. He’s composed a substantial number of orchestral and choral scores, lots of chamber music (including four string quartets), and seems to have a fondness for brass band music. He currently teaches at the University of Bristol. (For more information on John Pickard, see here.)
However, it was a solo piano work I found on YouTube that caught my ear as something quite impressive: his Piano Sonata of 1987. Here, Pickard exploits the dark, brooding quality of the piano’s lower register, with its potential for forceful outbursts, especially when aided by a generous use of the pedal. This music is overtly romantic in its grand, lush sweep, and its striving for effect and affect. Yet this doesn’t sound to me like a backward-looking composer who wishes he lived a century ago.
Indeed, according to program notes written by Pickard (see here), the piece was composed in response to the issues of its day. Specifically, the composer intended the work as a protest against the policies of Margaret Thatcher, then Prime Minister of the UK. To be sure, there is a certain “angry” quality about this music – and although Pickard’s hostility towards the Iron Lady probably never did her any harm, it gave us a fine piece of music. (Composers must take their inspiration from wherever they can find it.)
The YouTube clip below is just an excerpt from the sonata: the opening theme and two variations. However, it works for me as a complete musical statement.
© Colin Eatock 2013
Indeed, according to program notes written by Pickard (see here), the piece was composed in response to the issues of its day. Specifically, the composer intended the work as a protest against the policies of Margaret Thatcher, then Prime Minister of the UK. To be sure, there is a certain “angry” quality about this music – and although Pickard’s hostility towards the Iron Lady probably never did her any harm, it gave us a fine piece of music. (Composers must take their inspiration from wherever they can find it.)
The YouTube clip below is just an excerpt from the sonata: the opening theme and two variations. However, it works for me as a complete musical statement.
© Colin Eatock 2013
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