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Commissioned by the BBC for 70th anniversary concert of the BBC Symphony Orchestra

  • 2+pic+afl.2+ca.2+bcl.3/4430/5perc/hp.cel/man.gtr(amp)/str
  • 6 min

Programme Note

The musical character of Scherzi appears on the surface to be a continuous and unbroken stream of very quiet and effervescent fast music, that slowly emerges out of a strange 'fluttering' harmonic background. In fact it contains a plethora of different 'scherzi' like mechanisms, which throughout the composition are triggered into a system of cross cutting, collision and simultaneity (i.e. combining with one another), each one of them evolving and dissolving only to re-appear in a 'kaleidoscope' process of reshuffling. Eventually the pianissimo nature of the piece is violently shattered and gradually swallowed up by a powerful 'proliferating' melodic line, which draws the piece inexorably towards its conclusion.

Scherzi was commissioned by the BBC for the seventieth anniversary concert of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and was first performed at the Barbican, London, by the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Leonard Slatkin on 22 October 2000.

Programme note © Simon Bainbridge

Scores

Reviews

The opening gestures -- poised, fluttery figures that darted from one section of the orchestra to another -- created an immediate tension that never let up. There was freedom and joy in the piece, and Wednesday's performance brought out a dynamic balance between classicism and disruption, between sheer aural pleasure and a driving life-force
Tamara Bernstein, Toronto Star
3rd March 2007
It was good to hear a contemporary piece that fizzed with intellectual and bodily energy.
Ivan Hewett, The Daily Telegraph
12th September 2005
Softly arousing our senses to the finer nuances of orchestral sound, his deftly woven chords, flecked with guitar and mandolin timbres, moved slowly yet purposefully in preparation for a broad melodic statement. Arriving it seemed too short, and left the listener greedy for more.
Nicholas Williams, The Independent
27th October 2000
Simon Bainbridge's Scherzi…is a six-minute whispering whirlwind of fluttering strings, with splashes of plucked and percussive colour
Barry Millington, The Times
24th October 2000
Simon Bainbridge's short Scherzi is a scintillating study in orchestral sonority, shimmering with trills and light-catching fragments.
Geoffrey Norris, The Daily Telegraph
24th October 2000