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- Helen Grime
Percussion Concerto (2018)
- Chester Music Ltd (World)
Commissioned by Southbank Centre, London, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and the Swedish Chamber Orchestra. First performed by Colin Currie, percussion, and the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Marin Alsop at the Royal Festival Hall, London, on 16th January 2019.
- 2(pic)2(ca)2(Ebcl)2(cbn)/2200/timp/hp.cel/str
- Percussion
- 23 min
Programme Note
When I was first sketching material for this piece, I was inspired by a book I found about the angels in Paul Klee’s work. Sometimes these are in larger works or are sketches or smaller drawings and paintings. This suggested the structure of the piece and sections, as well as suggesting certain ideas, lines and rhythmic gestures that for the basis of the work’s material. There is no narrative as such, but I hope that the piece is direct and clear to follow. The piece is continuous, but in a nutshell: A lively first movement leads to a brooding second section with a very rapid final movement.
Programme note by Helen Grime
Scores
Reviews
...That sense of sonic density was already there in the multi-layered, seething and teeming textures of Helen Grime’s earlier Percussion Concerto, getting its Scottish premiere from Edinburgh-born percussionist Colin Currie. ...the piece is clearly deep in his blood: he delivered Grime’s cascading flurries of vibraphone and crotales, and the gentle throbs of her drum writing, with exquisite subtlety and utter conviction. Similarly, Schuldt drew a wonderfully precise, elegant account from the SCO players, teasing apart Grime’s coruscating textures while retaining their power, with a firm grip of the piece’s somewhat elusive architecture. It was the kind of music where you’d peer deep into the orchestra, wondering where that sound was coming from – and Currie and the SCO conveyed that magic brilliantly.