Torus (Concerto for Orchestra) (2016)
(for large orchestra)

“Commissioned for the 2016 BBC Proms, [Torus] remains an absorbing work, delivered here with great sensitivity by the BBC Symphony Orchestra. […] this is music-making at its most dynamic.”

“Howard’s lyricism has led to marvellously uncanny results that take vast leaps in pitch and volume in their stride. The album’s title track is a 20-minute epic depicting that topological marvel the torus, a three-dimensional shape with one hole that is often likened to a ring doughnut. […] You feel a sense of oscillation and the void at its centre. At points, you could easily imagine yourself beside an actual torus: a thrumming tokamak at the heart of a nuclear fusion reactor."

“charged with structural tension […] energetic impact and imaginative breadth”

“Few world premieres from recent years have left an impression comparable to that of Torus at the BBC Proms in 2016: confirmation, if such were needed by then, of Emily Howard’s status as a leading younger composer.”

"one of this year’s finest new works"

"Visionary … [a] ringing confirmation of Howard's maturing gifts."

"An accomplished and absorbing new work by a composer who is keen to hear the overall shape of the piece rather than become distracted by surface detail. This is a philosophy I like … Torus uses an extraordinary array of musical techniques to create startling effects and meditative passages."

"Listening to [Torus], what was immediately apparent was Howard’s easy command of large-scale orchestral writing … genuinely rewarding."

“Howard’s is a voice of undeniable poise and power.”