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- Piers Hellawell
Inside Story (1999)
- Peters Edition Limited (World)
The double concerto Inside Story, for violin, viola and orchestra, was written for Clio Gould and Philip Dukes, a BBC Proms commission. It was premiered at the 1999 Proms by these artists, with the BBC Scottish SO conducted by Martyn Brabbins. In response to the tendency, then at least, for many new Proms works to bring extravagant extra-musical references with them, the title was intended to indicate that the music is solely ‘about’ what you hear – what happens in the work. Inevitably, some critics started looking for an ‘inside story’… The work was recorded by the same artists on the 2002 Metronome CD of the same name, MET CD 1059, which was chosen by BBC Music Magazine as ‘Orchestral CD of the Month’ in June 2002. The Scotsman noted of the premiere that “few composers…challenge the listener to explore as enticingly as Hellawell. There are some wonderfully alluring sounds…” The Independent praised its “marvellously inventive scoring”. BBC Music Magazine had praised “an aesthetic that is sophisticated and demanding”.
- vn,va + 2[II:pic].2.2[II:bcl].2+cbn/4.2[II:flg].3.1/3perc/hp/str
- Violin, Viola
- 23 min
Programme Note
Inside Story, for violin, viola and orchestra, was commissioned by BBC Radio 3 for the 1999 BBC Proms, and was premiered by Clio Gould (v), Philip Dukes (va) and the BBC Scottish SO, conducted by Martyn Brabbins, at the 1999 Proms at the Royal Albert Hall.
The composer wrote: “I realise that my approach to composition – I suppose, to all art – is the traditional search for balance between expectation and surprise. This essentially classical approach is, like the sonata principle, a framework of confirmation within which extremes of disruptive and irrational behaviour are possible. My application of this balance, though, is far from classical: being uncomfortable with the traditional discourse of ‘symphonic’ development, I tend to explore tensions between musical fields, rather than unfold a flowing narrative. In particular I am drawn to two-part structures of contrasted static and active fields – a relationship equivalent to the painter Mondrian’s juxtaposition of smaller, brightly-coloured and larger, but darker-coloured, blocks – which he described as being ‘in equilibrium but not in symmetry.’”
The two movements of this work present such a binary relationship. The first is active throughout; its two inner sections of exposition are framed by refrain material, which also reappears centrally to separate them. The second movement starts as an accompanied arioso before settling into a slow, measured tread, later challenged by fast episodes.
As the title suggests, this work has no extra-musical associations of any kind: the music is ‘about’ its own internal relationships, contrasts and atmospheres. Meanwhile, traditional notions of display and competition also play no part in the music, so concertante labels seem inappropriate too: the solo roles have more a poetic, than a dramatic, function. The inside story here, as in many established concerti, is in any case one more of negotiation than of struggle. The very inbalance between orchestra and soloist ensures a trade-off between power and agility - an agreement to share musical air-space.
“The other inside story here is also one of collaboration, between composer and protagonists: the artistry of my soloists and conductor was the original motivation behind the work, and their input has been consistently stimulating and creative.”
Piers Hellawell 1999