A summer of flag waving begins in a week with the official celebrations of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee on 2-5th June, followed, on July 27th, by the opening of the London Olympics.
For those who prefer their celebrations to be a little more cultural than bunting and beer, however, it’s good to see that both celebrations have involved the commissioning of new music. The barge procession on the Thames on June 3rd will include the premiere of the New Fireworks Music by a group of film music composers that include Anne Dudley, Graham Fitkin, Gavin Greenaway, Christopher Gunning, Adrian Johnston, John Lunn, Julian Nott, Jocelyn Pook, Stephen Warbeck and Debbie Wiseman. I think some movements have already been premiered on Radio 3. I missed this, however, and so am looking forward to hearing it on the day. A recording of the work is due to be released on 28th May.
Given the amount of money that the Olympic Games has sucked up, one suspects, at least in part, from arts organizations, it is nice to see a few crumbs being thrown back to composers. A full programme of these events can be viewed here. One of the most interesting of the projects is entitled 20×12, and involves the commissioning of twenty new sport inspired works. More information, and the composers involved, which include CT’s founder David Bruce, can be found on the NMC website. So far four of these pieces have been released as recordings (also available via Spotify): Howard Skempton’s Five Rings Triples, Sally Beamish’s Spinal Chords, Luke Carver Goss’s Pure Gold: A 4×4 Relay Race and Anna Meredith’s Hands Free. I especially enjoyed Beamish’s work, a simple but effective setting of Melanie Reid’s moving account of becoming paralysed. There is a chance to hear all of the 20×12 works at the Southbank Centre during the weekend of 13th-15th June.