Many congratulations to our Reader in Composition, Richard Causton, whose new orchestral piece Ik zeg: NU was premiered last month by the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sakari Oramo, to excellent reviews from the national press:
'Richard Causton's new work for the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Ik zeg: NU, holds two timeframes in play simultaneously, and brilliantly.' (Erica Jeal, The Guardian)
'Now-ness and then-ness move in parallel in this spacious, beautifully constructed work' (Anna Picard, The Times)
'It was a fabulously ear-tickling display of compositional skill, which every now and then took on a poetic resonance.' (Ivan Hewett, The Daily Telegraph)
Richard writes: Ik zeg: NU ('I say Now') is named after a book by my Dutch
relative, Sal van Son. The piece is partly about the passage of time: the 'now'
becomes the past from the moment it has been named. But it is also a homage to
my 98-year-old relative, whose book traces the history of his Jewish family
through four centuries, including his own years in hiding from the Nazis in
occupied Holland during the Second World War'.
A feature on the piece was broadcast on the BBC World Service
(https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w172w4ks2chz54c , at 47 minutes 15
seconds). The piece was also broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and can be heard at
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0002gxh.