John McCabe
The Purcell Contemporary Ensemble's concert at Morley College (London UK) on 16 September 2016 is one of the latest events dedicated to the memory of British composer and pianist John McCabe, who died in February 2015. The concert, organised by the Purcell School, and conducted by Edward Longstaff, was based around McCabe's Australian-inspired work Rainforest I. Following two compositions by Purcell School junior students, and then a performance of McCabe's complex chamber work, four more student pieces were heard, grouped as Rainforest Reimagined. These were J P Barrios' El Bosque, Lauren Marshall's Moonflower, Zakia Fawcett's Blind Void and Thomas Sparkes' Reflection. John McCabe's brass band work Cloudcatcher Fells was recently performed at two concerts in Germany, by Brass Band Fricktal and conductor Tristan Uth, and a whole series of 2015 and 2016 performances have been dedicated to McCabe's memory. Various new and reissued recordings have also appeared, and released this month is the CD War Memorials - Music for Brass Band from NMC Recordings, which features McCabe's Nocturne for brass band, The Maunsell Forts. The work takes its name from the several sets of defensive emplacements out at sea in the Thames/Medway Estuary, designed by British civil engineer Guy Maunsell (1884-1961) and still existing. The forts have a bizarre appearance, and are groups of gun emplacements and living quarters, linked by walkways. They formed the first defence in World War II against invading bombers and submarines from Nazi Germany, set upon sandbanks such as Red Sands and Shivering Sands. John McCabe visited the forts by boat from the North Kent coast, and the resultant work combines both admiration for the defenders' courage and sorrow for the anguish of war.
Information: www.johnmccabe.com
Posted: 2 October 2016
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