Beyond Britten: The Composer and the Community

Beyond Britten: The Composer and the Community by Peter Wiegold

Leading composers, producers and writers consider the role of the composer in the community in Britain today and over the last fifty years. With his Aspen award lecture (1964), Benjamin Britten expressed a unique commitment to community and place. This book revisits this seminal lecture, but then uses it as a starting point of reflection, inviting leading composers, producers and writers to consider the role of the composer in the community in Britain in the last fifty years. Colin Matthews, Jonathan Reekie and John Barber reflect on Britten's aspirations as a composer and the impact of his legacy, and Gillian Moore surveys the ideals of composers since the 1960s. Eugene Skeef and Tommy Pearson discuss the influence of the London Sinfonietta, while Katie Tearle reviews the tradition of community opera at Glyndebourne. Nigel Osborne and Judith Webster explore the role of music as therapy, and James Redwood, Amoret Abis, Sean Gregory and Douglas Mitchell look at music in the classroom and creative workshops. John Sloboda, Detta Danford and Natasha Zielazinski discuss collaboration in music-making and ways of facilitating exchanges between the composer and the audience, while Christopher Fox and Howard Skempton examine the role of modernism and the use of 'other', radical techniques to stimulate new dialogues between composer and community. Peter Wiegold and Amoret Abis interview Sir Harrison Birtwistle, John Woolrich and Phillip Cashian, and Wiegold discusses his formative experiences in encountering music-making in other cultures. All of these approaches to the role and identity of the composer throw a different light on how we address 'the composer and the community': the varied, sometimes contradictory, motivations of composers; the role of music in 'enhancing lives'; the concept of 'outreach' and the different ways this is pursued; and, finally, the meaning of 'community'. Underpinning each are genuine questions about the relationship of arts to society. This book will appeal not only to composers, performers and practitioners of contemporary music but to anyone interested in the changes in twentieth-century music practice, music in education, and the role of music and the arts in the wider community and society.

Offers a stimulating reading with insights into the act of creation, the compositional process, and the vantage point of the modern creative artist in the twenty-first century* MUSIC AND LETTERS *
An incredibly rich discourse. . . . [A]ppeals across a broad audience and is a resource that will offer much on repeat encounters. . . . The true significance of the volume, however, is in its potential to provoke change and action: that after an encounter with these essays an individual would be moved to consider how music in all of its many forms and disciplines might make a difference within his or her community. * NABMSA REVIEWS *

Kenyon, Ghislaine: - Ghislaine Kenyon worked formerly as Deputy Head of Education at the National Gallery and then Head of Learning at Somerset House. She has curated several exhibitions, including Tell Me a Picture in 2000 with Quentin Blake.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781843839651
ISBN 10	1843839652
Title	Beyond Britten: The Composer and the Community
Author	Peter Wiegold
Series	Aldeburgh Studies In Music
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Boydell & Brewer Ltd
Year published	2015-11-19
Number of pages	312
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.