17/10/2024 Laurence Crane In Focus
This programme consists of three concerts featuring Laurence Crane In Focus on Thursday 17 October 2024: the Thursday Lunchtimes concert at 1.15pm, the In Conversation concert at 6pm, and the RNCM Brand New Orchestra concert at 7.30pm.
Thursday Lunchtimes
Programme
Laurence Crane Prelude for HS
Laurence Crane Four Miniatures
Kámea Németh pApRiKa BrEaTh (world première) *
Laurence Crane See Our Lake
Laurence Crane Riis
Performers
Matt Jones flute / alto flute
Miles Santner clarinet / bass clarinet
Emily Harpley-Gebbels violin
Hamish Barry cello
Elio Gaviria piano / keyboard
Avi Kwok percussion
Andre Chan conductor *
About
Each year, our In Focus series invites trailblazing composers to the RNCM. Behind the scenes, they work closely with our staff and students, culminating in a compelling day of performances. This Autumn, we’re delighted to welcome Laurence Crane.
Laurence Crane’s music stands out for its unique ability to sound simultaneously familiar and fresh. He reimagines basic musical elements like common chords, arpeggios, drones, and cadences, and places them within inventive frameworks. The result is a sound world that feels both comforting and novel, where traditional rhetoric finds new expression in contemporary spaces and the innateness of each element is put on centre display.
You know you’re in for something exciting when the performance notes direct musicians to refer to recordings of Pink Floyd and The Velvet Underground – as is the case in Laurence Crane’s Riis, written for Apartment House in 1996. It stands in this programme alongside his other notable works Prelude for HS, See Our Lake and 4 Miniatures, and this concert also features a new composition by one of our talented students – promising an afternoon of musical intrigue and discovery.
In Conversation
Programme
Laurence Crane Guitar Prelude for solo guitar
Laurence Crane Len Valley Us for solo piano
Tyzer McAllister Letters from the Medusa Cascade for solo piano (world première)
Laurence Crane Bobby J for solo electric guitar
Laurence Crane Single Harmony for Rhodri Davies for harp and tape
Performers
Lily Blyth guitar
Róisín Fleming piano
Isaac Chisnall electric guitar
Yaxin Fang harp
About
Meet Laurence as he joins Larry Goves (Head of School of Composition) on stage for an in-depth conversation. In between, our students will perform a selection of his solo works alongside a new work by one of our composition students.
Laurence has enjoyed a close and collaborative relationship with the UK ensemble Apartment House. They recorded a double album of his works, and in turn his music has been inspired by the players themselves. Tonight’s programme includes three of these pieces: Len Valley Us, written for the composer and pianist Tim Parkinson, Bobby J, written for electric guitarist Alan Thomas, and Single Harmony for the harpist Rhodri Davies.
RNCM Brand New Orchestra
Programme
Emma Clarke Disinformation *
Sinor Saloor Between Two Explosions – Second Explosion ~
Laurence Crane West Sussex Folk Material ^
Lucian Crosby Music for Orchestra (with Juna Quartet) ~
Various Miniatures for Orchestra ^#*
Devon Bonelli Four Abstractions #
Performers
Alec Frank-Gemill *, Benjamin Voce ~, Felicity Cliffe #, Harry Lai ^ conductors
Marie Schreer guest leader
RNCM Brand New Orchestra
first violins
Bruno Robalo, Hannah de Bordes, Archie Freeman, Shanglin Zhan, Nina Doig, Cameron Jackson, Esther Clay
second violins
Elena Orsi, Yunyi Liu, Siyu Chen, Hanna Shamihova, Ellie Shek, Luke Chu, Fionnghuala Drumgoole
violas
Hannah Borlase, Rory Africa, Henry Grant, Xavier Williams, Kirin Howat, Estelle Gonzalez
cellos
Tom Ellison, Finley Spathaky, Hanwen Feng, Congyuan Xiao, Ed Chua
double basses
Duarte Colaco, Tom Betts
flutes
Caroline Wang, Helena Lopes Rodrigues Liberato (picc), Amelie Sainsbury (picc/bass)
oboes
Nichole Xu, Shihan Liu (cor)
clarinets
Lucy Irving, Yuxuan Wang (bass)
bassoons
Hazalen Tang, Zhicheng Cao (contra)
horns
Sami Pang, Jason Cheung
trumpets
Edmund Tyler, Tilly Crutchley
trombones
Nathan Joseph, Harriet Masters
tuba
Henry Kay
timpani
Nathan Jackson
percussion
Zhao Liu, Lois Lezdkan
harps
Kimberly Wong, Zhuoai Liu
soloists for Crosby (Juna Quartet)
Rachel Stonham, Nina Doig violins
Estelle Gonzalez viola
Elena Edwards cello
Soloists for Saloor
Kimberly Wong harp
Cara Smith soprano clarinet
Abigail Martin bass clarinet
Kuba Williams piano
Soloist for Clarke
Julius Mauldin piano
About
Our innovative Brand New Orchestra lights up the stage to conclude our In Focus events. Join us for an evening featuring new orchestral works by our students, along with a performance of Laurence Crane’s West Sussex Folk Material, which explores the interplay of expansive music through deliberately limited and static elements. Written by our Second Year Composers, Miniatures for Orchestra showcasing music from Aidan Fyfe, Tyzer McAllister, Amit Manna, Dejuan Burrowes, Zhipeng Zhang, Aidan Bryson, Ella Laughton, Felix Do and Faye Huang.
