Adopt a Composer blog

17 May 2012: Working on Bernard's Anaphora has given us a fascinating glimpse of the creative process involved in putting together a new work. I have played new compositions with other orchestras before but I think the regular presence of Bernard at our rehearsals has given us a real impetus as we grapple with what is at times a challenging prospect - particularly as he is so receptive to suggestions from the orchestra. While it is obviously his piece, it is great for us to be able to contribute to this in even just a small way.

The date for the first performance of my piece, Grimsby Psalter, finally arrived on Saturday 28 April. After much anticipation, experimenting with the choir in rehearsals, researching Grimsby to find the material for the piece, working hard with the choir on the sound and on learning the music, and much discussion and reflection, this felt like a momentous event even as I approached Grimsby in the cold and the rain on Saturday morning.

30/04/2012: On Tuesday last week we had a visit from “our” Adopted Composer, Bernard Hughes. We had rehearsed the piece that he has written for us (it now has a title : Anaphora) the previous week and so were ready and willing to go through it again in his presence. That is something that I personally always find a little scary – it’s an immense privilege to be the vehicle by which a new composer can bring his work into being, and we are conscious that we have to do our utmost to present his music in the best possible way.

The rehearsals for Anaphora are well underway now and I am very pleased by the extremely positive and enthusiastic attitude of the players towards this new and fairly complex piece. Bernard has written it with the orchestra in mind and it plays to our strengths in a brilliant way. In fact, as is so often the case, the passages that appear tricky work very smoothly and the ones that appear simple (particularly the transitions) require more attention.