LSO Composer workshop - sketches

François-Xavier Roth conducing LSO (London Symphony Orchestra) at the Panufnik workshops of music by Edwin Hillier, Rafael Marino Arcaro,Robin Haigh and Rob Crehan at Jerwood Hall, LSO St Lukes.

The conductor said, “Answer in music, not just technically,” meaning that when questions are asked, we can answer sometimes in a more mysterious or creative way rather than factually - as long as it’s helpful.

I imagined the instrumentalists as if in an art installation or a video game, in a cave of stalactites or other otherworldly surroundings.

Some of the music sounded quite menacing.

I was fascinated that some of the instrumentalists were having a conversation questioning and even challenging the composer to make improvements. Not having studied music at university, played in an orchestra since school and having worked largely on solo piano/ keyboard, this was illuminating for me.

I imagined specks of stardust animated and a cherry tree growing out of a shoe.

The musicians were talking about a “slow glissando”. Someone said, “Pick up the pace and run”. This is a play on words as pace means “in peace” in Latin. (The only Latin I know!)

Despite what someone people thought, this is a musician leaning over a double bass!

In Driftwood, I imagined myself wrapped in delicate swirls of misty water!

At the start, I focused on observational sketches and then branched out into exploring how the music felt to me, and what I could imagine.

It was a free public workshop, where one could “witness a pivotal point in the process of writing a new three-minute orchestral piece, as the LSO play works by the latest cohort of Panufnik composers”.

It was the morning workshop and I heard pieces by:

Edwin Hillier Ghost Sign (after Siskind)
Rafael Marino Arcaro I swallow clouds
Robin Haigh DRIFTWOOD
Rob Crehan DUTCH PLASTIC

 
music, performance, composing, artThe Mollusc Dimension