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Music of Nicholas Maw at The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

Mar. 02, 2009

The Nash Ensemble of London performs Nicholas Maw's Ghost Dances at the Kennedy Center on Wednesday, May 6. Commissioned by the Nash Ensemble, Maw's Ghost Dances rhythmically and melodically distorts ten dances. Stephen Pettitt comments in The Times:

Maw's language has never sounded more disturbed, more highly charged, more expressionistic, than in these deliberately distorted pieces which, for all their variety, form a compelling and cogent sequence...

Nicholas Maw's seminal orchestral piece Odyssey, composed between 1972 to 1987, saw its US premiere by Leonard Slatkin and the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in 1994. A single unbroken 96 minute span of symphonic music, Odyssey was recorded on EMI by Sir Simon Rattle and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and earned a Grammy Award nomination in 1992. Malcolm Hayes writing for Tempo comments on Odyssey:

There are very few post-war works whose substance,technical control, sheer range of thought, wonderful playability and - above all - whose magnificent attitude look set to ensure that they're still going to be played in 50 years' time (and beyond). I think Odyssey will be one of them.

The Boston Globe's Richard Dyer wrote about Maw's orchestral nocturne The World in the Evening following its Tanglewood performance:

The music is autumnal, full of rage, remembrance, reconciliation. The idiom is as personal, unique, unfashionable and compelling as Sibelius' or Elgar's were ... these lullabies mourn the passing of our civilization, even while they prolong civilized values ... for generations people will be buying tickets to hear his music.

Key works by Nicholas Maw still available for US premiere include Hymnus for chorus and orchestra, premiered in 1996 by the Oxford Bach Choir and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under Christopher Robinson, and Voices of Memory, which saw its world premiere in 1995 by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Andrew Davis.

Nicholas Maw, one of Britain's most admired composers and an acknowledged master across all genres, is a composer whose musical language is instantly recognizable. Born in 1935 in Grantham, Lincolnshire, he studied at the Royal Academy of Music, London with Paul Steinitz and Lennox Berkeley and in Paris with Nadia Boulanger and Schoenberg's pupil, Max Deutsch. His career as a teacher has included positions at Trinity College Cambridge, Exeter University, Yale University and the Peabody Conservatory. He is the recipient of numerous awards including the 1959 Lili Boulanger Prize, the 1980 Midsummer Prize of the City of London, the 1991 Sudler International Wind Band Composition Competition for American Games and the 1993 Stoeger Prize from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.

Maw has been the featured composer at South Bank Summer Music (1973), the Kings Lynn Festival (1985), the BBC 'Nicholas Maw Day' at the South Bank (1989), the Bath Festival (1991), the Park Lane Group and the Royal Academy of Music's British Music Festival (1992), and the Chester Festival (1999).

Go to www.kennedy-center.org to learn more on the Nash Ensemble's performance.

Visit www.fabermusic.com for information on the music of Nicholas Maw.

Nicholas Maw
Ghost Dances (1988)
Imaginary Ballet for 5 players
fl(pic, afl, manjeera).cl(Ebcl, bcl, manjeera, kazoo)-pno(manjeera, kalimba)-vn(manjeera, strumstick).vc(manjeera, flaxatone)
27'

Odyssey (1972-1987)
for orchestra
3(2.afl, 3.afl,pic).3(2.ca).3(2.Ebcl, 3.bcl).3(3.cbsn)-8.4.3.1-2timp-3/4perc-cel-hp-str
96'

Voices of Memory (1995)
Variations for Orchestra
for orchestra
2(2.afl,pic).2(2.ca).2.2.cbsn-4.3.3.1-timp.2perc-hp-str
25'

The World in the Evening (1988)
for orchestra
2(2.pic).2(2.ca).2.2(2.cbsn)-4.3.3.0-timp-perc-hp-str
26'

Hymnus (1995-1996)
for mixed chorus and orchestra
text by St. Ambrose 4th century/Anon 6th century (Latin)
3(3.pic).3(3.ca).3(3.Ebcl).2.cbsn-4.4.3.0-timp-2perc-hp-str
34'

Concerto for Violin (1993)
for violin and orchestra
2(2.pic, afl).2(2.ca).2(2.Ebcl).2(2.cbsn)-4.2.0.1-timp-perc-harp-str
41'

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