A short Encore for the Royal Northern Sinfonia, as part of their 60th anniversary season, for the orchestra and Lars Vogt.
Programme Note
I grew up on the Hartlepool coast, about 100m from the North Sea, and what I mainly remember about it is its ruthless sense of humour. I remember: the garage at the bottom of the road blown flat, seaweed chunks thrown 35m inland, parks becoming sand dunes, sand dunes eating walls, the Seaton Carew Seaside Christmas Tree stripped of lights and felled (about once a week), and genuinely struggling to get upwind in good enough time to make the school bus. But I do miss it, when I’m back in Hartlepool I don’t feel home until I hear it swelling in the background. This 3-minute piece for piano and orchestra is a tongue-in-cheek tribute to that brutal sea. Inspired by Handel’s joyfully simple organ concertos, surges of chords move between piano and orchestra, calmly, before overlapping, surging and breaking in sequence and repeat.
"a vivid musical portrayal ... a gem" -- Gavin Engelbrecht, The Northern Echo
"vividly portrayed" -- Jane Shuttleworth, Bachtrack
Performances
• Sage Gateshead
A short Encore for the Royal Northern Sinfonia, as part of their 60th anniversary season, for the orchestra and Lars Vogt.
• BBC Radio 3
Broadcast of the previous week's concert at Sage Gateshead, with Lars Vogt and the Royal Northern Sinfonia.