Philip Venables

A composer of ferocious dramatic instincts
— Alex Ross

Tag: Fight Music

  • Portrait Concert / 30 June / St Luke’s

    Portrait Concert / 30 June / St Luke’s

    Fight music

    The first ever portrait concert of my work will be at LSO St Luke’s in London on 30th June 2013.

    The concert features five recent pieces from the last few years, performed in the concert by the Ligeti Quartet, Ashot Sarkissjan, The Warehouse Ensemble, Melinda Maxwell, Leigh Melrose, Richard Baker and The London Sprechchor.  The concert is being recorded live for my debut CD and also filmed for music videos.

    The concert is free (email me for an invitation), will last one hour, and will be followed by a wine reception.

    FIGHT MUSIC: music by Philip Venables

    Sunday 30th June, 2013, 7.30pm (doors open 6.30pm), reception 8.30pm

    LSO St Luke’s, 161 Old St., London EC1V 9NG

    Numbers 76-80: Tristan und Isolde
    Numbers 91-95
    New piece for solo violin and sprechchor
    Metamorphoses after Britten
    The Revenge of Miguel Cotto

    Performers: Ashot Sarkissjan, The London Sprechchor. Melinda Maxwell, Leigh Melrose, Richard Baker, The Warehouse Ensemble, Ligeti Quartet.

    Generously supported by the Arts Council, The Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, The Nicholas Boas Charitable Trust and LSO Soundhub.

       

     

     

     

  • Fight music

    Programme Note

    Fight music is a hypothetical scene from the Boris Vian play Les Bâtisseurs D’Empire (The Empire Builders).  The play is a violent, surreal comment on war and colonisation.  This music accompanies a fight scene where members of the family and their maid savagely beat a mysterious bandaged figure lurking in the corner while discussing what they’ll eat for dinner.  It’s absurdist cartoon horror.

    Details

    Fight music was commissioned by Endymion for their 30th Birthday Sound Census festival in June 2009.  It premiered, conducted by Quentin Poole and with Jane Salmon as the solo cellist, on 5th June 2009 at Kings Place concert hall, London.

    Orchestration: solo cello + fl, cl, tpt, tbn, pf, drum kit, bass

    A version of Fight music for six players (solo cello + fl, cl, pf, perc, vn) is also available.

    Duration: 5 minutes

    A recording is available on the debut album Below the Belt (Spotify link)

    Fight Music has been performed in the UK and France. Other national premieres are still available.

    Published by Opera Edition Ltd.

    Buy score/parts

    Press

    “Philip Venables’s Fight Music, evoking a community beating up an outsider (the poor whimpering cello) was brutally effective” — The Times

    News about Fight Music