Rory Boyle - Press
Scottish Chamber Orchestra Presents Rory Boyle’s Concert
Scottish Music Centre5 Mar 2007
Scottish composer Rory Boyle’s concerto for oboe and small orchestra, Sorella, receives its world premiere performances by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra in Glasgow and Edinburgh on Friday 2 March and Saturday 3 March, performed by oboist Nicholas Daniel.
Conductor Edward Gardner, who takes up the position of Music Director at English National Opera in May, makes his debut with the SCO in a programme which also features Benjamin Britten’s Sinfonietta and William Walton’s Sonata for string orchestra.
Sorella was penned as a tribute to the composer’s sister who died of cancer in 1998; to avoid the religious and medical connotations that are associated with the word ‘sister’ in English, Boyle chose instead the Italian translation for the title. The work was written specifically for Nicholas Daniel after the oboist suggested that Boyle write a concerto for the instrument.
The oboe is also at the fore in Britten’s Sinfonietta, sharing a theme with the clarinet that forms the basis of the whole work. Written whilst Britten was still a student at the Royal College of Music, it emphasises the influence of continental composition models on the composer, in particular the work of Schoenberg.
Walton’s Sonata for string orchestra is in fact an arrangement of his String Quartet (1945-7), written in response to an invitation to produce a new piece for Neville Marriner’s Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields. The final movement was arranged by Malcolm Arnold at the request of the composer, who felt “too involved with [the project] to do it really well”. The work received its premiere performance in Australia exactly 35 years to the day before the SCO’s Glasgow performance on 2 March. The Orchestra will also perform an orchestration by Henri Büsser of Debussy’s piano duet, Petite Suite.
Born in Ayr, composer Rory Boyle already has a close affinity with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra through his role as the Orchestra’s Composer Laureate for Schools from 2003 to 2006. He has written four operas for children as well as work for the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland. Boyle’s output spans most genres, from symphonies to incidental music for television, and his work has been performed and broadcast widely both in Britain and abroad.
Young British conductor Edward Gardner became Music Director of Glyndebourne on Tour at the age of just 28. He has since worked with many orchestras and opera companies, including the Hallé, Scottish Opera, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. He takes up the position as Music Director of English National Opera in May this year.
Oboist Nicholas Daniel won the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition at the age of 18, going on to win major prizes at competitions such as the Munich International Oboe Competition. An important force in the creation and performance of new repertoire for oboe, he has had pieces written specially for him by composers such as Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, John Tavener and Oliver Knussen.
Rory Boyle will talk about Sorella in pre-concert talks in both Glasgow and Edinburgh – free to all ticket-holders.
The SCO’s Principals will perform Britten’s Phantasy Quartet and Debussy’s Sonata for flute, viola and harp, as well as work by Finzi and Ravel, in a chamber concert on Sunday 4 March at 2:30pm in Edinburgh’s Queen’s Hall. -- www.sco.test.poptel.org.uk