NEWS & EVENTS
July 2011
Thursday 14th July saw the premiere of my latest work Time, a set of three songs for baritone voice, flute, viola, piano and percussion. I must extend my gratitude to the performers who gave an excellent account of the work that was very enthusiastically received by the audience. It has been requested that there should be another performance before Christmas and this should happen in November. The song cycle has been recorded so it should be available before too long either as a download or CD or both.
My Norfolk Seascape for flute and chamber orchestra was also well-received and Dinah Pounds gave a compelling performance of the work in two concerts in Cambridge. This composition was 'lighter' in style (compared with Time) and has a strong melodic basis. It is also the first time that I have incorporated the harp into my scoring and I found that the combination with the flute together with a small orchestra (strings, solo wind, two horns and timps) just the right balance to 'paint' a picture of the Norfolk coastal landscape. This work has also been recorded.
I will be busy again in the next season when I will be conducting performances of the Concerto for Orchestra by Bartok and The Dream of Gerontius amongst many other works.
May 2011
The new CD, Resurrection, has been well received and I am now planning a new recording of smaller-scale works that should be released next year. Please read the full review by John France.
I have two major concerts in June. On the 11th (7.30pm), I will be conducting the Academy of Great St. Mary's at the University Church, Cambridge in a performance of the Enigma Variations by Elgar and the programme will also include the first performance of Norfolk Seascape. This is a rhapsody for solo flute and orchestra. I composed the work for my wife Dinah who will be the soloist. Like most of my music, the piece is programmatic and the opening represents the coast at Thornham in its tranquility and timeless beauty. This is one of our favourite places.
There will be a second performance of the work on the 25th June at the Emmanuel United Reformed Church, Trumpington Street, Cambridge (7.30pm) when I will be conducting a concert that will include two choral pieces by Vaughan Williams - the Serenade To Music and Toward The Unknown Region. I do hope that you can come to one or both of the concerts.
I have just finished composing a piece for voice, flute, viola, piano and percussion. The composition is called Time and I have set the words of Blake, Shakespeare and Shelley. This will be performed on July 14th (7.30pm) in Michaelhouse, Trinity Street, Cambridge. The evening will also feature other music and poetry readings on the subject of time.
I am now busy planning for the new season when I will be conducting some great music including the Concerto for Orchestra by Bartok.
Lennox & Freda out now
Lennox & Freda, Tony Scotland's revealing new book about the lives of the composer Sir Lennox Berkeley – with whom Adam studied composition – and his wife Freda Bernstein, was published in November by Michael Russell. More than a biography, this is a portrait of an unconventional marriage and a record of Berkeley's generation and a vanished way of life. Drawing on his own original research, Tony Scotland presents fresh perspectives on the Oxford of Auden and Waugh; the Paris of Stravinsky, Diaghilev and Poulenc; Somerset Maugham's set on the French Riviera; Dylan Thomas, William Glock and Humphrey Searle during the Battle of Britain; Eddie Sackville-West, Tippett, Bliss and Boult at the BBC; and Britten and Pears at Aldeburgh. Find out more, and buy online, at www.lennoxandfreda.com.
Academy of Great St. Mary’s concert
June 2010
The concert given by the Academy of Great St. Mary’s on June 12th was very well received. The programme was varied and included the third performance of The Martyrdom of Latimer where the University Church proved a great venue for accommodating the two off-stage trumpet parts. The players were sited in the two galleries and the effect was exciting and stereophonic.
The second half of the evening was taken up by a performance of Beethoven’s Eroica symphony. This massive work demands a great deal from the musicians and concentration and artistry were there throughout the performance. The orchestra was formed in 2007 and it has already developed tremendously, taking on some of the ‘trojan horses’ of the repertoire.
There is an exciting season ahead that will include performances of the fifth symphony of Shostakovich and Elgar’s Enigma Variations.
A CD Resurrection that features The Academy of Great St, Mary’s along with the GSM choir will be released soon, and it features my Martyrdom of Latimer and Life Cycle as well as works by Finzi, Elgar and Howells.
This short video clip (left) features The Academy of Great St. Mary’s performing the second movement from the Eroica by Beethoven.
Martyrdom of Latimer and Life Cycle to be
released on CD
April 2010
The Academy of Great St. Mary's
The second performance of The Martyrdom of Latimer took place on 20 March in Cambridge, including a performance of Brahms' German Requiem. During the previous few weeks the Academy of Great St. Mary's was involved in some very intensive recording sessions for their new recording Resurrection which will include the Martyrdom of Latimer, Life Cycle, pieces by Elgar and Lennox Berkeley and Lo, the Full Final Sacrifice by Finzi. The vocal works feature the choir of Great St. Mary's under the direction of Samuel Hayes.
• Read the further notes by John France on Land of Lost Content
• The new CD Resurrection is due for release on Cambridge Recordings in June
Martyrdom of Latimer premiere
hailed great success
Saturday October 3rd 2009
Ely Cathedral
The evening was marked with a first performance of a work especially written for the occasion: The Martyrdom of Latimer by Adam Pounds who was present in the audience. The warmth and enthusiasm the audience showed towards this piece was certainly warranted.
Adam Pounds & Steve Bingham
This profound work explored the excitement and darkness of death and spiritual revival. After the opening appealing melody was taken up in turn by the different sections of the orchestra, the toll of impending doom heralded the contrasting development of dramatic conflict, building up to an exciting climax with trumpets off-stage broadening the experience until the work's final thunderous drum call brought this fine composition to a memorable close.
Dr. R J Westwell PhD, MA TESOL, MA Ed, B Mus, BA Hons
What the audience said...
“I was lucky enough to have a front-row seat to yesterday's concert which included your wonderful new piece, "The Martyrdom of Latimer". I thought it was really tremendous — both powerful and evocative, especially the ending and the trumpets in the gallery. So, as it's something I'd certainly like to hear again, I was wondering if there were plans to release a recording on CD?”
Andrew Cohen
“I had the profound pleasure of hearing this stunning composition on Saturday evening. I would dearly like to listen to it again (and again...). Have any plans been made to record it?”
Yvonne Vallis
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