Day Five: Composer spotlight on…Mark Simpson

It is no secret that the previous national lockdown was devastating for live music and musicians. After what was almost four months since many of us had played a note with another living and breathing human being, it was an indescribable joy to team up with some of the country’s leading wind players to record Mark Simpson’s Geysir. Commissioned by the Britten Sinfonia in 2014, the work is scored for the same forces as Mozart’s Gran Partita and as such, it made perfect sense to record these two masterpieces together. Geysir takes inspiration from the rich textures of the Mozart and yet vastly extends the sound world of the same collection of instruments; a twelve-piece ensemble of horns, oboes, clarinets and a double bass.

In an interview with Presto Classical, Mark Simpson comments on how the physicality of sound affected him in the writing of this piece. Indeed, as an outstanding clarinettist himself and surrounded by wind players, the notion of the breath was central to the sound world of the piece. The opening chords of the piece, as played by the horns, basset horns, bassoon and bass inhabit this physicality, a giant locomotive of sound pulsing and moving slowly forward, contrasted with flurries of volcanic activity in the clarinets.

My recommended listening for today, the 5th January, is Mark Simpson’s Geysir. For additional listening, a Spotify link to the Gran Partita by Mozart is included below. For those interested in owning a copy of this recording, you can read more here.

Definition of geyser

1: a spring that throws forth intermittent jets of heated water and steam

Composer's Notes

This work, a short companion piece to Mozart's Gran Partita, had a difficult gestation period. I spent a long time thinking about what my relationship to this great work was, having performed and conducted it several times, and how I could possibly reflect the beautiful sonorities, perfect voicings, endless invention and emotional directness. I was also interested in the unusual combination of wind instruments, including basset horns, and originally sought to divide the ensemble into two groups of six, divided by the double bass, and to explore the vast array of instrumental combinations, whilst also exploring palindromic material as reflected by the ensemble's layout. Gradually my ideas merged and a musical structure started to appear that had a broad arch shape with an explosion in the middle.

The piece begins with thick, warm tutti chords with 'bubbling' textures in the clarinets and basset horns. It has inherent potential – sonic and emotional – and there are clues in the gestures and textures, although the outcome is not entirely certain. Singing oboe lines then lead to an explosive section where shrill, yet flowing melodic lines are pitted against swelling chords creating an active texture. After this the horns take centre stage in a passage that pits a pair playing flutter tongued against the other pair playing stopped, creating an angular surface texture accompanied by a rousing harmonic progression. This summons another outburst, here with singing melodic lines in the horns, that leads to the basset horns at the top of their range, playing unrelentingly. A series of three huge tutti chords punctuated by aggressive, rising lines pre-empts a final, tutti singing passage. This eventually leads to a gentle, rising music in the highest range of the oboes and the final utterance of the opening chordal gesture, which feels unsure as to whether it has achieved its true potential.

The overall musical shape bears a relationship with Geysers found in Iceland and America, but not having been to one myself I felt it inappropriate to name the work directly after something I was yet to visit! So I chose the original Icelandic root word from which Geyser is derived, Geysir, to gush...

The work is dedicated to Simon Holt.

Mark Simpson, 2014

On a personal note, I am delighted that Mark has accepted my invitation to write a new piece for horn and piano for me. This work was commissioned by the Barbican Centre and the European Concert Hall Organisation. During the 2021/2022 season, I will play this new work at some of Europe’s major halls including the Barbican Centre, the Musik Verein in Vienna, Köln Philarmonie, the Concertgebouw and the Festspielhaus in Baden-Baden.