Mark-Anthony Turnage: new Hawkes Pocket Scores
Study scores of five works by Mark-Anthony Turnage have recently been added to the Hawkes Pocket Scores series, including his Piano Concerto and the song cycle Refugee.
Five new study scores by Mark-Anthony Turnage have recently been released in the prestigious Hawkes Pocket Scores series, ranging across orchestral, ensemble and song cycle. The largest-scale work is the composer’s Piano Concerto composed for keyboard virtuoso Marc-André Hamelin in 2013 and recorded with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra under Yannick Nézet-Séguin on Deutsche Grammophon.
Shadow Walker is a double violin concerto premiered in 2017 by soloists Daniel Hope and Vadim Repin. The title forges links with a Mark Wallinger video in which the artist filmed his shadow as he walks along a London street, with Turnage’s two violins mirroring its themes of identity and replicated imaging.
The powerful song cycle Refugee, for tenor and chamber orchestra, was written for tenor Allan Clayton and premiered in 2019 with Britten Sinfonia. The work sets texts by Emily Dickinson, Benjamin Zephaniah, W.H. Auden and Brian Bilston reflecting on the plight of migrants. Refugee can be heard in a performance by the London Philharmonic Orchestra on 26 November at the Royal Festival Hall, conducted by Edward Gardner.
Crying Out Loud, dating from 2003, has been programmed by an impressive series of new music groups, including Ensemble Modern at its premiere under the composer’s mentor Oliver Knussen, the London Sinfonietta and Asko/Schoenberg. The work’s kinetic energy has seen it coupled with choreography by Zurich Ballet and Rambert Dance Company and a recording was released by NMC in 2014.
Texan Tenebrae, one of Turnage’s most compact and direct orchestral scores, is linked to the interlude in his opera Anna Nicole that provides the darkening, emotional turning point of the drama. The eight-minute work, dating from 2009, was first performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and recorded under Marin Alsop on the LPO’s own label.
Mark-Anthony Turnage in new Hawkes Pocket Scores:
> Piano Concerto
> Shadow Walker
> Refugee
> Crying Out Loud
> Texan Tenebrae
The Hawkes Pocket Scores series is a music publishing classic, synonymous with the best in 20th and 21st century music. The range now includes over 500 works by masters such as Stravinsky, Rachmaninoff, Prokofieff, Bartók, Britten, Bernstein and Copland as well as music by leading contemporary composers including John Adams, Unsuk Chin, Magnus Lindberg, James MacMillan, Steve Reich and Mark-Anthony Turnage.
> Further information on Work: Piano Concerto
Photo: James Bellorini