Tag Archives: Martin Butler

Congratulations to Martin Butler

Friday 27 April 2012 11:26 am \

We are still buzzing after the recent nominations for the RPS Music Awards, in
which Martin Butler’s ‘Rondes d’Automne’ was nominated in the category of Chamber-Scale Composition. NLCE co-commissioned the piece with the Dante Quartet in 2011.

We’re not really surprised by the nomination, to be honest! It’s a great piece, and we’ve really enjoyed working on it these last months. We performed it back in March, and since then have gone on to do another piece by Martin – ‘Dirty Beasts’, which was paired alongside an exciting new Philip Cashian wind dectet, ‘Cortege’.

In the meantime, we’ve got some exciting concerts lined up for summer – details of which are coming soon. Fingers firmly crossed that Martin can go on and win the RPS Award!

Posted in: Commissioning \ Tagged:

NLCE tenth anniversary coaching the National Youth Chamber Orchestra

Wednesday 7 March 2012 12:20 pm \

NYCOThe NLCE has been quintet in residence at the National Youth Chamber Orchestra courses for ten years. Each year they enjoy spending several intensive days coaching young players on exciting chamber and orchestral repertoire. The orchestral repertoire is always performed without a conductor – so it makes for challenging but rewarding coaching!  This year’s programme includes Haydn’s Symphony No.99 and Kodaly’s fantastically colourful Galanta Dances. To celebrate their tenth anniversary this year, they will be combining forces with members of the NYCO woodwind section to perform an extract from their new commission from Philip Cashian – Cortege – a wind dectet especially written for the NLCE to play alongside young musicians. The performance will take place on Monday 2nd April, alongside Martin Butler’s Dirty Beasts, narrated by the highly charismatic Paul Rissmann.

Posted in: 2012 concerts, Commissioning \ Tagged: , , , , , , , ,

NLCE at Lakeside Arts, Nottingham

Sunday 26 February 2012 12:03 pm \

On Thursday 1 March the NLCE will be performing at the wonderful Lakeside Arts in Nottingham.  Robert, Melanie, Neyire, Stephen and Adam are teaming up with the Dante String Quartet to perform Beethoven’s magnificent Septet in E flat, Spohr’s Nonet and a contemporary work by Martin Butler – his Nonet: Rondes d’Automne.

The NLCE performed with the Dante Quartet at last summer’s Cheltenham Festival and are delighted to be together again performing this exciting programme – especially Martin Butler’s work, which is an NLCE commission.

You can book tickets to the concert here.

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All the world’s a stage: NLCE launch new programmes

Sunday 5 February 2012 11:15 am \

We’ve just launched our new programmes for the 2012/13 season and audiences can expect some pretty riveting and unusual stuff!

The NLCE are already well-known for our unique performance style and innovative repertoire, but for this season we’re offering a theatrical take on chamber music with an intriguing programme of semi-staged works. A majestic procession to Byrd’s ‘Pavane & Galliard’, a staged performance of Berio’s Opus No Zoo which takes the performers around the stage and beyond and a unique performance of Rimsky-Korsakov’s famous ‘Flight of the Bumble Bee’…it’s certainly not your average chamber concert! We’ll also be revisiting Carl Nielsen’s fantastic ‘Wind Quintet’ (op.43), which we recorded back in 2009 to great acclaim and there’s a chance to hear a work by the inimitable Moondog – the twentieth century American composer, musician, poet and inventor of several new musical instruments.

Combining Word and Music has always been a big interest for us, and our family-friendly programme – ‘Telling Tales’ – is a culmination of some of our favourite works, performed with narrator. It includes a narrated version of Prokofiev’s classic ‘Peter and the Wolf’ and a wonderfully witty composition by contemporary composer Martin Butler based on Roald Dahl’s collection of poems Dirty Beasts.

That’s not to say the classics are forgotten  – as well as an indulgent programme of French fantasies (including the piquant Poulenc Sonata for Clarinet and Bassoon and Ravel’s glorious Mother Goose Suite) there is also a selection of unique arrangements of works by Mozart – including some unusual and little-heard works written for the mechanical organ.

To find out how the NLCE could perform one of our new programmes for your venue or society, do contact us.

Posted in: 2012 concerts, 2013 Concerts, Repertoire \ Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

NLCE live on BBC radio 3′s In Tune

Thursday 28 July 2011 7:28 pm \

The NLCE featured on BBC Radio 3′s In Tune programme with Sean Rafferty, joined by composer Sally Beamish and music historian Dr Fiona Elliott.

We were previewing our “Mozart, Mechanical Marvels and More…” programme which took place last night, 27th July, to a packed house at Wigmore Hall.   With a fascination for the latest technology in Mozart’s Vienna in 1790, we commissioned new realisations of four of his miniatures written for mechanical instruments.  Composers Sally Beamish, Julian Philips, Philip Cashian and Martin Butler all made new arrangements of these pieces, and Sally also wrote a set of variations upon her theme.   Sitting alongside that in the Wigmore concert were Ligeti’s Bagatelles for quintet, and John Woolrich’s Book of Studies I, including miniatures such as “Clockwork Chorale”. The links are clear!

Lastly, we were joined by piano superstar Angela Hewitt for the sublime Mozart Quintet for Piano and Winds in E flat.

Listen to us on BBC, talking about the projects, the historical background, and performing realisations by Sally Beamish and Martin Butler.

Posted in: 2011 Concerts, News \ Tagged: , , , , , , , ,

NLCE at Wigmore Hall with Angela Hewitt

Tuesday 5 July 2011 12:16 pm \

Angela HewittOn 27th July the NLCE teams up with Angela Hewitt to perform the famous Mozart Piano and Wind Quintet in E flat K452, plus four new realisations of Mozart miniatures for mechanical instruments, by some of the UK’s best composers: Julian Philips, Sally Beamish, Philip Cashian and Martin Butler.  This takes a fresh look at the age-old question of linking old music with new – something that the NLCE has pioneered for the last ten years.

Programme

Mozart – Adagio & Allegro in F minor for mechanical organ K594 (realised for wind quintet by Martin Butler)
Mozart – Adagio in C for glass harmonica K356 (realised for wind quintet by Sally Beamish)
Mozart – Fantasia in F minor for mechanical organ K608 (realised for wind quintet by Julian Philips)
Ligeti – Six Bagatelles for wind quintet
Woolrich – A Book of Studies Set I for wind quintet
Mozart –Andante in F for mechanical organ K616 (realised for wind quintet by Philip Cashian)
Mozart – Quintet in Eb for piano and winds K452

Get your tickets now!  Call Wigmore Hall Box Office on 020 7935 2141.

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