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David Wright

The British composer, Philip Wood was born on 29 January 1972 near Leeds. His awakening to music occured when he was ten and after hearing a one of the English Dances of Malcolm Arnold. He completed his schooling at Woodkirk High School, Tingley, Wakefield, where he was from 1983-1990, with ten GCSE's in 1988 and two 'A' levels in 1990. During 1990-92 he undertook orchestral studies with Sir Malcolm Arnold at his home at Attleborough in Norfolk. At the same time he was both the viola player and administrator of the Nene String Quartet and a bass-baritone with the Nene College Chamber Choir. In 1991 he was guest conductor of the Cotswold Symphony Orchestra who gave the first performance of his Three Sketches for Full Orchestra at Cheltenham Town Hall on 4 September that year. These years also saw him achieve a Bachelor of Arts degree with honours combining the 'study of music, drama and philosophy at the University of Leicester and Nene College, Northampton with Maxwell Pettit and Patricia Evans. From 1994-7 he was at Leeds University and was awarded a Master of Music degree at the end of the three years. At present he is studying at Leeds, under the supervision of Philip Wilby, towards a PhD in composition. During 1995-7 he was a conductor with the Wakefield Youth Symphony Orchestra, hence his Jabberwocky of 1992 and his Symphony no.1 of 1996. He also conducted the Wakefield Youth Wind Orchestra who premiered his Concert Suite of 1994 and the brief Intrada no.2 of 1996. He was the Musical Director of the Rodillian Singers, a ladies choir, from 1996-7, and thc Musical Director of the Amici String Ensemble in 1998. Currently he is Musical Director of the Castlegate Singers, another ladies choir. They are a versatile group performing arrangements of Fauré's Requiem and Vivaldi's Gloria in D to Edwardian songs and songs from the shows . At Grasmere in 1998 he was the guest conductor of Britten's Noyes Fludde, an amateur producton that he tells me he wants to forget!

And so, he has gained experience. This has enabled him to teach at compositional workshops at Horbury Comphrensive School in Wakefield during 1995 and with the Wakefield Youth Choir in 1996. He has given two lectures at Leeds University on Compositional Technique and Lutoslawski. A-level students at Cockermouth School benefited from his teaching in 1998, the year in which he gave a pre-concert talk on Arnold's Symphony no.5 at Huddersfield Town Hall. He is the co-editor of Beckus,the journal of the Malcolm Arnold Society. He currently gives tuition in violin, viola, piano, theory, harmony and composition and leads music appreciation classes.

His first work is a Prelude in B minor for piano completed just before Christmas 1990. After a setting of The Chanticleer for SATB in 1991, he wrote chamber works, the innocent-sounding Three Pieces for viola and piano, the Four Divertimenti for flute and piano and Two Pieces for solo viola, flute , clarinet and string quartet. There are three string quartets dating from 1993, 1995, which quartet was written for masterclasses with the Allegri String Quartet, and 1997 respectively. The String Quartet no. 3 is entitled Soliloquy and is very short lasting about eight minutes. It is dedicated to Graham, his partner, and was first performed by the Sorrel Quartet in Leeds on 25 November 1995. 'This work was a means of the composer conveying personal emotions such as loneliness, sadness, anger and anxiety. The tonality of the middle section moves between E flat minor, a key associated with Tschaikovsky' s third quartet and E minor.

The Symphony no.1 is scored for narrator, childrens choir and orchestra and was completed in August 1996. It is in five movements lasting about 25 minutes and uses poems for the various seasons as the metaphors for the cycle of life. The opening Andante deals with the transition from winter to spring. The choir sing John G Whittier's Winter Idyll and the narrator recites Edward Thomas's Thaw. The second movement Moderato- Allegro is a scherzo suggesting a March wind and the choir and narrator share Laurie Lee's The Three Winds, The central movement, Moderato, has the narrator speaking Louis Simpson's Hot Night on Water Street and employs a fugue. The fourth movement, maestoso, is reflective and draws on the Laurie Lee poem again and the narrator speaks W. H. Davies's The Fog. The finale. andante con moto, reverts both to the opening movement and Whittier's words while the narrator is occupied with Peter Porter's poem Screams and Variations.

The only performance to date was an amateur one and so I cannot assess the work accurately. I am worried by Philip's use of the narrator as this contribution depends on the quality of his voice, his acting power and the music that accompanies him. However, in this symphony he is often unaccompanied and I cannot see that this works in an orchestral score. To recite a poem is one thing... to do so in front of a silent orchestra is another.

The work is not very adventurous and the composer is still looking for a personal style and to make an impact.

The Four Bagatelles for solo piano were written for Martin Roscoe who gave the first performance at the United Reformed Church, Cockermouth on 29 September 1999. The title suggests that Alan Rawsthorne was in Philip's mind and, indeed, Martin Roscoe played Rawsthome's Four Bagatelles at the same concert. Philip's work is more substantial and not easy to play. The piece's movements correspond to the four elements of earth, water, air and fire. The first two movements, in particular, takes their inspiration from the Lake District where the composer lives and the finale uses Bartok-like metres. It is a movement of extreme difficulty complete with pyrotechnics.

Philip is currently working on his Symphony no.2

Copyright David C. F. Wright 2000. No part of the article may be copied or reproduced or stored in any way without the prior written authority of the author.

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