2011 Plug

Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Glasgow
Plug New Music Festival

1 Twine by Christopher Duncan/ Musiclab 2 Twitching by Timothy Miles Calum Robertson, clarinet
3 Die Nachtblume by Anna Shucksmith Jessica Leary, soprano Alasdair Macaskill, piano
4 Barotrauma by Jason Staddon Performed by Musiclab 5 Surge by Claire Mccue Performed by Musiclab
6 Sojourn Aufenthalt by Jay Capperauld Fiona Wilkie, soprano Theodoros Iosifidis, piano
7 Am Turme by Lewis Murphy Nigel Boddice, conductor 8 Gill’s Delirium by Steve Forman Fraser Langton, Calum Robertson, clarinet James Gorman, Glynn Forrest, percussion

Nimbus Alliance: NI6192 (c. 50 mins; £10)

Quite a nice, if uneven, short-measured disc of music by by student composers.

I enjoyed best Duncan's Twine, Timothy Miles Twitching (a little overlong for solo clarinet) and Steve Forman's Gill's Delirium, a personal response to a sister or girlfriend's rejection of treament for a serious mental condition one guesses? Also programmatic is Jason Staddon's response to an ear infection and tinnitus; did it recover, we are left to wonder?

Songs to German texts are variably successful; Jay Capperauld fails to match his text about "rushng river, blustering forest" etc. Best is Am turme by Lewis Murphy, seemingly a Melisande scena with a group instrumental accompaiment.

Well recorded, mostly live; the applause with oblgatory whoops would be better faded and shortened. More (next year?) from that active composition department would be welcome.

Peter Grahame Woolf