Huw Watkins

[smittims]

I'd be interested to see views on this composer. I listened with pleasure and satisfaction to the premiere of his Concerto for Orchestra in yesterday's R3 in Concert. I've listened with similar feelings to many of his works , mostly concertos , over the years, and he seems to be one of the most distiguished living composers. I can't think of one I admire more.

But ...

(yes, you may have guessed I was leading to a 'but') ... I'm starting to get a slight feeling of disappointment that he isn't developing as I'd hoped. I can't fault his music. It's brilliant ,it has depth,it's attractive , and unlike the music of hrrm. hrmm , and ,er..., some other living composers, I enjoy hearing it again, and again. But it reminds me of something Colin Wilson said many years ago, that British music has a 'small beer' quality, in other words,that it is limited . I don't agree with Wilson generally. I think his remark is out-of-date (it was made in the 1950s) and I certainly think he underrated Elgar and Vaughan Williams. But I can see what he meant.

So, although I may have to accept that Huw Watkins is not 'The Looked-for Genius' I have hoped he would turn out to be, there is still much to be grateful for .

[Serial_Apologist]

My views about Hugh Watkins too, smittims. Admittedly from the little I've actually heard of his music he seems to belong to an earlier period - maybe the 1950s.

[hmvman]

Thank you, I haven't come across this composer's music before so will seek out some recordings. I notice he's not made it into the Boosey & Hawkes Music Diary!

[french frank]

Thank you, I haven't come across this composer's music before so will seek out some recordings. I notice he's not made it into the Boosey & Hawkes Music Diary!

He's featured several times at the Proms:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/events/composers/d452ef1b-8e94-471a-91cd-06e82df7419f/works

[Serial_Apologist]

I haven't found much that is challenging in Watkins's music, but I respect it for at least manifesting integrity, which is more than I can say for much of the.... hard to know how to describe it - inconseqential pre-Enlightenment Post-Modernist garbage we have coming out of the so-called New Music Show on Saturday nights now. To be fair there has been some good stuff on that programme, but it's so dispiriting waiting to find out what it might be I, a one-time avid devotee of new music, have largely abandoned this... show.

There is so much I have collected to make up the rest of my listening days, for which I have to thank past Radio 3 programmers and educators - THANK YOU BBC ENLIGHTENERS BACK THERE IN THE PAST, IF YOU CAN HEAR ME THROUGH THE FOG OF BLUSTER - that I can sadly now class myself as an enthusast of and champion of music from a certain period that is being wiped from the historical record - rather like those people who say, "Well, I like the music of the second half of the 18th century best".

[hmvman]

He's featured several times at the Proms:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/events/c...2df7419f/works

Well, clearly not ones I've listened to...

[smittims]

His violin concerto had a prestigious Tv premiere at the 2010 Proms with Alina Ibraghimova and Ed Gardner , and his cello concerto, written of course for his distinguished brother, was I thought the best novelty of the 2016 Proms. The flute concerto has also been done there. I've yet to hear his second symphony.

He' s clearly a composer who believes in the art of 'composing' , and I find this admirable. If there are few surprises,and when one sits down to hear his latest concerto one knows very much what to expect , well,that's no bad thing. I think S-A's remark about the past is relevant here. Watkins seems to resemble composers of the classical period,producing a series of works in similar form (Haydn's twelve London Symphonies) , a craftsmen maybe , more than someone posing as a god-like superstar.

I'm certainly with S-A in my listening to new music.For many years I regarded it as a serious duty to concentrate on new works and derived much satisfaction, but so much of what we're offered now seems to be effects and gimmicks at best, and wallpaper music too often. So I continue to raise a glass of unpretentious, drinkable wine to Huw Watkins. Who knows? He may one day produce a startling masterpiece that sets new standards. Meanwhile , his music is good company.