The Music of Simon Holt

About the Book

Bringing together well-known writers with composers and performers, this volume gives a complete overview of Holt's creative work up to 2015. British composer Simon Holt (b. 1958) has been a leading presence in contemporary music since the early 1980s and Kites. His output is diverse, comprising chamber music, concertos for diverse instruments, songs, piano musicand opera. Holt is a composer who demands unusual commitment from his interpreters - the intricate sound-worlds he creates often contain complex, rich textures, offset by 'still centres' - for the purpose of making music which speaks with extraordinary power. Bringing together well-known writers with composers and performers, this volume gives a complete overview of Holt's creative work up to 2015 and Fool is hurt. It uses a variety of approaches to help readers, listeners and players to find ways into the pieces and to understand the influence of visual art and poetry on Holt's work. Colour illustrations, music examples, tables and sketch facsimiles offer a rounded impression of Holt's inspiration and thought to date. Also included are a wide-ranging conversation between Simon Holt and the artist Julia Bardsley, and a text by the conductor Thierry Fischer. The volume also offers the first detailed catalogue of Holt's compositions, drawn up together with the composer. It reveals that the last twenty years have seen no slowing-up in his rate of creative production, notwithstanding that the nature of his writing has changed during this time. DAVID CHARLTON is Professor Emeritus of Music History, Royal Holloway, University of London. Contributors: JULIA BARDSLEY, DAVID BEARD, DAVID CHARLTON, THIERRY FISCHER, ANTHONY GILBERT, STEPHEN GUTMAN, MELINDA MAXWELL, RICHARD MCGREGOR, STEPH POWER, PHILIP RUPPRECHT, SIMON SPEARE, REBECCA THUMPSTON, EDWARD VENN

Table of Contents:
Introduction: Memories of Magical Moonlight: Simon Holt's years as a composition student - Anthony Gilbert Duende y Duelos: the Andalusian spirit in the Lorca settings - Anthony Gilbert An Interplay of Passion and Spirit: The Nightingale's to Blame - Images in Sound: Movement, Harmony and Colour in the Early Music - Philip Rupprecht Myth and Narrative in 3 for Icarus - Edward Venn Sound, Sense and Syntax: The Emily Dickinson Settings - Steph Power Piano music - Stephen Gutman Redefining the cello's voice: Musical agency in feet of clay - Rebecca Thumpston Performance and reflections: Holt's music for oboe and cor anglais - Melinda Maxwell Shaking the Bars: The Yellow Wallpaper - Steph Power Listening to the River's Roar: Stance, Texture and Space in the Concertos - David Beard Orchestral Works in Performance - Thierry Fischer Oblique themes and still centres: a conversation between Julia Bardsley and Simon Holt - Julia Bardsley Sketching and Idea-Gathering - Simon Speare Art, Conceptualism and Politics in Holt's music - David Charlton Appendix A: Overview and Catalogue of Pieces - David Charlton Appendix B: Texts by Simon Holt for Raju Raghuvanshi is a ghost and The Legend of Melusine Bibliography

Review :
[T]he essays in this collection offer an overdue investigation of [Holt's] style, methods, and artistic viewpoint. They form a useful resource for those concerned with Holt's music as well as those interested in British art music at the turn of the millennium, or in composers of texture, timbre, and gesture. The variety of perspectives represented by the authors for this volume's greatest strength. . . . [A]pplicable to a wide readership. NOTES, JOURNAL OF THE MUSIC LIBRARY ASSOCIATION This collection of essays is especially enlightening and is the first to finally provide detailed information about Holt's compositions. . . . [T]his pioneering text will no doubt provide a significant foundation for future Holt studies . . . [and] will inspire future discussions and analyses of the composer's music. A deeply rewarding book...There is no better test of a book on music than this: that it should demand the reader to listen, play and deepen his or her acquaintance with music discussed. This ultimate objective this remarkable book delivers in abundance. This beautifully produced volume takes the evidence of composers, critics and performers (especially revealing chapters by pianist Stephen Gutman and a conversation on the orchestral pieces between the editor David Charlton and conductor Thierry Fischer) in illuminating Holt's remarkable varieties of sonic painting. He can make us think in startlingly new ways about 'colour' represented through harmonic and chordal statements, or about how narrative can be understood through music...A splendid homage to an extraordinary creative talent. Simon Holt is a leading presence in contemporary music...With a generous array of colour-plates and numerous musical examples, the book is a richly-textured resource.