Matthew Curtis (composer) explained

Matthew Curtis
Birth Place:Cumbria, England
Occupation:Composer

Matthew Curtis (born 1959 in Cumbria, England) is a British classical composer.

Life and career

Matthew Curtis was born in Cumbria, England in 1959. He is essentially self-taught as a composer and orchestrator. While he was a student at Worcester College, Oxford reading Classics, his work, including a symphony,[1] first began to receive public performance.[2]

On leaving university he was introduced to the late Alan Owen, a composer and BBC radio staff producer, who took an interest in his music. This led to numerous broadcasts of his work from 1982 onward in the UK, notably BBC Radio,[3] and in several other countries.[4] In 2001 he came to the notice of the composer and record producer Philip Lane, resulting in a significant discography and over 8 hours of music recorded.

His music has been played in concert by the BBC Concert Orchestra[5] and I Musici de Montréal.[6] and by several non-professional and youth orchestras, most notably the National Children's Orchestras of Great Britain, for which he has composed a number of pieces.[7] Curtis was commissioned to compose for the English Music Festival[8] in 2008, and his Festival Overture opened the final concert of the event.

Curtis is probably best known for his short orchestral pieces in the British light music tradition (he has been seen as part of the "renaissance" of British Light Music[9] and singled out for praise in an article in The Spectator among other things discussing the neglect of light classical music[10]), but his output extends to more substantial works for orchestra, chamber music, songs and choral works. Reviews of his work in Gramophone,[11] on MusicWeb International, an extensive review of his early work by the British Music Society,[12] and other reviews of recordings devoted to his orchestral works in the British Composer Series[13] [14] all draw attention to his emphasis on and mastery of melody and orchestral colouring, and make stylistic references to Edward Elgar, Eric Coates and Haydn Wood among others.

A showcase of his work was given on 21 September 2018 at the Hastings and Bexhill International Composers Festival.

Recordings

Devoted to Curtis in the British Composer Series

Other recordings

Notes and References

  1. Web site: List of British symphonies 1950-99. 19 April 2013 . 16 June 2016.
  2. Web site: MusicWeb International 12th Garland of British Light Music Composers, March 1998. MusicWeb International. 22 May 2016.
  3. Web site: BBC Radio 3 list of Matthew Curtis performances to 2009. BBC. 22 May 2016.
  4. For examples see:
  5. Web site: Programme of 'Light Fantastic' concert in Plymouth on 27 June 2011. BBC. 16 June 2016.
  6. Web site: Montreal Gazette review dated 12 May 2007. PressReader. 16 June 2016.
  7. Web site: Diamond Jubilee Glee: NCO play in the presence of HM the Queen on 8 Jun 2012. NCO.org.uk. 16 June 2016.
  8. Web site: Report of the 2008 festival. English Music Festival. 16 June 2016.
  9. Book: Payne. Michael. The Life and Music of Eric Coates. 2012. Ashgate Publishing Limited. UK. 978-1-4094-3409-2. 6.
  10. Web site: Great inspirations: Article dated 13 Feb 2008. The Spectator. 16 June 2016.
  11. Web site: Gramophone index of reviews for Matthew Curtis (in issues 3/03, 8/03, 10/03, 5/05, 12/06, 6/07). Gramophone. 22 May 2016.
  12. Web site: In depth review of Curtis music to 1997 . britishclassicalmusic.com . 18 November 2016 . bot: unknown . https://web.archive.org/web/20010423073836/http://www.britishclassicalmusic.com/curtis.html . 23 April 2001 .
  13. Web site: Review of Curtis Orchestral Works vol 2 (p. 13). The Federation of Recorded Music Societies. 18 November 2016.
  14. Web site: Review of Curtis Orchestral Works volume 1. ClassicalNet. 18 November 2016.
  15. Web site: Curtis, M Orchestral Works. Gramophone. 16 June 2016.
  16. Web site: Curtis Orchestral Works Vol 2. Gramophone. 16 June 2016.
  17. Web site: Curtis, M Orchestral Works Vol 3. Gramophone. 16 June 2016.
  18. Web site: Curtis Chamber Works Vol 1. Gramophone. 16 June 2016.
  19. Web site: CURTIS Orchestral Works Vol 4. MusicWeb International. 16 June 2016.
  20. Web site: CURTIS Orchestral Works Vol 5. MusicWeb International. 16 June 2016.
  21. Web site: British String Miniatures Vol 2. Gramophone. 16 June 2016.
  22. Web site: British Light Overtures Volume 3. Gramophone. 16 June 2016.
  23. Web site: Clarinet Kaleidoscope Vol 2. MusicWeb International. 16 June 2016.
  24. Web site: Another Night Before Christmas and Scrooge. MusicWeb International. 16 June 2016.
  25. Web site: BBC Radio 3 CD Review 19 Dec 2015. BBC. 16 June 2016.
  26. Web site: "Now Comes Beauty". MusicWeb International. 3 October 2016.

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