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The Naxos interview

Clarke Naxos

Naxos interview given by Raymond Bisha with Nigel Clarke on his Naxos release

Nigel Clarke embodies the new generation of British composers, musicians which are finally freed from the diktats of the 1970’s avant-garde, and who therefore dare to write music that pleases them—and which appeals to the public—and who actually compose perfectly modern music. His influences are clearly Stravinsky, to which he adds a music corpus of all possible and imaginable origins, from Japan to Croatia via China and Turkey. If you consider that Clarke has signed several scores for famous feature films, the music lover will gather that they are faced with a multi-facetted composer, who stands out from any school or dogma, and whose works are highly likely to enthuse. Clarke’s major work of course remains `Samurai´, a powerful movement for wind orchestra and percussion alluding to the Homeric combats of the Japanese warriors of the Edo period: It seems that all of the world’s wind orchestras have torn the score off each other’s music stands, and that the work is hailed by audiences everywhere. No doubt more ambitious, the magnificent Concerto for violin and winds (`Black Fire´)—written on the orchestral model of the Weill Concerto—reveals Clarke’s music as more secretive, more exploratory, and bolder although still superb. Without doubt, we have here one of the great European composers of times to come: take good note of his name.

Nigel Clarke représente la nouvelle génération de compositeurs britanniques, des musiciens définitivement débarrassés des diktats de l’avant-garde des années 70, et qui osent donc écrire la musique qui leur plaît – et qui plaît au public –, quand bien même de la musique parfaitement moderne. Ses influences reposent clairement sur Stravinski, auquel s’ajoute tout le corpus de la musique de tous les pays possibles et imaginables, du Japon à la Croatie en passant par la Chine, la Turquie. Si l’on ajoute que Clarke a signé plusieurs partitions de musiques de films célèbres, le mélomane saisira qu’il a affaire à un compositeur aux multiples facettes, dégagé de toute école et de tout dogme, et dont les œuvres risquent fort de l’enthousiasmer. Naturellement, la pièce de résistance reste Samurai, un puissant mouvement pour orchestre de vents et percussions évoquant les homériques combats de guerriers japonais de l’époque Edo : il semble que tous les orchestres à vent au monde se soient arraché l’ouvrage, et que le public bisse partout. Plus ambitieux sans doute, le magnifique Concerto pour violon et vents – écrit sur le modèle orchestral du Concerto de Weill – permet de découvrir un Clarke plus secret, plus explorateur, plus hardi, mais toujours dans la plus grande beauté. Voilà sans doute l’un des grands compositeurs européens des temps à venir : gardez ce nom en mémoire. © Abeille Musique AMCD 2007 – Reproduction interdite


In Tune interview

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