I am delighted to announce my winning entry in the Alan Bush Composition Prize 2020, the clarinet trio sun, drums & soil, written for Mark Simpson, Huw Watkins and Zoë Martlew.
"The piece comprises a parade of acute, vividly drawn musical images initially juxtaposed with each other and poised excellently in terms of pacing and length. The pedigree of Stravinsky is there, as the programme note points too; so too are the examples, both in terms of technique and rhetorical manner, of some of his teachers."
"I was struck by the rare, admirable economy of this piece – unafraid to leave lines exposed, and all the more expressive for it. Further, the last section, turning away from the earlier fragments to a drawn out, questioning end, is properly striking."
Michael Zev Gordon on sun, drums & soil
more about the piece here
more about the Alan Bush Music Trust here