{"id":6277,"date":"2015-02-09T12:51:03","date_gmt":"2015-02-09T11:51:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/?p=6277"},"modified":"2015-02-17T09:44:15","modified_gmt":"2015-02-17T08:44:15","slug":"variation-a-day-starts-next-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/2015\/02\/09\/variation-a-day-starts-next-week\/","title":{"rendered":"Variation a Day starts next week"},"content":{"rendered":"

As a lead-in to the recital in March of the complete Variations for Judith<\/em>, I’ll be launching the set with a performance each week-day of one of the variations, together with the original aria, Bist du bei mir<\/em>, on which they are based starting on Weds 18 February<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"Variation<\/a>
Click to view<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Variations for Judith<\/em> comprises eleven beautiful responses to the aria from a collection of contemporary composers including Tarik O’Regan, Judith Weir, Richard Rodney Bennett, Jonathan Dove\u00a0and Sir Peter Maxwell Davies; the set was originally written as a leaving-present for Judith Serota on her departure as Head of Spitalfields Festival in 2007, and embraces a wonderfully inventive series of reflections – from the distant bell-ringing of Stephen Johns’ piece to the witty variation by Judith Weir which sees the left-hand blundering into a sprightly, dancing right hand and being soundly chastised; Tarik O’Regan’s variation moves in contemplative, pointillist <\/em>fashion through an expansion of the melodic line across several octaves, illuminated at intervals by colourful, jewel-like, chords, whilst Richard Rodney Bennett’s would not sound out of place adorning the soundtrack to Downton Abbey<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Here’s Melvyn Tan performing Judith Weir’s playful variation, followed by Jonathan Dove’s rhapsodic response:<\/p>\n