Rumpelstiltskin Birmingham Contemporary Music Group & Martyn Brabbins

• David Sawer (b. 1961): Rumpelstiltskin Suite:
• 1 Rumpelstiltskin Suite: I. The Idle Boast 04:02
• 2 Rumpelstiltskin Suite: II. Straw into Gold 03:55
• 3 Rumpelstiltskin Suite: III. Wedding and Coronation 08:40
• 4 Rumpelstiltskin Suite: IV. Guessing Games 03:06
• 5 Rumpelstiltskin Suite: V. Rumpelstiltskin Alone 04:01
• 6 Rumpelstiltskin Suite: VI. Rumpelstiltskin 03:53
• Cat's-Eye:
• 7 Cat's-Eye: Bar 1 00:57
• 8 Cat's-Eye: Bar 28 02:33
• 9 Cat's-Eye: Bar 90 05:15
• 10 Cat's-Eye: Bar 163 04:43
• 11 Cat's-Eye: Bar 274 01:08
• 12 Cat's-Eye: Bar 300 03:56
• 13 Cat's-Eye: Bar 428 05:22
• April\March:
• 14 April\March 23:17
• Between:
• 15 Between 05:42
• Total Runtime 01:20:30

Info for Rumpelstiltskin

Drama, or a fascination with theatrical possibilities, is present in many o f David Sawer’s works, and he has written a number of scores for the theatre and for radio. Operas include From Morning to Midnight which received an Olivier Award nomination for Outstanding Achievement in Opera, Skin Deep with librettist Armando Iannucci, and The Skating Rink, which premiered at Garsington Opera to critical acclaim.

All three of the pieces on this album (David’s third for NMC) have a connection with dance: the Rumpelstiltskin Suite (2011) originated in Sawer’s 2009, 70-minute ballet Rumpelstiltskin ; the early ensemble piece Cat’s-Eye (1986) was choreographed by Richard Alston for Rambert in 1992; and premiered in concert in 2016, April\March was commissioned for the Royal Ballet. David Sawer describes Rumpelstiltskin as “a grotesque fable for our times”. He leaves it to us to ponder the modern-day resonances of this dark tale of greed, deceit, cruelty and abuse. Cats-Eye is inspired by the fantascope projector, with its spectacular optical tricks that shocked audiences in the 1800s. A simple device called “l’oeil-de-chat”, caused these images to appear and disappear: as the eye closed, the source of light was extinguished. In this piece Sawer brings in instruments together – often in pairs – then they are pulled apart or pitted against others.

Past and present is explored in April\March – the back to front calendar of the title pointing to a reversal in time. This album also includes the bonus track Between, a gentle, beautifully ethereal work which captures a kind of otherworldly essence of the harp completely without sentimentalism.

"Sawer…a gifted colourist, explored extremes of pitch, particularly conspicuous in the frowsy gurgles of muted tuba and bass clarinet, or the intentionally scratchy, ghostly string harmonics. Richard Jones cool, sharp direction and Stewart Laing’s versatile wooden box design gave necessary focus to this hybrid work. Six dancer – actors enacted the story with blackly comic gusto." (The Observer)

"Disturbing and intricately theatrical." (Guardian)

"From the ever-darkening timbre of the alchemy music to the expansive horn solo, the brittle, syncopated wedding music, mocking flute and stuttering speech rhythms, Sawer tightens his score with unerring focus and is handsomely served by BCMG’s virtuosic instrumentalists and conductor Martyn Brabbins." (The Independent)

"These three dance-related scores embody a deep compositional deftness." (Sunday Times)

Anne Denholm, harp
Birmingham Contemporary Music Group
Martyn Brabbins, conductor

Birmingham Contemporary Music Group Ensemble (BCMG)
was formed in 1987 from within the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and is established as one of Europe’s leading ensembles. Sir Simon Rattle is the Group’s Founding Patron and has conducted BCMG in the UK, on tour in Europe and America, and on several EMI recordings. The Group has strong relationships with its two Artists-in-Association Oliver Knussen and John Woolrich, and also with Thomas Adès who conducts the Group during 2006/07 in Birmingham, London, Cologne and Paris, and with whom BCMG is invited to Carnegie Hall, New York in 2008. BCMG was awarded The Arts Ball 2002 Outstanding Achievement Award and has also won prestigious Prudential, Royal Philharmonic Society, Gramophone and PRS Millennial awards. In May 2005, BCMG was awarded the Royal Philharmonic Society Award for Audience Development for its popular Rural Tours programme.

The core of BCMG's work is the performance of new music, and the Group has premiered over 100 new works by leading UK and overseas composers. Most have been commissioned with the help of a large number of individuals through BCMG’s ground-breaking Sound Investmentscheme. The Group regularly tours nationally and internationally. Recent UK engagements have included appearances at the Aldeburgh and Cheltenham Festivals, and at the BBC Proms with Birmingham Opera Company for Benjamin Britten’s CurlewRiver. In April 2006, the Group toured the UK with New York-based jazz trumpeter, Dave Douglas, performing Blue Latitudes, a piece commissioned through BCMG’s Sound Investment scheme. Previous projects have included a European tour with Sir Simon Rattle in 2000, a tour of India in 2002 with Judith Weir and Indian storyteller Vayu Naidu and visits to the Berlin, Radio France Présences and Vienna’s Wien Modern Festivals, Denmark, Sweden and Portugal.

BCMG is committed to engaging the widest possible range of people with its work, and runs extensive learning and audience-building programmes in pursuit of this aim. Projects with young people in and out of school and with adults in a range of community settings are complemented by free performance projects such as the Group’s popular ‘Rural Tours’, Late-Night performances and Meet-the-Composer days. BCMG broadcasts often on BBC Radio, has made TV programmes for BBC and Independent Television, and numerous CD recordings. The relationship with NMC is particularly strong, with the recent launch of a new CD of Britten’s film music and several more discs planned.

Booklet for Rumpelstiltskin