BCMG play Poppe, Davies and Saunders

CBSO Centre, Birmingham
Berkley Street, Birmingham
United Kingdom

Birmingham Contemporary Music Group

Conductor: Christopher Austin
Conductor: Clement Power
Saxophone: Simon Haram
Clarinet: Timothy Lines

Peter Rundel is indisposed and has had to withdraw from this concert. We are very grateful to Christopher Austin and Clement Power for replacing him at short notice.

This high-octane mid-afternoon concert features works from two established younger composers – Tansy Davies and Enno Poppe.

In recent years Tansy Davies has established herself at the vanguard of the new wave of British composers, whilst Enno Poppe has risen to become one of Germany’s most exciting young composers and conductor of Berlin-based Ensemble Mosaik. Both composers write hyperactive music, often with driving rhythms and an urban edge.

This Anglo-German programme is framed by two works with wind soloists. Timothy Lines opens proceedings with Poppe’s Holz (wood – as in timber), for solo clarinet and ensemble, and saxophonist Simon Haram joins BCMG for Davies’ powerful saxophone concerto Iris, which will bring the concert to a close. Poppe’s Salz (salt), features a Hammond organ and increases in volume and tempo throughout to create a piece loaded with tense energy. Falling Angel, a BCMG Sound Investment commission from 2007, is the other Davies piece in the programme. Davies, whose music is informed by the worlds of both the classical avant-garde and experimental rock, found inspiration for this sometimes bright, sometimes dark piece in the texture of an Anselm Kiefer painting with the same title.

Contrasting with the high energy of Davies and Poppe is the hypnotic timbral piece a visible trace by the British-born, Berlin-based composer Rebecca Saunders. Saunders’ music is widely performed in Germany but rarely performed in the UK.


Enno Poppe : Holz
Tansy Davies : Falling Angel (BCMG Sound Investment commission 2007)
Tansy Davies : Iris
Rebecca Saunders : a visible trace
Enno Poppe : Salz