The English composer Justin Connolly (1933-2020) is the subject of an inspirational new album to be released later this year  by Divine Art/Métier. In a 1988 interview Pierre Boulez spoke about the British music that interested him during what he described as ‘golden years’ in London. He named only five composers (with Britten and Tippett notable for their absence). Justin Connolly’s place in that list is striking given the almost complete absence of his music from the public stage in recent years  perhaps due to an extended compositional break caused by ill health in the late 70s and 80s. This new double album will be the most extensive picture yet of Connolly’s conceptually rigorous, highly lyrical, deeply virtuosic, and sometimes curiously playful music. 

Cellist and producer Neil Heyde  writes:  “Connolly was an inspirational teacher at the Royal Academy of Music in London from 1989-1996, and a deeply curious and collaborative colleague. His knowledge of and enthusiasm for repertoire well outside the mainstream was legendary, and his sharp intellectual engagement with every dimension of music making, from the most abstruse to the most pragmatic, was matched with a wonderfully generous and open spirit. The key aim of this project is to capture the legacy of his special sensibility by recording the following pieces for the first time.” (Four pieces will also receive world premiere performances).

Neil Heyde is leading the project in close collaboration with his Kreutzer Quartet colleagues, Peter Sheppard Skærved and Mihailo Trandafilovski. Clarinettist Roger Heaton will record Gymel-B with Neil, and Royal Academy of Music students are collaborating side-by-side on the larger ensemble pieces. The project has been made possible by a research grant from the Academy’s Research Committee.  The recording sessions are taking place during the spring in London with renowned engineer Adaq Khan.

Album details

• Title:  Justin Connolly: Music for strings (plus…)
• Label: Métier
• Catalog number: MEX 77209
• Format:  CD (2-disc set),  digital download and streaming
• Works (all composed by Justin Connolly):
  • Tesserae C, for solo cello, op. 15/3 (1971)
  • Triad V, for violin, clarinet and cello, op. 19 (1971) 
  • Ceilidh, for four violins, op. 29/1 (1976) 
  • Celebratio super Ter in lyris Leo, for three violas and accordion, op. 29/2 (1994-5)  *
  • Collana, for solo cello, op. 29/3 (1995) 
  • Gymel-B, for clarinet and cello, op. 39/2 (1995) *
  • Celebratio per viola sola, op. 29/4 (2005) *
  • String Trio, op. 43 (2009-10) *
  • Tesserae E, for piccolo and double bass, Op. 15/V (1972)**
  • * world premiere
  • ** bonus track with the original performers, Nancy and Bert Turetzky, recorded in Melbourne, 1982
• Artists:
  • Roger Heaton (clarinet)
  • Peter Sheppard Skærved (violin & viola)
  • Mihailo Trandafilovski (violin)
  • Neil Heyde (cello)
  • Muriel Oberhofer, Tiago Soares Silva and Emily Su (violins)
  • Andrea Fages and Adonis Lau (violas)
  • Alise Siliņa (accordion)
  • Dmytro Fionaruk (clarinet)

Previously on Métier