On Wednesday 7th January 2015, Paul Patterson was the Frontline Composer at the 7.45pm concert, taking place as part of the Park Lane Group New Year Series 2015. The concert was preceeded by a masterclass in which Paul workshopped his Spiders (for harp) and also Diversions (clarinet and piano).
The programme for the concert included the UK premiere of the piece written for Krzysztof Penderecki’s 80th birthday in 2013: ppp , performed by the talented young duo Michael Foyle (violin) & Maxim Stsura (piano). Penderecki was also a featured composer at the concert and was in attendance
PLG Young Artists the Kaleidoscope Saxophone Quartet also performed the popular Diversions which culminates in a playful take on Rule Britannia.
Reviews:
The Daily Telegraph
John Allison
“The evening’s other featured composer, Paul Patterson, was better represented in his early Diversions for saxophone quartet. Its three breezy movements allowed the Kaleidoscope players to show off all their colours, not least in the pensively jazzy Blowing Blue. Patterson’s playful use of Rule, Britannia! in its finale was a reminder of his penchant for clever quotations, already heard in ppp (Penderecki Party Piece) for violin and piano: here he weaved strains of Happy Birthday to You into a work written in celebration of the Polish composer’s 80th birthday, while seemingly also paying tribute to the virtuosity of an earlier Polish master of violin writing, Henryk Wieniawski.”
Classical Source
Colin Anderson
“One appreciates Patterson’s rigorous approach to composition, which also embraces much stylistic variety and expressive freedom…
[PPP was] music rough-hewn and teasing, generously lyrical, witty, and leaning at times to an Elgarian salon miniature. It was played with affection and panache….
…his Diversions (1976), ebullient and soulful, with an express-train of a first movement – a pleasurable journey, dazzling in these players’ execution – followed by a heart-touching bluesy second full of nostalgia, very embraceable (you). As for the hornpipe finale, fleet and allusive sums it up, save for the sexy waltz at the mid-point. Rule Britannia … aye, aye!”