Peter Nagle (b. 1970)
The complete consort dancing together (World première)
I'm suspicious of tributes - they always seem to end up sounding more like obituaries, and it occurs to me that dwelling on past glories goes against the spirit of KSO. So I've tried to write something that celebrates and encapsulates the orchestra's ebullience and energy, and rather than marking the end of one half-century, signals the start of the next. If music matters at all, it's because it's about community, bringing people together. It's something KSO does very well, and something worth celebrating.
So, taking T.S. Eliot's advice that "What we call the beginning is often the end / And to make an end is to make a beginning", I hope I've produced something that will help your imaginations bridge the gap between a grey November evening in London and Tippett's glittering Senegalese lake. "The end is where we start from."
Programme note © 2005 by Peter Nagle
Classical Source review
