A virtuosic performance by students at the Royal Academy of Music at a lunch hour concert on 30th October 2014.
Chinese Whispers - imaginary conversations between the five players inspired by the chatter on the streets of Hong Kong.
There are 7 sections:
Hello!
Whisper 1: Frivolous and far fetched gossip
Whisper 2: Some sombre news
Whisper 3: A lot of hot air
Whisper 4: Sweet Nothings
Whisper 5: Have you heard the latest?
Bye-bye!


Chinese Whispers for brass quintet by John McLeod

Commissioned by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and first performed in Perth, Glasgow and Edinburgh in January 2015 (conducted by Joseph Swensen) - 'Out of the Silence' is a tribute to the Danish composer Carl Nielsen in his 150th anniversary year. As the title suggests the work opens with silence - Nielsen himself described the start of a new work as 'looking at a huge canvas of silence'. It opens with a distant bell heralding an unhurried unfurling of the music which gradually emerges as a conversation between McLeod and the Danish composer. Echoes of Nielsen's Symphony No.4 (The Inextinguishable) and the Clarinet Concerto are heard as the conversation becomes more involved and embattled. Gradually the debate, with all its interjections, subsides and the work finally ends once more in a mysterious silence.

Out Of The Silence by John McLeod

The Sun Dances is a large-scale orchestral work by John McLeod and was inspired by a legend from the Western Isles of Scotland where the old inhabitants of the Cowal peninsula believed that the sun danced on Easter Sunday. Old Barbara Macphie saw this only once in her lifetime and she described her experience in poetic language and with religious fervour what she saw from the summit of Benmore.
'The glorious gold-bright sun was after rising on the crests of the green hills, and it was changing colour - green, purple, red, blood-red, white, intense-white, and gold-white, like the glory of the God of the elements to the children of men. It was dancing up and down in exultation at the joyous resurrection of the beloved Saviour of victory'.
This performance is by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra conducted by Rumon Gamba. The work received its London premiere at the BBC Proms in August 2014 by the same orchestra conducted by Donald Runnicles.

The Sun Dances by John McLeod

Composed in 2006 for the Carlisle Festival, this is a setting of John Donne's Holy Sonnet - 'At the Round Earth's Imagined Corners'. The original score calls for choir, brass quintet and organ, but this version is scored for choir and organ. Jeremy Suter is the conductor with Edward Taylor (organ).

Imagined Corners by John McLeod

This is the second song in my symphonic song-cycle 'Lieder der Jugend' (Songs of Youth)with words taken from the great collection of German folk poetry 'Das Knaben Wunderhorn'. The soloist is the renowned German-based tenor Raimund Gilvan with the Polish Radio Orchestra of Krakow conducted by the composer.
In the song (taking the form of a Passacaglia) a young man is in confusion and can't find out what's wrong with him. Eventually the doctor manages a diagnosis - 'You are a fool'! (Ein Narr bist du gewiss!) - 'That's what's wrong with you'!

Visions from the North

'Selbstgefuhl' (Self compassion) from Lieder der Jugend by John McLeod

Irene Drummond (soprano) and Iain Burnside (piano) perform 'No, I'm not afraid!' - poem by Irina Ratushinskaya set to music by John McLeod - from his '3 Poems of Irina Ratushinskaya'.
Part of Delphian DCD34099 'The Shadow Side' - contemporary song from Scotland.

'No, I'm not afraid!' by John McLeod

John Mcleod's '3 Protest Pieces' for piano occur as piano interludes in his song-cycle 'Chansons de la Nuit et du Brouillard' - composed in 1992 to poems by the French poet and novelist Jean Cayrol.
Cayrol's post-war poetry and his many novels often explore, in a wide vriety of styles, 'the never-ending threat of the apocalypse to which man is subjected through his moral agency and through biological inheritance' (Ian Higgins) and these piano interludes attempt to explore and highlight the universal themes of animal cruelty and environmental pollution.
1. The fox, in agony, surrenders his blood to the night
2. A mountain stream, poisoned and choked by effluents, struggles to reach the sea
3. The stag, its heart pierced by an arrow, disappears into the mist
Performed by Jan Karl Rautio at a concert in the Royal Academy of Music in 2004.

3 Protest Pieces for piano by John McLeod

Peter Donohoe is the outstanding soloist in this performance of my Piano Concerto - a relay from the Perth Festival of the Arts with the BBC SSO under George Hurst. Movement 2 and 3 will follow in due course.
'McLeod has constructed a dramatic 'tour de force' . The stark juxtaposition of materials hurtles the music forward with an almost numbing force'. Michael Tumelty in 'The Herald'

Piano Concerto by John McLeod (1st movement)

The final movement of my large-scale organ work - meditations on Poussin's paintings (hanging in the National gallery of Scotland) of The Seven Sacraments. This live recording is by Andreas Rothkopf performing at the Saarbrucken Academy of Music.

Sacrament of Extreme Unction from The Seven Sacraments for organ by John McLeod

5 poems (words by Heinrich Hoffmann (1809-1894)) performed by Canto pre Tre - Taylor Wilson (mezzo), Michael Beeston (viola) and Margaret Murray McLeod (piano) - sung in German.
1. Der Struwwelpeter (Shockheaded Peter) - A young boy refuses to have his nails or hair cut and ends up looking like a freak!
2. Die Geschichte vom bosen Friederich (The Story of Cruel Frederick)
A violent youngster terrorises animals and people. Eventually he is bitten by a dog who devours his supper whilst he recovers in bed!
3. Die Geschichte vom Daumenlutcher (The Story of Little Suck-a-Thumb)
A mother warns her son not to suck his thumbs, but he persists until a roving tailor appears and cuts them off with giant scissors!
4. Die Geschichte vom fliegende Robert (The Story of Flying Robert)
Warned not to go outside during a storm, a boy pays no attention. Eventually the wind catches his umbrella and whisks him away to places unknown - and presumably his doom!
5. Postlude: An die Kinder (To the Children)
A warning to children to be good at all times - 'good at meal-times, good at play, good all night and good all day' - or face the fate of those in the stories!

'Furchtbare Marchen' (Fearful Tales) by John McLeod - premiere performance

A new work for solo guitar to mark the Britten centenary in 2013. This performance (a 'live' BBC recording from November 2012) is by Scottish virtuoso Ian Watt who commissioned the piece with investment from Creative Scotland and the Britten-Pears Foundation. McLeod puts his own fingerprints on Britten's striking themes and dances from the coronation opera of 1953.

Fantasy on themes from Britten's 'Gloriana' for guitar by John McLeod

Songs - From - Above - And - Below - 1[1]

The opening movement from one of McLeod's earliest works dating from 1963 - the year that Francis Poulenc died. The suite also celebrated the birth of his daughter Elspeth who was born the same year. Written in the composer's early style - a mixture of Gallic charm and Scottish grittiness - the recording here is by Kenneth Smith and Paul Rhodes.

Promenade from 'Le Tombeau de Poulenc' for flute & piano by John McLeod

John McLeod was one of the UK's busiest and most active composers. Born in Aberdeen, Scotland, he was a resident in Edinburgh from 1970. He studied composition at the Royal Academy of Music with Sir Lennox Berkeley winning several prizes for his work. Later he came under the influence of Witold Lutoslawski whom he knew and admired. In 1979 he won the coveted Guinness Prize for British composers and in 1989 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music. In 2014 he was awarded the Gold Badge of the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (BASCA) and in June 2016 was created a CBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours.

His music has been commissioned, performed and recorded in many countries by leading orchestras including the Philharmonia, the Halle, BBC SSO, RSNO, SCO, NYOS and orchestras in Poland, Germany and the USA along with international soloists such as Peter Donohoe, Dame Evelyn Glennie, Colin Currie, Jane Manning, Murray McLachlan to name a few.
Several important festivals have featured his music  including Edinburgh, Perth, St Magnus (Orkney), Aldeburgh and the BBC Proms.

His catalogue of works is large and varied and covers most musical genres - orchestral, concertos, choral, church music, songs, instrumental and chamber music as well as scores for film and TV. Many of his works are now available on commercial CDs.

John held Lectureships and Fellowships the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, the RNCM and the RAM and from 1991 to 1997 he was Head of Composing for Film and TV at the London College of Music (Thames Valley University). From 2001 to 2004 he was also on the Board of Directors of PRS for Music and BASCA.

See John's website for more details and a complete catalogue of his works at www.johnmcleod.uk.com

John McLeod

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