Tango Duet from 'Das Babylon Experiment'

This piece, composed in January 2021, is an elaboration of symphonic sketches, left incomplete by Richard Wagner, on his death in Venice in 1883. A detailed description of the work, and how the sketches were elaborated, can be found in the sleeve note to the CD recording by The Mahler Players, conducted by Tomas Leakey.

Richard Wagner In Venice: A Symphony

A celebration of speed, this piece goes very fast indeed! This recording is of a live performance by the Aurora Orchestra with the NKS Jazz band

Velocity

For 8 singers and 8 instrumentalists, this opera is about Arnold Schoenberg's final years in Hollywood. 

Schoenberg in Hollywood

'Small Birds' is a song from 'Il Pastorale, l'Urbano e il Suburbano', music by Matthew King, words by Alasdair Middleton

Matthew King's Album

Il Pastorale (excerpt)

At the end of 'The Pied Piper', as the mysterious piper leads the children off-stage, he sings this haunting lullaby, accompanied by a Purcellian ground bass. At the end of the extract, we hear 2 children's choruses singing a slow round, 'Play Piper Play, we'll follow..."

"Now Children of Hamelin" from 'The Pied Piper'

In this excerpt from 'On London Fields' (winner of RPS Award 2005) music by Matthew King, words by Alasdair Middleton, the 17th century English prophetess, Hannah Trapnell, leads the people of Hackney in a revolutionary chorus.

(Excerpt) On London Fields Prologue

This extract from The Snow Queen(recorded at the premiere in 1992 with Jane Manning in the title role) the Snow Queen abducts Kay in her sleigh and drives to the North Pole.

The Snow Queen (sleigh ride)

Composed for the London Millennial celebrations and premiered in St. Paul's in 2000, this extract comes from a later version for chamber orchestra.

And Dream of London (excerpt)

'Birdsong' is a setting of a poem by the 13th century Sufi poet, Rumi for voice and piano. The song is dedicated to Bianca Andrew who performs it on this recording (from a concert in 2015) with pianist Mike Pugh.

Birdsong (Rumi Songs)

'I would Love to Kiss You' is a setting of a poem by the 13th century Persian Sufi poet Rumi for voice and piano. The song is dedicated to Christina King. This is a recording, from a 2015 concert, of the Mezzo Soprano Bianca Andrew with pianist Mike Pugh.

Kiss (Rumi Songs)

'When I Remember your Love' is a setting of a poem by the 13th century Sufi poet Rumi for voice and piano. Mezzo soprano Bianca Andrew performs it in this 2015 concert recording with pianist Mike Pugh.

When I Remember (Rumi Songs)

This excerpt from the opera Jonah was recorded in 1996 in Canterbury Cathedral. Jonah (sung by Grenville Hargreaves) sings a song to God from the belly of the whale. He is surrounded by the diverse colours of orchestra, sometimes imitating the sounds of the whale, in the cavernous acoustic of the cathedral.

Aria from the Belly of the Whale (Jonah)

This recording comes from the premiere of Jonah in Canterbury Cathedral

The arrival of the Whale (from Jonah)for Organ, orchestra and recorded Whale Song

A Hero Passes was commissioned by the University of Kent, and was first performed in Canterbury Cathedral on March 10 2018. It was composed a few months after the death of my father, James King and  the music, written in tribute to him, is slow and reflective, with a sort of ‘distanced’ Romanticism and a main theme consciously reminiscent of Elgar’s Nimrod (also in E flat major) partly because Dad was fond of it, and partly because the evoking of ‘noble English’ characteristics seemed an appropriate symbol in commemorating the life of a kind and much-loved man. In the background hover ghosts of other composers my father admired like Sibelius and Mahler, and of course Beethoven, whose descending 3-note ‘Lebewohl’ (farewell) horn-call motif can be heard throughout the score, as if heard from under-water – Dad was a passionate swimmer - and I wanted to try to give the orchestral sound a kind of aquatic sonority. 

Some people prefer to listen to a new piece without reading too much information first, but the following description may help to follow the journey of the music: A Hero Passes is in a slow Rondo form, which means that the main theme appears three times, with two episodes in between. At the beginning, a mist-like drone with quiet horns herald the emergence of the main theme, after which the music floats upwards leading to the first episode: the 'Lebewohl' horn call can be heard at different speeds from different sections of the orchestra. Solo violin and trumpet (located above the orchestra) play in dialogue while the strings pluck the ‘farewell’ motif in a slow treading figure. The mood turns increasingly mournful as the ‘farewells’ become dissonant and plaintive. We hear sliding effects on brass instruments and timpani. 

Eventually this sorrowful cascade subsides with the welcome return of the slightly prolonged main theme. A somber second episode follows in A flat minor: low strings and bassoons play a murmuring accompaniment, while slow melodies, in canon, fall from above. This builds to a considerable climax with soaring solo high trumpet, and horns playing with their bells raised. The main theme returns again, more passionately than before, and subsides, for the final time, to the sound of low trumpet and muffled drums. 

Matthew King 

https://www.matthewkingcomposer.com/music

James King’s obituary may be found on https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/apr/16/james-king-obituary

A Hero Passes March 10 2018

This piece, composed for orchestra in 2018, A Hero Passes was commissioned by the University of Kent, and received its World premiere in Canterbury Cathedral in March 2018. Written for the orchestra of Beethoven’s Eroica (with three horns) it is composed in the ‘heroic’ key of E flat major but my piece explores the idea of heroism in a very different way, having been composed a few months after the death of my father, James King. Consequently the music is slow and reflective, with a sort of ‘distanced’ Romanticism and a main theme consciously reminiscent of Elgar’s Nimrod (also in E flat major) partly because Dad was fond of it, and partly because the evoking of ‘noble English’ characteristics seemed an appropriate symbol in commemorating the life of a kind and much-loved man. In the background hover ghosts of other composers my father admired like Sibelius and Mahler, and of course Beethoven, whose descending 3-note ‘Lebewohl’ (farewell) horn-call motif can be heard throughout the score, as if heard from under-water – Dad was a passionate swimmer - and I wanted to try to give the orchestral sound a kind of aquatic sonority. The score has a prominent part for off-stage trumpet.

Some people prefer to listen to a new piece without reading too much information first, but the following description may help to follow the journey of the music: A Hero Passes is in a slow Rondo form, which means that the main theme appears three times, with two episodes in between. At the beginning, a mist-like drone with quiet horns herald the emergence of the main theme, after which the music floats upwards leading to the first episode: the 'Lebewohl' horn call can be heard at different speeds from different sections of the orchestra. Solo violin and trumpet (located above the orchestra) play in dialogue while the strings pluck the ‘farewell’ motif in a slow treading figure. The mood turns increasingly mournful as the ‘farewells’ become dissonant and plaintive. We hear sliding effects on brass instruments and timpani. 

Eventually this sorrowful cascade subsides with the welcome return of the slightly prolonged main theme. A somber second episode follows in A flat minor: low strings and bassoons play a murmering accompaniment, while slow melodies, in canon, fall from above. This builds to a considerable climax with soaring solo high trumpet, and horns playing with their bells raised. The main theme returns again, more passionately than before, and subsides, for the final time, to the sound of low trumpet and muffled drums. 

Matthew King 

https://www.matthewkingcomposer.com/music

James King’s obituary may be found on https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/apr/16/james-king-obituary

A Hero Passes Premiere (Premiere) Canterbury Cathedral, March 2018

String Quartet movement (inspired by Haworth Cemetery where the Brontës are buried) from 'Four Places in Yorkshire', written for the Fitzwilliam Quartet in 2004.

Haworth Cemetery (from 'Four Places in Yorkshire' for String Quartet)

Premiere recording of 'Schoenberg in Hollywood' (libretto by Alasdair Middleton) Milton Court, London 2015.

Schoenberg in Hollywood (complete 2015 premiere recording)

For String Quartet with off-stage piano and electronics, written for performance in the beautiful Medieval church pf St. Bartholomew the Great in Central London, and evoking some of the character of that ancient Spiritual space.

Cure of Souls

'The Season of Singing' is a big piece for chorus and orchestra. Here is an excerpt from the 4th movement: a setting of D.H. Lawrence's 1918 poem, 'Piano'.


Season of Singing (excerpt)

This excerpt is from a short piece for a big orchestra. Commissioned by L.S.O. Discovery

Totentango (2010)

This is a chamber companion to the King's Wood Symphony, recorded at its premiere in the Wigmore Hall with Richard Watkins (horn), David Alberman (violin) and Huw Watkins (piano).


King's Wood Trio

This interlude is from the cantata, Hear our Voice

Death Train (from 'Hear our Voice')

This is the third piece from 'Robert Schumann in Three Pieces', performed here by the music's dedicatee's, Avenue A.

Night Phantoms and Rocking Horses (from Robert Schumann in Three Pieces)

The Brunel Polonaise for Brass Ensemble with Alex Caldon on first trumpet. 

Brunel Polonaise (from Brunel, an Industrial Opera)

This anthem, originally composed in 2000 for the composer's wedding, is here sung by the Canterbury Cathedral Choir conducted by David Flood

Canterbury Cathedral Choir

Arise my Love (original version)

For chorus and orchestra (2012) text by Oscar Wilde



03 The Zanies of Sorrow (from 'Out of the Depths')

The final love duet from this chamber opera, first performed in Nuremberg in 2008.


Matthew King (composer)

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