Premiere as Ontology

Abstract

My research project contextualises and evaluates my working practice with numerous composer-collaborators, with the aims of both enhancing communication between composers and pianists and proposing technical and interpretative solutions to practical challenges in working with contemporary piano music. I am investigating two key questions surrounding the ways in which pianists mediate original musical thought:

• In a collaborative setting, how do pianists take artistic account of contemporary composers’ requirements while giving expression to their own creative impulses?
• In what ways is a living composer a valuable asset over and above a stimulating score?

Focusing on the premiering and commercial recording process, the project will therefore give focus to the following main research questions:

• What strategies do composers adopt to respond to the unique musical or technical characteristics of their intended or anticipated performers, and what methods do performers employ to achieve significant outcomes within a transactional creative process?
• Is it possible to quantify the ways in which composers and performers ‘meet’ the perceived musical needs of each other in the creative process?
• In what ways can a World Premiere recording stand for posterity in taking account of a collaborative interpretation process while also leaving space for creative freedom and spontaneity?
• Within a collaborative setting, in what ways can a pianist mitigate the limits of a musical score in embodying a composer’s expressive intentions?
• What distinctive role can a pianist perform in supplementing or augmenting the documentation of an interpretative process?

The research process will rely on an iterative method integrating academic research and professional practice in two key ways:

1. Rehearsal and public performances, including recorded outcomes, of both previously performed and new piano works.

These include recordings of works I have commissioned and/or premiered:

• Jitterbug (2015) and Willows (2014) by Roger Briggs
• Pentecost (2017) by Diana Burrell
• Floreat Coll. Reg. by Martin Bussey
• Stolen Rhythm by Cheryl Frances-Hoad
• Sand House (2022) by Ben Gaunt
• Innocente (2009) by Michael Zev Gordon
• Haydn Seek (2009) by Cecilia McDowall
• Chop and Change (2018) by Robert Percy
• Joplin Jigsaws (2018) and Weave (2009) by Colin Riley
• Two Pieces for James (2010) by Paul Spicer
• Butterfly (2009) and The Will of the Tones (2004) by Jeremy Thurlow
• Odd Sympathies (2009) by Tim Watts

Composers currently writing for me include James Batty, Louise Drewett, Marco Galvani, David Lancaster, Zhenyan Li, Gráinne Mulvey, Jeremy Thurlow and Ian Wilson.

2. Reconciliation and synthesis of a wide range of evidence, leading to an integrated stylistic awareness in further public performances that are both artistically valid and intellectually cogent.

Ongoing practical experience of the repertoire will be the backbone of the project, which is expected to begin as a practical and preparatory exploration, with research methods providing in-depth exposure to, and potential performance of, further new works by the end of the research period. Although specifically related to new music, the project will aim to embrace pianistic issues of general relevance, including communication, semiotics, aspects of intellectual and creative transference, and memorisation as a means of embodiment. Mediation of new ideas will also entail learning relevant external repertoire as a way of contextualising written communication techniques. Live performances will solidify my findings, bring the project to a wider audience, encourage interaction, and ultimately act as a forum in which to develop the interpretations and attract new creativity.

Main image: Matthew Schellhorn by Laura Pannack.

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Bio

Described as a pianist whose performances ‘fascinate and enliven the ear and mind’ (Fanfare), British musician Matthew Schellhorn has a distinctive profile displaying consistent artistic integrity and a commitment to bringing new music to a wider audience.  A leading performer for over twenty years, he regularly appears at major venues and festivals and has recorded numerous critically acclaimed albums. 

Following study in Manchester and Cambridge, with teachers including David Hartigan, Maria Curcio, Peter Hill and Yvonne Loriod-Messiaen, Matthew’s debut album of Messiaen chamber music, including the Quatuor pour la fin du Temps – Messiaen: Chamber Works (Signum Classics SIGCD126) – received positive reviews on both sides of the Atlantic and was awarded an AllMusic Classical Editors’ Favourite.

Matthew's latest commercial release on Naxos – Howells: Piano Music, Vol. 1 – was praised by Gramophone as 'superbly performed' with 'immaculately stylish, raptly concentrated and memorably tender advocacy'. Spending five weeks in the Official Classical Charts, it received a Presto Classical Editors' Choice. 

A prominent performer of new music, Matthew has given over one hundred and forty premieres and has commissioned many solo and chamber works. In 2014, Diatribe Records released Matthew Schellhorn’s first solo album, Ian Wilson: Stations (Diatribe Records DIACD016), a world premiere recording featured on RTÉ lyric fm as one of the ‘great cycles of 21st-century piano music’. His commission from Colin Riley, As the Tender Twilight Covers, was released on NMC in 2017 (NMC Recordings NMC D241). He is also the dedicatee of several works, including Ian Wilson’s piano concerto Flags and Emblems, of which he gave the world premiere with the Ulster Orchestra broadcast live on BBC Radio 3. 

In addition to his work on the concert platform, Matthew Schellhorn is a passionate educator and communicator, giving regular masterclasses and workshops in the UK and abroad. He has visited many university music departments and conservatoires to talk about his work in a wide range of performance contexts, including performance practice, commissioning and interpreting new works, working with today’s composers and bringing out fresh ideas in the interpretation of well-known repertoire. His work in academia has included giving lecture recitals and teaching subjects including 20th- and 21st-century music, and he currently serves on the International Advisory Board of Naxos Musicology International. He is a member of the Faculty of Music at the University of Cambridge. He maintains a private teaching practice in London and the South East of England.

Matthew is a passionate believer in widening access for arts education, and in his role as Patron of the National Youth Arts Trust he helps to support talented young people aged 12–25 from non-privileged backgrounds. He is also Patron of The Sand House Charity, which carries out educational, artistic and heritage projects and activities linked with South Yorkshire. He is a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Musicians and a member of The Royal Society of Musicians.