Graham Fitkin: LOOSENING Sacconi Quartet, Joby Burgess, Clare Hammond, Simon Haram, Ruth Wall

• Graham Fitkin (b. 1963):
• 1Fitkin: LOOSENING27:42
• SLOW:
• 2Fitkin: SLOW25:35
• DISTIL:
• 3Fitkin: DISTIL15:10
• TOUCH:
• 4Fitkin: TOUCH15:58
• RECUR:
• 5Fitkin: RECUR17:09
• Total Runtime01:41:34

Info for Graham Fitkin: LOOSENING

LOOSENING is a double album of five works by award winning composer GRAHAM FITKIN. Each one has the string quartet at its core but every work includes its own additional soloist. The string quartet is a really homogenous group, steeped in history and tradition, in which timbrally similar instruments create a well-honed sound through trusted communication and shared purpose. Each work has clearly defined roles for the two protagonists – quartet and solist. Each piece allows for two perspectives, two distinct approaches to the material and yet each protagonist is affected by the other. Approaches often evolve through the works, perhaps the quartet splits their honed homogeneity to focus more on individual constituents or conversely maybe they subsume the incomer into their group creating a larger group. An album of world premiere recordings: Four of the five works have never been recorded before, and the fifth is a new arrangement (also never recorded). DISTIL won the prestigious Royal Philharmonic Society Prize for Chamber Works in 2015.

Sacconi Quartet
Graham Fitkin, organ
Simon Haram, soprano saxophone
Ruth Wall, organ, harp
Clare Hammond, piano
Joby Burgess, percussion

Sacconi Quartet
For twenty-one years, the Sacconi Quartet have been captivating audiences with their unanimous and compelling ensemble, consistently communicating with a fresh and imaginative approach. Formed in 2001, the four founder members continue to demonstrate a shared passion for string quartet repertoire, infectiously reaching out to audiences with their energy and enthusiasm. The Sacconi enjoy a busy international career, and are Quartet in Association at the Royal College of Music and Quartet in Residence in Folkestone.

The Sacconi’s prolific recording career covers a broad swathe of repertoire from Haydn to present day. Their latest album features world premiere recordings of works by Roxanna Panufnik; other releases of recent years include premiere recordings of works by Jonathan Dove, Graham Fitkin and John McCabe. In Damascus, their CD of music by Jonathan Dove, hit the Classical Top Ten, and was chosen as one of Gramophone Magazine’s Recordings of the Year.

For their twentieth birthday, the Quartet commissioned their latest piece from Jonathan Dove, On the Streets and In the Sky, shortly to be released on Signum Records. Their film of Dove’s first quartet Out of Time was released on Amazon in 2021. They also continue to tour with Beethoven in the Dark, their immersive performance of Beethoven’s op.131 quartet entirely from memory, in almost complete darkness.

The Sacconi Quartet is Quartet in Residence for the town of Folkestone and its surrounding areas, enabling creative collaborations with local artists and projects, and an embedded outreach programme. Recent performances of Beethoven on the Beach and Glass on the Warren seafront have attracted large audiences, many of them experiencing the energy of chamber music for the very first time. Their Sacconi Chamber Music Festival in Folkestone is firmly established among the UK’s major chamber music festivals and attracts audiences from far and near for its vibrant atmosphere and dynamic programming.

The Quartet is indebted to the Royal Society of Musicians and Ellen Solomon for the use of their instruments.

lives and works in Cornwall. Alongside composing concert orchestral and chamber music, he works with dance, film and digital media, and runs his own ensemble of 9 soloists which tours new material each year.

Between 1994 and 1996 Graham was resident composer with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra producing five new works. Since then commissions have come from the Halle, BBC Philharmonic, Tokyo Symphony, RSNO, BBC Orchestra of Wales, Athens Camerata, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Nederlands Radio Orchestra etc. He has conducted orchestras in venues from Lincoln Center to South Bank to Aula Magna.

Orchestral – previously Composer-in-Residence with Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orch, Composer-in-Residence with London Chamber Orch. Commissions from the Halle, BBC Philharmonic, Tokyo Symphony Orch, RSNO, Athens Camerata, BBC Symphony Orch, BBC Concert Orch.

Chamber – collaborations include those with Yo-Yo Ma, The Sacconi Quartet, Kathryn Stott, Nederlands Blazersensemble, Powerplant, Will Gregory, Ensemble Bash, Piano Circus, Simon Haram

Cross-Art – projects include those with Tate St Ives, Minack Theatre, a VR collaboration with Shezad Dawood, the Geography music app for HFC and the tree-planting Birch 2020 project.

Dance – collaborations with Shobana Jeyasingh, Wayne McGregor’s Random Dance, Pacific Northwest Ballet, New York City Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Bi-Ma, Sidonie Rochon, Munich Ballet, Portugal National Ballet

Education/Community – includes 3 UK PRS Composer residencies, 9 regional community projects, university seminars, masterclasses and directed workshops in UK, Japan, Italy and Soweto

Performer – directs Fitkin Band 9-piece group and works with harpist Ruth Wall as FitkinWall.

Selected UK – Cello Concerto for Yo-Yo Ma at BBC Proms, Mindset for the Royal Ballet, The Athlon for LCO at Cultural Olympiad, Home for Royal Opera House (with Jasmin Vardimon), Lost for aerial theatre company Ockham’s Razor, Recorder Concerto for Sophie Westbrooke and BBC National Orch of Wales, Twenty-Six Days for Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Wing for Royal Aeronautical Society

Selected non-UK – Partially Screaming for Les Percussions Claviers de Lyon, Birch 1871 for orchestra to celebrate 2014 European City of Culture, Umea in Sweden, People for Les Elements in Toulouse, Tracking Yesterday’s England for Calefax, Amsterdam, Circuit for Kathy Stott and Noriko Ogawa and Tokyo Symphony Orch, Huoah for New York City Ballet

Prizes – three BASCA Composer Awards, International Grand Prix Dance Music Award 2000, Royal Philharmonic Society Composer Award 2015

This album contains no booklet.