Written in 1980, these Variations represent the earliest of
my concert music to exist in good recordings. It was managed by a
trick: given the opportunity to compose an album of 'library music'
(music available to TV and film companies to lease for their
products) I grasped the chance to write a large work which I passed
off to the company, Keith Prowse Music Ltd, as library music.
I received no commission fee but KPM paid for a studio and a
crack orchestra which I conducted. Both parties benefitted: the
library received some high quality music to offer to clients (which
has earned me a small but significant amount in royalties over the
years) while I achieved a terrific recording of a major work.
I first met Christopher van Kampen in my first week as a Cambridge
undergraduate, when as a cellist I auditioned
for him for the CUMS orchestra, whose cello section he led. I got in but
was disgusted to find myself as far back as
the fourth desk. My interest in the cello was in any case fading as the
double bass and jazz loomed ever larger in my
life, and after a term or two I stopped going. On leaving Cambridge Chris
and I both found ourselves establishing
careers as string players in London, and I played with him first in the
Nash Ensemble, then the Orchestra of St John's
Smith Square and finally the London Sinfonietta, of which he became
principal cello. I took this photo of him on a trip
to the Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon where we both accompanied Ertha
Kitt. Meanwhile as a composer and
arranger I was using Chris as my first call cellist on everything I did.
His is the Bach you hear playing on my arrangement of
O Waly Waly for The King's Singers. His is the Borodin on my
Adagio for Voices arrangements. And his
is the intense and lyrical solo cello playing on these
Variations for String Orchestra. Chris died in 1997 of pancreatic
cancer, and I have since dedicated the String Variations to his memory.
Recorded at Roundhouse Studios, Chalk Farm, London, 1980.
Produced by Peter Cox.
This composition and recording are covered by
copyright.
