The Sailor's Tale: Two Studies The Donkey Dances

"A well produced CD and a good introduction to an appealing, quirky composer."
Musical Pointers, 2004

This introduction to the music of Rupert Bawden features his chamber opera The Sailor's Tale - a counterpart to Stravinsky's Soldier's Tale and written for the same forces - setting Kevin Crossley-Holland's libretto on the life and loves of Horatio Nelson. Also on the disc are the panoramic Two Studies for Orchestra, based on the Tristan legend, and the energetic ensemble work The Donkey Dances.

Rupert Bawden was born in London in 1958. After leaving Cambridge University, where he studied composition with Robin Holloway, he embarked on a varied musical career as a performer, composer and conductor. 1991 saw the completion of his first stage work: the ballet Le Livre de Fauvel, commissioned by the City of Munich for the Bavarian State Ballet. This was the culmination of a series of works over the previous five years, including Souvenirs de Fauvel (1987) and Three Scenes (1988), as well as the Dramatic Cantata on the Legend of Apollo and Daphne and the barcarolle Ultima Scena (both 1989).

However, Wanderjahr and The Devil's Workshop, both composed in 1990, signalled a new stylistic direction and set of influences at work, leading to BBC commissions for The Days of the Hawk (a setting of text by Ali Ahmad Sa'id) and Two Choruses - both premiered by the BBC Singers and BBC SO in October 1993, with the composer conducting. Almeida Opera also commissioned Mörike-Lieder, while the St. Asaph Festival commissioned two orchestral pieces in 1994, Two Studies and The Road of Mirrors.

In parallel with his activities as a composer, Rupert Bawden has worked extensively as a performer - as a conductor, as well as on violin and viola - and, more recently, as a paramedic.