Peter Seabourne


Peter Seabourne is a contemporary classical composer based in Lincolnshire, England.

Biography

Seabourne studied at Clare College, Cambridge with Robin Holloway, and University of York with David Blake.
In 1984 he was joint winner of the Overseas League Composition Competition, and was second in the Benjamin Britten Prize in 1986. In his student years works were performed in the Camden, York, Huddersfield, Cambridge and Devizes Festivals and three times in the Purcell Room on London's South Bank, by Lontano], Tapestry, Endymion and others.
Around 1989 he abandoned composition, feeling a growing separation with the new music world, and doubting his technique and voice. He remained silent for some 12 years and rejected all his work to date.
In 2001 he resumed composition, rapidly creating a large number of pieces. Since this time he has been awarded several times in international competitions. In 2004 his 1st Piano Concerto won 3rd Prize and joint-orchestra prize in the 1st International Uuno Klami Composition Competition in Finland. In the same year he took 3rd prize in the Ivan Spassov competition in Bulgaria with Soaring. In 2005 his song cycle Sappho Songs was highly commended in the IMRO International Competition in Ireland, and the following year his Soaring took 1st prize. Also in 2006 his septet My River was selected by North/South Consonance Ensemble from over two hundred scores and performed in New York City.
Seabourne's work has been commissioned by the Rio International 'Cello Festival, Rheinische Philharmonie/Daniel Raiskin, Paul Klee Zentrum/Kaspar Zehnder, Moravská Filharmonie/Ondrej Vrabec, Coull Quartet, Vestfold Festival/Henning Kraggerud, Spalding Flower Festival, Norfolk Concerts and Douglas Gowan, Deutsche Kammerakademie Neuss am Rhein and Musica Nova Reutlingen.
Seabourne's work has been broadcast in Norway, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Switzerland, Estonia, Portugal, Israel and United States. It has been played in many European countries, the Americas, China and in Armenia.
The Italian label Sheva Collection has issued ten CDs of the composer's work. Six have been reviewed in Gramophone Magazine, BBC Music Magazine, The Strad, Musical Opinion in the UK, and elsewhere. Further works are included on SIMAX and Da Capo.
His catalogue includes four symphonies, seven concertos, other symphonic and chamber works, song cycles and an ongoing, large-scale piano cycle series called Steps.

Compositional style

Seabourne's work has roots in the neo-Romantic tradition, with influences from Janáček, Mahler, Ravel, Prokofiev, Sibelius, Carl Nielsen and Robin Holloway. However his musical language is distinctively idiosyncratic, with its own modernity. It is particularly "inventive with regard to rhythm" and hovers on the edge of tonality.

List of works

Orchestral:
The Darkness of Ages – poem for orchestra 12mins – 2001 rev.2009
Piano Concerto no.1 – dur. 28mins – 2004 rev. 2006
Scherzo Serioso – dur. 10mins – 2005
Piano Concerto no.2 – dur. 25 mins – 2006
Tu Sospiri? – dur. 13mins – 2010
Double Concerto for Horn and Orchestra – dur. 23mins – 2011
Cor Anglais Concerto – dur. 26mins – 2013
Symphony of Roses – dur. 32mins – 2014
Symphony no.2 – dur. 45mins – 2014
Symphony no.3 – dur. 33mins – 2016
Violin Concerto – solo violin and strings – dur 30mins – 2003–2016
Symphony no.4 – dur. 33mins – 2017
Piano Concerto no.3 – dur. 27mins – 2018
Viola Concerto – dur 30mins - 2020
Chamber/ensemble:
A music beginning – violin/piano 11mins. 2001
The Sadness of the King – septet dur. 13mins – 2002
Child’s Play... – wind quintet – dur. 30mins – 2003 and 2006
Soaring – oboe and piano – dur. 12 mins – 2003,
accept these few roses... – string quartet – 10mins – 2005/2011
My River – – 10mins – 2005
Autumnal Dances – clarinet and piano – dur. 17mins
Pietà – viola and piano – dur. 29mins – 2007
On the blue shore of silence – ‘cello and piano – dur. 23mins – 2007
Adrift! – dectet – dur. 16mins – 2008
Phantasy Caprices – dectet – dur. 18mins – 2009
Last Dance – piano trio – dur. 7mins – 2010. Also played in King's Lynn Festival, UK
Storyteller – solo double bass with fl. ob. clt. bsn. hrn. vln. vc. pno – dur. 12mins – 2010
A Portrait and Four Nocturnes – violin and piano – dur. 19mins – 2010
String Quintet – 2vlns, vla, 2 vc – dur. 25mins – 2011
Sonata Appassionata – violin and ’cello – dur. 21mins – 2012
The Black Pegasus – rhapsody – horn and piano – dur. 13mins – 2018
Piano Trio – violin, 'cello and piano – dur. 24mins – 2018
Encounters – five short duets for two horns – dur. 8mins – 2019
Freeing the Angel – viola and piano – dur. 7mins – 2019
Gran Partita – wind octet – dur. 30mins – 2019
Solo:
Steps volume 1. – 12 collected pieces for piano – dur. c85 mins – 2001-6
Steps volume 2: Studies of Invention – piano – dur. 48mins – 2006-7
Steps Volume 3: Arabesques – piano – dur.35mins – 2008–12
Steps volume 4: Libro di Canti Italiano – piano – dur. 50mins – 2009–2011
Steps volume 5: Sixteen Scenes before a Crucifixion – piano – dur. 50mins – 2013–14
Steps volume 6: Toccatas and Fantasias – piano – dur. 50mins – 2016–17
Steps volume 7: Dances on the Head of a Pin – piano – dur. 49mins – 2018–19
Persephone – harp – 4 mins – 2004
Møte – solo violin – dur. 5 mins – 2010
Threads – solo violin – dur. 18 mins – 2017
Julie Dances – solo horn – dur. 9 minutes – 2020
Song and vocal:
September, Just Septembers – 9 settings of Emily Dickinson dur. 18mins – 2002
Sappho Songs – 4 settings of Sappho in French Translations by Renée Vivien dur. 8mins −2002
Moon Beyond the White Clouds – 4 settings of classical Chinese texts in English dur. 8mins – 2003
The Garden in the Brain – 7 Songs to words of Emily Dickinson – dur. 13 mins – 2003
There was a Maid – carol for SATB + organ – 4 minutes – Commissioned by Repton School, Derbyshire – 2003
Sea Song – 6-word opera – dur. 2 mins
Sonnets to Orpheus – Eleven settings of Rainer Maria Rilke – dur. 35mins – 2013
Orpheus. Eurydike. Hermes. – scena setting Rainer Maria Rilke – dur. 28mins – 2004–2016

Recordings

Steps Volume 1: An Anthology for Piano – Minjeong Shin, piano – Sheva Contemporary SH168
Steps Volume 2: Studies of Invention – Giovanni Santini, piano – Sheva Contemporary SH065
Steps Volume 3: Arabesques – Michael Bell, piano – Sheva Contemporary SH088
Steps Volume 4: Libro di Canti Italiano – Fabio Menchetti, piano – Sheva Contemporary SH104
Steps Volume 5: Sixteen Scenes Before a Crucifixion Alessandro Viale piano – Sheva Contemporary SH136
Sonata Appassionata; A music beginning; On the blue shore of silence – Ostap Shutko, violin; Olga Shutko, 'cello; Myroslav Dragan, piano – Sheva Contemporary SH082
This is a song for you alone – Irina Borissova, violin, with Mainzer Virtuosi, conductor Dmitry Khakhalin – SH091
Møte from The Munch Suite – Henning Kraggerud, violin – SIMAX
Pietà – Georg Hamann, viola, and Akari Komiya, piano – Sheva Contemporary SH137 VIOLA DOLOROSA
Threads – Alberto Bologni, violin – Sheva Contemporary SH184
The Garden in the Brain – Valentina Renesto, alto saxophone, and Giuseppe Bruno, piano – Da Vinci C00174
A Portrait and Four Nocturnes – Irina Borissova, violin, and Giacomo Battarino, piano – Sheva Contemporary SH226
Mille Fiori, Encounters, The Black Pegasus, Julie Dances – British Music for horn – Ondřej Vrabec, horn – Sheva Contemporary SH241