thu 28/03/2024

Turnage 50th birthday, CBSO Centre, Birmingham | reviews, news & interviews

Turnage 50th birthday, CBSO Centre, Birmingham

Turnage 50th birthday, CBSO Centre, Birmingham

Essex-boy composer in middle age is master of movement, Stravinsky and jazz

Mark-Anthony Turnage: Astonishingly assured
Hard to believe that Mark-Anthony Turnage, the bovver-booted, tank-topped composer of Night Dances and Greek in the 1980s, has reached his half-century. The Essex-boy image is still intact, somewhat mellowed perhaps; the boots have gone, the tank top remains, and the music has lost not one iota of its original brilliance and pizzazz.

Hard to believe that Mark-Anthony Turnage, the bovver-booted, tank-topped composer of Night Dances and Greek in the 1980s, has reached his half-century. The Essex-boy image is still intact, somewhat mellowed perhaps; the boots have gone, the tank top remains, and the music has lost not one iota of its original brilliance and pizzazz.

Turnage learnt about movement and sound, one feels, from two teachers: Stravinsky and jazz. Perhaps also a third, pop music

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