Philip Martin Interview

I first heard Philip Martin’s dazzling pianism live on television when he performed Rachmaninov’s ‘Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini‘ at the BBC Proms with characteristic aplomb and panache.

This was back in the 1980s, but already he was an internationally respected figure with a substantial number of original compositions in his oeuvre, many of which were taken up by colleagues and students alike for performance and study.

New York Night
Jazz Piano Pieces

As a composer, Philip has an enormous range of expression, characterisation, and approach. Recently it was a great pleasure to play through and teach movements from his seven-movement, jazzy, and advanced level suite ‘New York Nights.’

 

There is certainly no shortage of thrills and excitement in this wonderfully immediate work! Beginning with a thrilling jazz scherzo ‘New York Nights‘ that is constantly wrong-footing the listener (and player!) with energised cross accents and changing time signatures, this demands an effective fast wrist staccato technique as well as quick wits: the changes of colours and textures are deliciously mercurial. 

This could be an ideal choice for a post-grade 8 student looking for an energised but brief and rewarding challenge.

 

Wistful nostalgia and poetic stillness characterise ‘Night Music for Julia’ where the exquisite chromaticism’s move inevitably over beautifully simple harmonies. There is nothing to prevent a post-Grade 6 student from enjoying this beautiful piece.

 

And the novelty in ‘Alley Stomp Blues‘ of tapping on the lid of the piano (in swing rhythm!) should not cause anxiety for players approaching grade 8 either. However, this memorable forty-eight bar miniature does require rhythmic character, and the player would be well-advised to practise clapping and tapping the rhythms on their own away from the instrument before learning the piece at the keyboard itself.

 

Mischievous filigree is the order of the day in the subtle challenges of ‘Spirit of Liberty Blues‘ where the player needs discreet agility for success. Another post grade 8 number of great charm. Perhaps ‘Lozano Blues’ is the easiest piece in the collection, being possibly for Grade 5 players who are comfortable with double notes reaching out in sixths and sevenths. The relaxed flexibility and rich lusciousness of the writing are especially noteworthy here.

 

‘O’Keeffe Blues‘ hovers around the Grade 6-7 mark and makes effective use of sequences featuring perfect fifths. An excellent number not only for performance but also for developing analytical awareness through patterns in the teaching studio.

 

Finally, a showstopper of showstoppers with thrilling abandon in ‘Broadway Boogie Woogie.’ What a terrific piece! Great for developing technique as well as for having energised fun. Strongly recommended for everyone.

 

Though I have known Philip for many years, working with him particularly on the Chetham’s summer school on a number of occasions, it was wonderful to catch up with him in an interview recently and ask him about his formative years and development as a musician.

 

‘New York Nights’ book is available to order:
on Musicroom.com, Musicroom.de, Musicroom.fr and Halleonard.com for trade.

The Interview

MM: When and how did you get started writing music?

 

PM: Both my parents were keen amateur musicians and one of my earliest musical memories is hearing them playing Massenet’s Meditation for violin and piano. My father was somewhat hampered by a broken fifth finger on his right hand which he received while playing cricket, but this never stopped him from playing through a selection of the well-known opera favourites which he loved. 

 

Photo by Julia Martin

My mother was a student at the Leinster school of music, but her rather naughty nature meant she was always being thrown out of the school orchestra for giggling! My father was also a very talented artist and studied at the Metropolitan school of art. He composed some quite attractive small piano pieces and had some correspondence with Eric Coates in the 1930’s

 

I showed promise at an early age and was brought to the Patricia Read school of music in Dublin where I was fortunate to start my piano studies with Mabel Swainson. She was about 20 years old at this time and I think, for me, aged 4, it was love at first sight! Throughout my whole musical life, she remained a close friend and inspiration. She seemed to know instinctively how best to guide me, never pushing but always expecting the best one could give.

 

By the age of ten, I started to improvise, and here my father was a constant joy and support, getting me to repeat things so that he could write down in his beautiful, artistic hand what I had just played. I was so fortunate. Although, as time went on, I found it was necessary to go my own way and, of course, this was just as well.

 

My improvising obviously needed some structure so it was decided that I should study theory, harmony, and counterpoint at the Municipal school of music in Dublin. This brought me into contact with other budding young musicians, many of whom have remained my friends to this day.

 

MM: What encouragement/guidance did you get from childhood onwards as a composer? What are the strongest influences on your music?

 

PM: Dublin is a very musical city with a tradition of fine piano playing and the local competitive Festival (Feis Ceoil) had a very good and quite demanding reputation. I entered this regularly from age 12 where I encountered repertoire I loved and used throughout my playing career. Composers like Mendelssohn, Brahms, and then Prokofiev and Benjamin Britten were favourites at this time.

I gained a high distinction in the Grade 8 Associated Board examination, and this qualified me to enter for one of the AB Scholarships to the Royal Colleges in London. Having been fortunate enough to win the piano scholarship to The Royal Academy in London, I studied with Franz Reizenstein, a fine pianist-composer, and teacher which is what I always desired to be myself, and so in many ways, he was the perfect choice for me at this stage.

I studied piano with him but attended Composition lessons with him outside the Academy as he did not teach composition there. It was by this time that my love and interest in American music was developing and whilst at the Academy, I met Aaron Copland, who, along with Samuel Barber were my particular heroes. During my time at the Academy, I played the Barber piano concerto, having given the first performance of this in Ireland some weeks before. (1968) 

 

Also during this time at the RAM, in the mid-sixties, it became painfully obvious to me that the musical world was in a major transition and the big names at this time were Boulez and Stockhausen and their acolytes.

 

Although this type of music interested me somewhat, especially Barraqué’s Piano sonata, I found it was not the sort of music that I wished to write myself as my teacher at the time (Franz Reizenstein) had been a pupil of Hindemith and Vaughan Williams! No, I was quite happy writing melody, rhythm, and harmony and seeing how far I could bring those elements to my music.

 

I did not believe they had been exhausted. In the seventies, I wrote many songs and I consider this melodic, vocal element a particularly important and potent part of everything I write. Neither have I ever regarded the piano as a particularly percussive instrument and this is surely why composers such as Chopin, Schubert, and Schumann, etc are adored to this day.

 

After Reizenstein’s untimely death in 1968 I went on to benefit from a year with Dennis Murdoch and, after I left the Academy, I was a pupil of Louis Kentner for nearly a decade. I left the Academy having been awarded my recital diploma, a Christie-Moore Scholarship, and the MacFarren Gold Medal.

 

I realised on leaving college that the chance of making a living as a composer alone was slim. So, I continued concentrating on my piano performing career. I made my London debut in 1970 in the Wigmore Hall and followed this with regular London appearances.

 

In one of these recitals, I played Sir Lennox Berkeley’s piano sonata along with the Elliott Carter Sonata for the Park Lane Group. I then had some composition sessions with Sir Lennox who was particularly complimentary about my songs.

 

In 1973 I entered the BBC piano competition, and I was awarded a special prize for my performance of Richard Rodney Bennett’s ‘Scena’. I wrote to Richard and eventually became very friendly with him. I played ‘Scena’ in New York some years later prior to attending a Summer school with him in Dartington.

 

Although he was never technically my teacher, I found him a great influence and performed his magnificent work ‘Noctuary’ for the BBC and in recital – some beautiful piano writing, imaginative and virtuosic – and a joy to play.

 

MM: Your oeuvre embraces a most impressive contrasting range. Do you consciously write for specific levels or needs, or do you find that inspiration takes you in particular directions?

 

PM: Besides piano music and songs I have written something for almost every instrument and in combination, as well as large choral works. I love to work to commission, for example writing music for major International competitions. I also embrace writing for young players and the non-professionals. I particularly enjoy the challenge of making something new and exciting whether it is harmonic or rhythmical and to see young people getting joy and pleasure from their music-making. One other major inspiration for me is art in all its forms whether this is painting, architecture, etc and I hold a degree in Art History from the OU. Also, I love to travel, meeting different people, visiting different countries, all of which can spark inspiration.

 

MM: What are the challenges and necessary skills required when writing for children?

 

PM: In relatively recent years I have found the challenge of writing for young players really enjoyable, and I firmly believe it is as hard, if not more difficult to write a good grade 1 piece than it is a sonata or symphonic tone poem. My own writing for youngsters was enhanced when I had my own children who both turned out to be excellent musicians. The challenges of writing for young players are several depending on their level of ability. The main thing I feel is to make the music approachable.

 

I quite often use the pictorial approach again so that the player, child, or adult, can use their imagination. This can be helpful for the teacher also. A good title, a memorable melody, a snappy rhythm – these are things that appeal to most youngsters and all players regardless of ability.

 

Different rhythms also are good, different colours, accents, dynamics, etc, and always a good melody-nothing fails good melodic content!! …and maybe a story around the title. 

 

Also, children are quick to appreciate these elements. Appeal to their intelligence and don’t play down to them.

 

As a teacher as well as a composer I have found that one way to interest young players is to introduce them to something snappy and attractive, rather than insisting they plough through a Beethoven Sonata much against the grain. Of course, both are equally valid and should be part of their musical development, but this is not always the way forward for every student. A healthy mix is ideal as long as whatever music they want to play or are attracted to be of good quality.

 

MM: Tell us about ‘The Rainbow Comes and Goes’, the commission from the Dublin IPC, and the challenges as well as the reactions of writing then hearing the piece in performance?

 

PM: This was written for the first GPA international competition, as it was called then in Dublin in 1987. The commission was from my lifelong friend John O’Conor, who runs the competition, and it was the first piece he commissioned for it. Besides ‘The rainbow comes and goes’ I also fulfilled two other commissions for him, all of which were influenced by Wordsworth’s long poem ‘Intimations of Immortality.’ 

 

These pieces are ‘Ye that pipe and Ye that play’, and, ‘In a Thousand Valleys Far and Wide’. Doing this is something of a delicate mechanism as piano competitors do not want or need to spend an inordinate amount of time having to learn a 5-minute piece they might never play again. Many of us have been in a similar situation, and personally, some experiences of this have been quite painful!!

 

MM: Tell us about each of your piano concertos?

 

PM: The first work I wrote for piano and orchestra I completed in 1977 and it received its first performance the same year with myself as a soloist. Then, in 1980, I was commissioned to write a special work to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Royal Dublin society. This was ‘Through Streets Broad and Narrow’ for piano, strings, and trumpet. I wrote the first of my four piano concerti in 1986, a three-movement work. I played this in Dublin with the RTE symphony, as it was then (now the National Symphony).

 

It was conducted by Albert Rosen, who always took a particular interest in my music. The 2nd concerto followed in 1991 and this was inspired by and written to celebrate the City of Dublin, a European City of Culture. The 3rd concerto is the longest of the four and took its inspiration from the ‘Nine orders of Angels’.

 

In nine short movements, it starts in the ‘heavens’ so to speak, and works its way to earth with a central movement calling for great virtuosity from both soloist and orchestra. I gave the first performance of this work with the RTE National Symphony Orchestra in 2006.

 

The 4th Concerto is a Youth Concerto and received its first performance in Manchester with an excellent young pianist from Chethams School of Music with Murray McLachlan providing the orchestral part.

 

MM: Tell us about the mood and any anecdotes about the creation of each movement of the New York Nights suite (2019)?

 

PM: I have always found great inspiration from being in New York. The suite ‘New York Nights‘ for piano solo consists of seven pieces written between 2002 and 2018.

The first two pieces from 2002 are called Spirit of Liberty Blues and Lozano Blues. It’s hard to believe these two were written around the same time. Spirit of Liberty is so free and breezy, and the Lozano Blues, by comparison, reflects my grief at the loss of a dear friend who died too young and in childbirth.

Night Music for Julia started as a solo piece and became the last movement of the third piano concerto both of which are dedicated to my wife, Julia.

Broadway Boogie Woogie conjures up the loud, exciting, Broadway in New York where I lived in the 1980s.

O’Keeffe Blues is a tribute to one of my favourite painters, Georgia O’Keeffe who gave me the honour of listening to my music in her New Mexico home.

Finally, the Alley Stomp is just what it says – a foot-tapping stomp.

 

Photo: Philip Martin and Tania Kozlova

 

The Launch at The Shard London

This suite is published by EVC Music Publications Ltd. As well as a lavish launch at The Shard, it is thanks to Elena Cobb of EVC that, to further commemorate the launch of the publication, the talented piano pianist – Yael Koldovsky performed them all brilliantly during the UK premiere and for the Classical Music Radio in Israel. I also frequently include some in my own recital programmes.

Yael Koldovsky

Yael Koldovsky is a gifted student of Tania Kozlova and Arie Vardi at the The Buchmann-Mehta School of Music TAU in Israel. Her recent public performances include a solo recital at the Rubenstein Music Festival, solo engagements with the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra and the Rishon le Zion Symphony Orchestra, and the 1^st prize at the Orbetello Competition.