Alongside the 20 large-scale scores that the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra commissioned to mark its 100th anniversary in 2020, it also asked another 20 composers, at the beginnings of their careers, to write miniatures lasting no more than four minutes. The original plan had been for all those premieres to be scattered through the orchestra’s season, but the disruption of the pandemic put paid to that idea. Instead, the pieces were brought together in Sounds New, a single concert conducted by Clark Rundell showcasing the young talent in all its diversity before a hugely enthusiastic audience.
All of the composers commissioned were in their 20s or early 30s (the programme booklet was coy about dates of birth) and often differed widely in their experience and progress in their careers so far. For some of them, one suspected, this had been a first chance to compose for a full symphony orchestra, while others had already received prestigious commissions, and even had their works recorded. Rundell and the CBSO were marvellously even-handed in their enthusiasm for all the pieces too; all the performances seemed fabulously assured.
