Ar hyn of bryd mae'r cynnwys hwn ar gael yn Saesneg yn unig.
Ar hyn of bryd mae'r cynnwys hwn ar gael yn Saesneg yn unig.
Ar hyn of bryd mae'r cynnwys hwn ar gael yn Saesneg yn unig.
hyrwyddo a dathlu cerddoriaeth Cymru
promoting and celebrating the music of Wales
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Composer of the Month
Nine Questions: Iain James Veitch
We caught up with BAFTA award winning composer Iain Veitch to ask him about his inspirations, motivations and creative practice.
What would be your ideal composing job?
Anything that would end up with a performance! I’m happy to have a go at anything — I certainly did when I used to do television and film music.
What is the piece of music of which you are most proud?
One of my favourite pieces is a song cycle I wrote in the 90’s. It’s a setting of a cycle of poems by the contemporary welsh writer Hilary Llewellyn Williams called The Tree Calendar. It’s written for mezzo soprano, piano, and string quartet. It’s never been performed, although I did make a recording which can be heard via my web-site.
The song cycle Tree Calendar is a work of which Veitch is particularly proud.
Can you describe your writing process?
In essence, how I go about writing a piece of music hasn’t changed since I was a teenager. Back then I would compose at the piano, mainly through improvisation. Since the mid-90s the piano has largely been replaced with a keyboard attached to a computer running notation software. I started with Sibelius 7 running on an Acorn computer and I now use Dorico running on a Mac laptop.
The crucial part is coming up with (or discovering) ideas that that somehow ‘leap’ out at me. Usually, that’s a melodic shape combined with a particular harmony — something that has, to me at least, a certain something that I can only describe as ‘ingredient X’. It’s all very instinctive and I don’t do much analysis. I don’t even think too much about structure — it’s all about what, to me, sounds right next.
I do however have a regular regime. I compose virtually every day first thing in the morning — these days I wake up really early — so I’m usually at work composing, cup of coffee in hand by 5.30am. I don’t often carry on much beyond 10am. That time is reserved for the most creative elements the rest of the working day usually spent score editing or perhaps some arranging-type work.
What do you enjoy doing most?
Finishing a piece!
Do you prefer writing on your own or in a partnership?
Although most of my television music was written in partnership with Ben Heneghan, apart from The Great Little Trains of Wales all our concert music is composed individually.
What advice would you give to a young composer trying to make their way professionally?
Write something every day, even if you don’t feel like it. There's no need to wait for someone to give you an ‘opportunity’.
Develop music production or performance skills with a view to develop a clientele or an audience for your music. Getting commissioned, published, and recorded is not the end game. Such things can certainly help but the main ambition has to be to build an audience!
Which composer do you wish the world knew better?
Despite the self-evident self-interest, the honest answer has to be my long time colleague Ben Heneghan. For example, in the 90s he wrote a string quartet that, after Walton’s A minor, is my favourite British quartet.
To expand on this, however, and as a generalisation, I suspect there is great deal of contemporary music that remains unknown as a consequence of falling somewhere in-between Radio 3 and Classic FM: too melodic and not dissonant enough for Radio 3, but too structurally
ambitious and emotionally nuanced for Classic FM. This seems particularly strange as most of the standard core-repertoire (as heard on both stations) exactly occupies this middle ground — so it’s as if different rules apply to new music!
Veitch believes that the music of his long term creative partner Ben Heneghan should be more widely known.
Are there any particular composers who inspire you and pieces which you love?
I’ve been an avid collector of records since a teenager — Chopin, Schubert, Beethoven and Rachmaninov were favourites. I later discovered Tippett: During the 70s WNO did The Midsummer Marriage and I went to every performance.
Outside classical I’m a big fan of Steely Dan and The Blue Nile, and I also love Scotish/Celtic folk music.
What projects are you currently working on?
I’ve got three main new pieces on the go at the moment: I’ve just about finished a Celtic Missa Brevis scored for SATB, flute, string quartet, and harp. It lasts about 23 minutes and has six movements ending in a setting of one of the well-known Gaelic Blessings.
The second piece is my Third Cantata for soloists, chorus, and orchestra. The theme is ‘celebration’ - especially of music. This lasts about 40 minutes and I hope to have it completed by Summer.
I’ve made some inroads on a Concerto for cello and orchestra. The idea for this has has grown out of a cross-over-ish sort of piece I wrote a couple of decades ago.
I’ve also been going through my back catalogue editing and occasionally revising pieces with a view to being able to present a complete catalogue to-date by my 70th birthday.
Oh, I almost forgot — albeit on the back burner there are a couple of crossover music theatre/opera works under development — both collaborations with Ben.