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
Iain James Veitch
You may not be familiar with his name but you will have no doubt heard some of his music. As 'Ian Lawson', he formed one half of the Heneghan & Lawson composer partnership which created memorable themes for countless TV shows including Joshua Jones and Fireman Sam. Now as Iain James Veitch, he has changed artistic direction and devotes his time to writing exclusively for the concert platform.
Wrexham childhood
Veitch was born Ian Lawson to a Scottish/Welsh family in Liverpool in 1955 and grew up in Wrexham. His first steps as a composer came early: “My musical journey started when I was sent off for piano lessons, aged eleven”, he remembers. “About a year later, after adding a few notes to a piece by Handel, my teacher was the first to describe me as a composer — unfortunately, however, not in a tone of voice that suggested that was a good thing!”
By the age of 15, Veitch had become a fan of jazz and prog rock and started playing in bands. “I took up the flute, inspired more by Tubby Hayes and Ian Anderson, rather than anything officially deemed appropriate!” he laughs. “Consequently, most of the music I wrote as a teenager was a sort of jazzy prog-rock.”
Student Years
Veitch attended Cardiff University and studied composition with David Wynne and, later as a post-graduate, with Alun Hoddinott. “The music I wrote as a student was influenced just as much by jazz and rock as classical and I think this can easily be heard in my Sonata for flute and piano.”
The eclectic style of Veitch’s student compositions, mainly a collection of multi-movement solo works which he subsequently renamed ‘Academic Sonatas’, set him apart from the prevailing atonal/serial orthodoxy of the time. Despite this, his music received several performances including one by Martin Jones and Richard McMahon of his Sonata for Two Pianos.
Veitch spent his student years at Cardiff University.
Heneghan & Lawson
Towards the end of his university career, Veitch formed a musical partnership with Ben Heneghan, a fellow post-grad who shared interests and skills beyond those of the ‘serious’ academic composer. Initially they wrote and recorded tracks which were heavily influenced by bands like Steely Dan and Talking Heads. “Although we achieved zero success as pop stars it did lead to running a well-equipped recording studio in Newport”, says Veitch.
It was this studio access which enabled the pair to take full advantage of the opportunities which television was offering at the time. “With the launch of Channel 4 and S4C in 1982, writing for film and TV, although not planned, gradually took over”, Veitch recalls. “Over a period of 30 years we wrote music for well over 200 productions, ranging from 30-second theme tunes to full orchestral film scores.”
Some of their best-known music was written for children’s animated shows including The Legend of Lochnagar, The Little Engine that Could, Joshua Jones, Hilltop Hospital, and most famously, Fireman Sam.
Throughout this period Veitch and Heneghan continued to make pop music and the material from this time forms the basis of the set lists for The Boo-Hooray Theory, their 12-piece rock band that they occasionally assemble to record and perform.
Return to the concert hall
Having spent half a decade composing music for film and TV, a return to concert music was prompted in 1984 with a commission for the S4C documentary series ‘Crwydro’r Cledrau’ (Wandering the Rails). For this programme about the railways of Wales, Heneghan & Lawson wrote a great amount of tuneful and picturesque music which they realised could become basis of a substantial orchestral suite.
The subsequent work, The Great Little Trains of Wales, had its first movement Snowdon premiered by the BBC Welsh Symphony Orchestra in 1988 and the following year a second performance was given at the Welsh Proms by the Hallé Orchestra, conducted by Owain Arwel Hughes. (The four-movement suite had to wait 30 years for its full premiere which was given by the City of Cardiff Symphony Orchestra under Martin McHale.)
Despite the success of Snowdon, the pair had been unable to secure an orchestral performance of the full-length work. However, instead of abandoning the writing of music for large ensembles, they embraced the emerging technology that enabled 'virtual' renditions of orchestral instruments. This would at least provide an opportunity for them and others to hear their scores in a form not previously possible.
Veitch with his composing partner Ben Heneghan in 1989.
Veitch in his studio, 1989.
Veitch in 2003 with the 'Best Animation' BAFTA he won for Hilltop Hospital.
Recordings and Performances
Veitch’s next orchestral piece was Celtic Fanfares 1, which later became the first of a four-movement work Celtic Fanfares. This was released by Chandos Records on Walking the Wild Rhondda, a CD of orchestral music which was produced using this virtual orchestral technology.
A couple of years prior to this, however, another orchestral work Overland to the Sea saw the light of day when it was featured in an Orchestra of Welsh National Opera concert tour in 2000.
Recent Years
During the following twenty years, while still writing media music pretty much full time, Veitch began to expand his catalogue of concert works. Among these were several short choral pieces which feature on Cantemus Chamber Choir’s album The Contingent World and a series of ‘sonatas' for various instrumental combinations including Isca for flute, viola, and harp and The Glittering Plain for alto sax, jazz piano trio, and string quartet which was commissioned by Lara James for her Signum Classics album of the same name.
The past decade has been particularly productive for Veitch: “I get out of bed much earlier these days and usually start composing at six in the morning”, he remarks. Resulting works include several choral pieces including Three Years a setting of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 104 which won first prize in The Fourth Choir’s 2016 composing competition and One World a full length cantata which was premièred in 2019 by the Llandaff Cathedral Choral Society. Performances wider afield include one by the Crouch End Festival Chorus at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall.
Among other notable recent compositions is High Aldons a piece for Northumbrian pipes, accordion, Celtic harp, and cello which was performed in 206 by Kathryn Tickell and The Side and later played in its orchestral version by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and broadcast on BBC Radio 3.
Veitch's energy is unbound and in addition to his daily composing routine, he is currently busy constructing a new website that showcases his concert music. Upcoming projects include the recording of an album of his piano music by Viv McLean who will also be performing some of his keyboard works at the Penarth Chamber Music Festival in June.
Iain Veitch discusses his creative practice in our special CotM interview.
Veitch's CD Walking the Wild Rhondda was produced using virtual orchestral technology.
Jazz Missa Brevis (2028) is one of several choral works Veitch has produced in recent years.
Veitch at London's Queen Elizabeth Hall with Crouch End Festival Chorus and London Mozart Players.