James Saunders

Stefan Drees has written a short portrait article about my recent work in Neue Zeitschrift für Musik. The article includes views on work by me, Luke Bedford and Stephen Daverson as part of the issue’s focus on music in the UK. I’m pleased to see it focuses on my recent investigation of group behaviours, and he makes some insightful observations about the things to do pieces. I was struck by the introduction to the article which describes the UK new music scene, when viewed from a distance, as “ideology free”. I guess that could be understood in a number of ways but the meaning here, that it is an open place to produce work, is not necessarily accurate when viewed from within. Like all national networks we have our own prevailing conditions that affect the way work is presented and supported, and variously these can be helpful or obstructive. It’s a matter of plotting a course though, and that is presumably something composers everywhere have in common regardless of perceived institutional preferences.