Adrian Sutton, composer

Who or what are the most significant influences on your musical life and career as a composer?

Parents’ tastes (classical music lovers), violin training as a youngster (Alan Solomon in South Africa), a love of 20th-century British music (Elgar, Walton, Britten, Tippett).. and a fascination with recording technology, which was ignited when I first heard Mike Oldfield’s 1970s albums as a teenager. I put my expertise in that technology to good use throughout my career, and this served me well when it came to knowing how to produce.

What have been the greatest challenges of your career so far?

I don’t really think of my career as having been beset by ‘challenges’; only projects and avenues of exploration, some of which have been exhilarating and successful, some not so much..

What are the special challenges/pleasures of working on a commissioned piece?

A commission provides 1) a deadline!; and 2) definition and context. I’ve found over the years that if I don’t have a fixed deadline hanging over me like a sword of Damocles, I’ll dither about too much and avoid committing to things. A date in my calendar is a strong focus to keep the work discipline.

By definition and context, I mean things such as the length of the proposed piece, the specifics of the musicians involved, their unique style and (if a group of musicians) the size and configuration of the group.. and whether the commission has asked for a specific theme or flavour to the work.

What are the special challenges/pleasures of working with particular musicians, singers, ensembles or orchestras?

My music frequently requires a lot of performance energy and dynamism, and I tend to seek out musicians and ensembles who are a good match for that, and likely to “get” what I’m trying to do.

Of which works are you most proud?

Violin Concerto, A Fist Full Of Fives, Spring Masque

How would you characterise your compositional language?

Essentially tonal, but with the harmony tending to derive from chromatic contrapuntal lines rather than block chords. I’m told I have quite an ‘English’ sound.

How do you work?

Too slowly! But I usually rotate between pencil sketching and sitting at a computer with a simple piano sound (only) to work methodically on melodic and harmonic components, pushing down the timeline to see what the material I’ve established in bar 1 ‘wants to do’. I use Studio One and Dorico simultaneously for that process.

As a musician, what is your definition of success?

Discovering something beautiful and getting a fantastic orchestra, ensemble and/or soloist to help me share it with an audience.

What advice would you give to young/aspiring composers?

Be you. Not someone else. And don’t get distracted by surface detail and effects at the expense of the underlying musical discourse. Learn what really holds the ear’s attention, and what might compel your audience to listen to your piece a second time.

What do you feel needs to be done to grow classical music’s audiences?

To start with, a reframing of the problem. We need to move on from the tiresome hand-wringing over classical music’s history, its performance etiquette, whether it’s ‘elitist’… these are all an irrelevant distraction. Instead, we should focus on what the music – any music, not just classical – *does*, rather than what it *is*, or how it’s labelled. By that, I mean what it does with its material: how it presents it, then transforms it, makes musical argument with it.. the drama of which the ear really appreciates and follows keenly if done right.

Many other musical genres are capable of these things, but Western classical music happens to do them particularly well, which is exciting and something to shout about, not apologise for. If we can get more people listening this way, rather than obsessing about the music’s provenance, we’d be in a better place.

Adrian Sutton’s new album is out on 4 October on Chandos

adriansutton.com