THE RESONANCE ATLAS
John Woolrich
Biography
John Woolrich (born 1954 in Cirencester) is a British composer whose catalogue includes orchestral, chamber and instrumental music. He founded the Composers Ensemble and Hoxton New Music Days and has held artistic roles with the Aldeburgh Festival, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group and Dartington International Summer School. His music often draws on creative transcription, fragments and mechanical processes, bringing expressive concentration and a lively sense of character to his chamber writing.
Why this music interests us
Woolrich's A Book of Studies for Wind Quintet, in three sets, offers an engaging collection of compact, sharply characterised pieces. A Cabinet of Curiosities combines oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn and piano, revealing another side of his imaginative chamber writing. Together they suggest a distinctive repertoire of miniatures and mixed-ensemble music particularly suited to close listening and inventive programmes.
Selected works & listening
A Book of Studies for Wind Quintet (Sets 1–3); A Cabinet of Curiosities (1993; oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, piano); Favola in Musica I (1990; oboe, clarinet, piano); Darker Still (flute, piano)