Violin Concerto (2006)
Symphony No. 8, Op. 37 (1981/2021)

Ever since I heard this composer's Symphony No. 3 back in 2017, I have, like a sentinel guard, been on the lookout for any and all subsequent recordings of his music. I've since also reviewed his Symphony No. 5, Symphonies Nos. 6 & 7 and his String Quartets, all of which, like this release, are world premiere recordings. I had mentioned this before and it bears pointing out again: "this self-taught composer doesn't try to impose on the listener a new cacophonous language, or paint an alien sonic landscape, but rather adds his own original and highly brilliant brush strokes to a canvas framed by historical convention."

Like most of the best late 19th and 20th century composers before him, he in his own subtle way, drops a musical seed into the listener's fertile psyche which germinates along the way like signposts down a winding road. Often unaware of the motivic nascence, the listener will recognize something familiar along the way that will act as a beacon lighting the way forward in the darkness. For a self-taught composer, it's rather startling as to how well Steve Elcock (b. 1957) achieves this. Many years ago I read a book titled "The Psychology of Music" which explained amongst other things that a crucial element in music is a certain degree of repetition. Mind you, not outright constant duplication, or repetition ad nauseum like minimalism, but recurring motivic and thematic ideas that move the music along to its logical resolution. Too many modern or living composers meander all over the place which in the end, leaves the listener stranded as if lost at sea with no ports of call along the way.

The Symphony No. 8 was recently commissioned by the English Symphony Orchestra and first performed during their Three Choirs Festival in 2021. Although completed in 2021, it is based on a String Quartet from back in 1981 discarded by Elcock. From that perspective, it could be seen as an 8th symphony conceived prior to all of his other seven symphonies, but it certainly belongs in its numerical position within the canon. In its first arrangement for string orchestra, Elcock titled the work Dark Tidings: Sinfonietta for Strings, but in its final orchestration and present form that title was dropped. It certainly is a dark and foreboding work, especially within its opening pages where it's very redolent of some of Shostakovich's bleakest slow movements. A single-movement structure just over 23 minutes in duration it arcs exceptionally well from its ominous introduction, to fierce bouts of despair at its core, ending the way it started in enigmatic darkness. Conductor Kenneth Woods, who has also released a gripping account of the Symphony No. 4 by Philip Sawyers, captures every expressive nuance within this work. And if anything, Steve Elcock's music is powerfully expressive. A characteristic sorely lacking in 21st century orchestral music.

In contrast, the Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 13 is a beautifully languorous inner slow movement which sees the violin soar into the stratosphere, bookended by two outer shorter movements brimming with energy, playfulness and mischief, especially in the opening Allegro vivo. Violinist Zoë Beyers, who has been the concertmaster of the English Symphony Orchestra since 2017, delivers a finely crafted, utterly expressive interpretation that well defines the work's contrasting elements.

The more I discover and experience the music of Steve Elcock, the more I feel the need to recommend it to anyone who happens to read this review. If you enjoy classical music in general, with a preference for symphonic writing, this living composer ticks all the boxes when it comes to harmonic integrity, orchestration colors and textures, emotive power and structural stability. For a self-taught composer, he could very well be the poster boy for 'dedication trumps academia'.