Premiere of the fortnight

Having interviewed oboist Nicholas Daniel several times for local radio In Lincoln, Viv McVeagh was all ears when he appeared last year on Radio 3’s In Tune programmer with composer Huw Watkins.

‘Nicholas said that he was keen for Huw to write him and the pianist Julius Drake a new piece to celebrate the 21st anniversary of their duo partnership – but finding the money was proving difficult.’

McVeagh decided to act. Result: on 17 September Daniel and Drake give the world premiere of Watkins’s Two Romances at the Lincoln Suite at The Lawn, a former psychiatric hospital. (The Wigmore Hall gets the second performance, two days later.) To stage the concert, McVeagh has founded Convivium Music, which she hopes will have a role in promoting more new music in Lincoln in the future. A teacher and local broadcaster, she attends concerts of music across the UK and for many years compiled a regular diary of contemporary concerts in Lincolnshire. But Convivium is a step in the dark, not least because she is underwriting the Daniel/Drake concert herself.

McVeagh had hoped to find sponsorship, but when that prospect receded she decided to offer a series of special £20 tickets for the concert, proceeds from which will go specifically towards the cost of the commission. ‘In return,’ she explains, ‘those particular subscribers receive a mention in the programme, and attend a special reception to meet the performers and Huw Watkins. I thought this might be a new idea, although I’ve since heard it’s been tried elsewhere.’

Take-up has been slow, she adds, not least because ‘Lincoln audiences tend to make up their minds very late about going to concerts!’ Whatever the outcome, Huw Walkins is full of admiration for McVeagh’s imagination. ‘It’s so gratifying to know there are still private patrons out there coming up with super ideas like this.’

As a pianist, Watkins has performed with Daniel in the past, and knew exactly what kind of new work he wanted to create. ‘Nick is such a great communicator, so I wanted to compose something realty striking, especially in the first of the two pieces – the second is more reflective. The other inspiration was Schumann’s Three Romances, although my pieces aren’t so overtly ‘romantic’. Watkins recently gave the premiere of his own piano concerto with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, and is soon to start on a piece for the Belcea Quartet. He plans to continue to juggle performing and composing. ‘l think experiencing the tension between the two roles is very important.’

Nicholas Daniel has long been a fan of Watkins’s music. ‘I knew that Huw would in no way underestimate what a virtuoso instrument the oboe can be – something of which so many composers are guilty. In fact whenever a composer asks me whether such and such a passage can be played on the oboe I always say “Yes!”’

By a strange coincidence, it was the Schumann Romanzen which figured in the creation of the Daniel/Drake duo. ‘Julius and I had both been at the PurcelI School,’ says Daniel, ‘although we didn’t really have all that much contact. Then one day Julius rang me out of the blue to say that he felt we’d be able to work together. The first pieces we tried out were the Romances. Immediately there was something unspoken between us which meant that I could realise those pieces as I’d always wanted to. Over these 21 years I think we’ve simply given each other what we need musically. Julius is one of those people who simply always wants better – he never gives up. And we’re both unfailingly addicted to the repertoire.’

Andrew Green