Phil Baker was born in Brighton and studied composition with Edmund Rubbra at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. He later completed an M.Phil in composition at Royal Holloway & Bedford New College, University of London.
Phil Baker's work is wide-ranging including large-scale concert works such as his Cello Concerto (The Song Lines); chamber works such as the Violin Sonata and The Epiphanies of Silence I; choral pieces such as '-through a glass, darkly-' and Carol from the Carmina Gadelica; a body of Gebrauchmusik including The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Nine Scenes from Cinderella (after Perrault); and a jazz-influenced stage musical called 'Gulliver: A space Odyssey' as well as a set of Jazz Carols.
Music for the theatre has been a long-term interest and I am currently writing an opera based on the narrative of The Bayeux Tapestry. Act One is complete in short score but I find I have to discontinue that work (temporarily) in order to write other pieces that have a greater prospect of performance. One such work was my String Quartet 3 which was scheduled for early February. Ironically and very unfortunately, due to sudden illness in the quartet, the premiere was postponed. I look forward to the performance in due course.
My first opera was The Pardoner's Tale and, as it turns out, this Chaucer text is about to be revisited as the result of a commission of an opera on a medieval subject for performance at a Michelham Priory either this year (that'll be some going!) or in September 2007. The first performance is due to take place in the Medieval Festival at Michelham and subsequently in several village halls in the Sussex area.
It is indeed good to be asked to write something as well as to be paid for the honour but I am aware that the nature of the piece is such that it will not be judged to be 'contemporary' (in the technical sense). However, it will be new.
It might seem strange to write an opera twice but it is interesting to approach the same story (the first used the original English) in a very different way. My approach is dictated largely by the involvement of young people as well as having to use recorders and a number of medieval instruments. My first Pardoner's Tale was written very much under the influence of Stravinski but the present work will have more of a quasi-medieval sound world albeit refracted through my own perspective. The subject of the tale is, as with much great literature, perpetually relevant: for, as it says, Radix malorum est cupiditas.
Unlike the first Pardoner's Tale my second setting is from a libretto by William Gilbert.
Recent performances have included the premiere of Four Mystic Dances performed by David Jenner and Jon Rattenbury at the Unitarian Church, Brighton on October 28th 2005 followed by Memorial sung by Rosalind Mizen with Antonio Cascelli at the piano in their concert on October 30th celebrating the Michael Tippett centenary.
'Memorial' for Soprano and Piano is a setting of 'Fear no more the heat o' th' sun', from Cymbeline Act IV, scene iii. It is one song in a projected set collectively titled 'A Garden of Mourning' the second song of which uses a text from The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius is also for soprano but with viola as the accompanying instrument; the third song is still unwritten but will be for soprano, viola and piano.
NMB events provide the mainstay of many composers in the Brighton area and I try to make most of the opportunities presented. One such was the piano duet recital which is due to take place on March 8th2006 Having begun a work for this, I started to feel uncomfortable with the medium itself and my planned work included a semi-dramatic element representing conflict and harmony between the two pianists and was partly inspired by a recent visit to Venice and becoming aware of the Carnivale.
The encounter of mischievousness and religion in carnivale was what I was hoping to explore. However, I never felt that the presence of two pianists at one piano was completely right. In any case, it also became apparent that my material sat more easily in an orchestral context and so a new piece for small orchestra entitled Sinfonia: Poles Apart came into being. I am hoping for a London performance of this work which I plan also to extend into a full symphonic piece.
Steve Dummer's Talkestra I hope will be performing my Piano Quintet: Epiphanies of Silence 2 in the Brighton and the Adur Festivals in May.
Coincidental with my second venture into the Middle Ages with the opera, I was asked to contribute an article on 'early music' for a history website; a monograph on Webern's Opus 22 coupled with an introduction to serial technique for A level students will be published soon both as a booklet and CD ROM. This follows an earlier publication on the music of George Gershwin.
String Quartet No 1
String Quartet No 2 (Memory & Premonition)
Triptych '...after Matisse' for Wind Quintet
Mosaic for Wind Quintet with Piano
Threnody for Alto Flute & Guitar
Songs for Theo for Clarinet, Strings, Piano & Percussion
Little Suite for Brass Quartet
Four Mystic Dances for Guitar Duo
Antiphons and Rondels for two Pianos & Percussion
Westminster Bridge for a cappella SATB choir
From One Bone to Another: song cycle on poems by Vasko Popa, for Soprano and chamber ensemble
The Dances of Siva: music for dancer and ensemble (Cello, Piano, Percussion; also, arranged to be playable by one percussionist with trumpet, flute and clarinet)
Three Entertainments for Solo Piano
Sonata for Violin & Piano
Concerto for Cello & Orchestra – The Songlines
Travelogue for Saxophone Quartet
Gulliver: A Space Odyssey (operatic musical)
‘…through a glass darkly…’ for SATB, Violin, Cello & Piano
The Pardoner’s Tale (chamber opera)
Jazz Suite ‘Out the Way’ for Piano, Guitar Bass & Kit
Three Jazz Carols for Ensemble
The Very Hungry Caterpillar (children’s theatre piece on the story by Eric Carle)
Coventry Carol SATB+S soloist with Piano
Christmas Carol from the Carmina Gadelica: SATB a cappella
The Bayeux Tapestry – an opera in English, French and Latin based on the depictions in The Bayeux Tapestry; libretto by WilliamGilbert.
String Quartet III