Jonathan Little (composer)

This article is about the Australian composer. For the professional poker player, see Jonathan Little.
Jonathan Little
Portrait of Jonathan Little
Born Melbourne, Australia
Nationality Australian
Occupation Composer

Jonathan David Little FRSA (born 1965 in Melbourne, Australia) is a composer, academic and writer based in the UK, working mainly in the "contemporary classical" genre. In 2009 he became the first composer to receive a Professional Development Award from the UK Music Business's own charity, the Musicians' Benevolent Fund,[1] and in 2008 his first major album release was voted one of the top recordings of the year by US Fanfare magazine ("The Want List 2008").[2] He was subsequently featured in a major news article in Musical Opinion in early 2009.[3] As a composer, he first came to prominence in America in 2006 when The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) ran an article on him having five of his works accepted for recording (2004–07) by the US-headquartered French contemporary music label ERM (Editions de la Rue Margot), aimed at showcasing international contemporary composers.[4] He was awarded the Collard Fellowship of the Worshipful Company of Musicians in 2011, and in 2012 was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Musical Style

Those seeking to define Jonathan Little's musical style have, to date, used terms such as "Archaic Futurism", "Ecstatic Minimalism", and "Picturesque Archaism". "Completely novel, yet hauntingly familiar" is paradoxically how Little's compositions have been described in Australia's Music Forum (Feb-April 2009). Similarly, UK music critic Simon Thomas has written: "This is music that brings to mind so much else but at the same time isn't quite like anything you've heard before." [5] In her first Fanfare review of the composer's music (in May–June 2008), Lynn René Bayley felt it necessary to emphasize that "Little's music sounds like no-one else's. Not anyone's." By the Nov-Dec 2012 issue of American Fanfare, Bayley was again stressing that Little is "a composer difficult to pigeonhole because his works span a wide and interesting array of styles." In the previous issue of the same publication, David DeBoor Canfield (who collected a quarter of a million recordings before selling them on to the Library of Congress) agreed that "no other composer among the thousands whose music I've heard immediately comes to mind". Bob Lord, CEO of PARMA Recordings (US), has further remarked of Little's music that it is "unusual and finely wrought … inventive and unconventional".[6]

Producer and publisher Martin Anderson conducted an in-depth interview with Little for the Sept-Oct 2012 issue of American Fanfare, during which Anderson favoured the term "ecstatic minimalism" to describe both the effect and one of the most prominent techniques within Little's powerful, "honest" and emotionally "direct" compositional style – which includes art music, folk/Celtic, and other sacred and secular musical influences from the fourteenth century onwards. (Anderson particularly drew attention to the sweet "ecstatic", Eton Choirbook-like sonorities and textures that Little creates.) Tempo (UK), Reviews New Age (Spain) and Fanfare (USA) have all termed his more ethereal music, "otherworldly". Of the overall sound of much of Little's music, Anderson suggested that he "might almost go as far as to say it's Vaughan Williams-meets-Steve Reich".[7] In Little's first large-scale work, Terpsichore (an orchestral showpiece), critics have noted hints of the influence of Ravel and Respighi – with an additional added layer of Australian "freshness" – while in Polyhymnia, some critics have also discerned echoes of the music of Arvo Pärt and the "holy mystics" of Eastern Europe. (Lynn René Bayley felt Polyhymnia to be "the spiritual cousin of Strauss's Metamorphosen" – stating, however, that she found Polyhymnia more to her personal taste, being as it is, perhaps, more in tune with modern sensibilities.) Several critics have especially drawn attention to Little's "command" of orchestration, and his "expertise" in this area – speaking of his "finely honed" craftsmanship in deploying instrumental and vocal forces.[8] Of the minimalist element within some of his scores, Little has said that he owes as much to the innovations of Leoš Janáček as to twentieth-century American minimal music.[9]

The Italian review Kathodik has more generally defined Little's musical style as "Futuro Antico" (literally "Ancient Future" – expressed more appropriately perhaps as "Antique Futurism", or even, "Archaic Futurism") – a style also reflected in Little's verse, which he has himself termed, in at least one publication, "Picturesque Archaism".[10] On very old "sonic foundations" (Renaissance and pre-Renaissance modalism, instrumentation, even ancient songs and dances), Kathodik argued that Little builds structures overlaid with very contemporary – and seemingly pictorial – elements, so that "bursting through the panorama he paints with sudden flashes of light or menacing thunderbolts, and so projects the past into the future".[11] His style might therefore be likened to a kind of intense, modern Pre-Raphaelitism in music, or even be considered Bernini-like - in that it encapsulates certain qualities of refined power and poignant ecstasy. In the US, Mark Estren has added that "although no one hearing these works will confuse them with music of the 19th century or earlier, they are pieces in which the lessons of earlier times have been thoroughly absorbed, then reworked in a way that has visceral appeal to today's listeners".[12]

Music and background

Little's music is notable for its "mystical beauty, intensity and richness of material".[13] He studied Composition, Performance and Musicology with Peter Dennison at the University of Melbourne, where he won the Lady Turner Exhibition for overall excellence, and a St. Mary's College Academic Prize (where he was a resident student from 1984–87). He holds the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in music for his research at Monash University into the development of "exotic" 19th- and 20th-century orchestration, and has written and broadcast extensively on this, and related topics, often in the context of wider cultural history and related art forms.[14][15][16][17][18][19][20]

From 1978-83, Little attended Melbourne's Camberwell Church of England Boys’ Grammar School, winning French, English, English Literature and Music prizes, and becoming a Scholar of the School. He had initially trained as a chorister with the National Boys’ Choir of Australia, before intending to specialise in performance (Timpani and Percussion) at the Melbourne University Conservatorium of Music, graduating from there with the degree of Bachelor of Music (Honours) in 1987. As a member of the Australian Youth Orchestra from 1986 to 1988, he participated in the orchestra's Bicentennial European Tour. While still an undergraduate student, Little performed with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, and also played for the annual New Music workshops of the Australian Opera Company. Thereafter, he increasingly began to concentrate on research, writing and composition.

In 2008, the first compilation album of his music was released on Dilute Recordings (UK) to universal critical praise. Entitled Terpsichore and Other Works, it first drew plaudits from Cambridge University Press's new music journal, Tempo, which described the title orchestral work as a "ground-breaking tour de force … incandescent",[21] while, in America, Fanfare magazine admired its "music of tremendous power… [and] astonishing range of colors and moods".[22] US critic Lynn René Bayley ranked the album second among her Top 5 worldwide releases for the year (in Fanfare's "Want List 2008"), applauding "a major new, original and quite brilliant classical voice".[23] Terpsichore is one of a series of epic orchestral tone pictures on the theme of the legendary "Nine Muses" – and the complete series remains a monumental work-in-progress.[24]
Polyhymnia, Op.10,for multi-divisi string orchestra
Performed by Moravian Philharmonic strings
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Jonathan Little works in a variety of genres, including large-scale choral, string and symphonic works. Recordings have been supported by the Foundation for New Music (US), the Kenneth Leighton Trust (UK) and ASCAP (US). A second major disc (released in early 2012), entitled Polyhymnia (The Muse of Sacred Poetry), appeared on the Navona label of PARMA Recordings (US), supported by ASCAP and the Musicians Benevolent Fund.[25] Cambridge University Press's Tempo reported that "Polyhymnia conjures up a heart-rending panorama: it is immensely poetic, almost otherworldly, and employs an exceptionally hypnotic array of musical colour."[26] Soon after its release, Polyhymnia was nominated in Spain as "Best Album of the Year".[27] In December 2011, Little was elected The John Clementi Collard Fellow[28] in Music of the Worshipful Company of Musicians - one of the most prestigious awards of the City of London's ancient Musicians' Company (established in 1500). Little joins the relatively few composers to have received this award - alongside such former Collard Fellows as Herbert Howells, Constant Lambert, William Alwyn, Edmund Rubbra, Gordon Jacob and Alan Rawsthorne. Little was also awarded a PRS For Music Foundation / Bliss Trust Composer Bursary in 2012, to support the composition of the next work in his "Nine Muses" series - Erato. In 2015, Little was granted a major Australian Government / Australia Council "Individual International Arts Project Award", to help fund the creation of an album of multi-part, a cappella polychoral music (or contemporary cori spezzati). He was also one of only seven living composers whose work was selected for the Royal Philharmonic Society and BBC Radio 3's "ENCORE Choral" Programme – for performance and broadcast during 2016-17.[29] In October 2016, he was selected to participate in a BBC Singers’ Choral Music Workshop, led by Judith Weir, Master of the Queen’s Music.

Career and writings

Jonathan Little has also pursued an academic and writing career. He was appointed Senior Lecturer at Buckinghamshire New University in 1999 on their innovative Music Industry Management course (the first such degree course in Europe) – where he specialised in the workings of the British and international recording industry, and taught songwriting analysis. In 2001, he became Principal of the Academy of Contemporary Music in Guildford, England – Europe's largest specialist academy for students of contemporary music, and the first music education establishment to win the Queen's Award for Enterprise (Innovation category).[30] Having acted as a Curriculum Consultant to the British and Irish Modern Music Institute, and Visiting Lecturer in Media Music Composition at the University of Surrey, Little is now Reader in Music Composition and Music History at the University of Chichester (appointed 2012) and was previously Senior Lecturer there from 2006.

An authority on aspects of composition, orchestration and songwriting, Little is listed in the Music Publishers Association (UK) Register of Expert Musicologists. In 2005, he was appointed Consultant Editor to A&C Black's flagship volume of musical reference, the Musicians’ and Songwriters’ Yearbook,[31] and he has contributed articles on the future of music to the Hudson Institute's American Outlook magazine,[32][33][34] and the British Academy's Heart & Soul: Revealing the Craft of Songwriting (published by Sanctuary to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Ivor Novello Awards).[35] His writings on the future of the music industry initially stemmed from an important report surveying the first European digital distribution conference in 2000,[36] and subsequently with Scottish music industry analyst JoJo Gould, he co-founded and edited Music Business Journal (ISSN 1473-6233) – which in the early 2000s was the world's leading online music business journal.

Little has written two major academic studies on musical orientalism and exotic orchestration for Edwin Mellen Press: The Influence of European Literary and Artistic Representations of the 'Orient' on Western Orchestral Compositions, ca.1840-1920: From Oriental Inspiration to 'Exotic' Orchestration,[37] together with its companion volume, Literary Sources of Nineteenth-Century Musical Orientalism: The Hypnotic Spell of the Exotic on Music of the Romantic Period.[38] (This authoritative 950-page, two-volume study won an Authors' Foundation/Royal Literary Fund Award for 2011.) Many of Little's compositions are issued by Wirripang – Australia's leading independent fine music publisher.[39] The National Library of Australia holds copies of Little's selected verse, and all his published musical works. Selected recordings of his music are on deposit at the Australian National Film and Sound Archive, with many scores and recordings also held by the Australian Music Centre.

The National Library of Australia holds copies of Little's selected verse, and all his published musical works. Selected recordings of his music are on deposit at the Australian National Film and Sound Archive, with many scores and recordings also held by the Australian Music Centre.

Awards and honours

Selected recorded music reviews

Principal works (published)

Musical scores

Symphonic and String Orchestra Works

Chamber and Instrumental Music

Choral and Vocal Music

Major recordings

Writings

Doctoral Dissertation

Books (monographs)

Books (edited)

Chapters in Books

Articles – academic and general

Radio Programmes

Public Lectures

Verse, Essays and Belles-Lettres

Other Writings - on Cultural History and Technology

Other publications and roles

References

  1. ↑ "Jonathan Little's Story", article on Musicians Benevolent Fund (UK) website [online], May 2010. MBF (UK) 2010 Story - Jonathan Little, http://www.helpmusicians.org.uk/help_you/professionals/professional_development/jonathan_littles_story.aspx
  2. ↑ See reviews in Fanfare (US), Vol.31: No.5 (May–June 2008), pp. 179-180 and Fanfare (US), Vol.32: No.2 (Nov-Dec 2008), p.77
  3. ↑ See Musical Opinion (UK), No.1468 (Jan-Feb 2009), p.7.
  4. ↑ "A British composer makes a big wave in the concert music world", in ASCAP (US) Playback magazine, Summer 2006.[online]First major ASCAP (US) 2006 Story http://www.ascap.com/playback/2006/summer/faces_places/london/jonathanlittle.html
  5. ↑ Thomas, Simon, "Little: Terpsichore and other works", in Music OMH (November 2008) (UK), Online at: http://www.musicomh.com/classical/recordings/terpsichore_1108.htm
  6. ↑ Cited in Little, Jonathan, "Creating and recording Polyhymnia", in Resonate (Sydney: Australian Music Centre) (February, 2012). Online at: http://www.australianmusiccentre.com.au/article/creating-and-recording-em-polyhymnia-em
  7. ↑ See Anderson, Martin, "Jonathan Little and the Importance of Ecstasy" (the composer interviewed by the music producer, publisher, and founder/director of Toccata Classics and Toccata Press, Martin Anderson), in Fanfare (USA), Vol.36, No.1 (Sept/Oct 2012). ISSN 0148-9364.
  8. ↑ See within the "Selected recorded music reviews" listed above.
  9. ↑ Most notably in the composer's monograph, On Musical Composition.
  10. ↑ See, for example, his Antique Sonnets – First and Second Series, reprinted in Forms and Possibilities: Selected Verse (1983–2002) (Wollongong, Australia: Wirripang, 2011).
  11. ↑ See Focosi, Filippo, "Jonathan Little ‘Polyhymnia’ ", in Kathodik (16 April 2012). Online at: http://www.kathodik.it/modules.php?name=Reviews&rop=showcontent&id=4922
  12. ↑ See Estren, Mark J., "Modern but Accessible", in Infodad (1 March 2012). Online at: http://transcentury.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/modern-but-accessible.html
  13. ↑ See biography and works list at: http://www.australiancomposers.com.au/ and Navona Records advertising material at http://www.jonathanlittle.org
  14. ↑ Little, Jonathan, "Cultural Years: Music, the Arts and Society at the time of the Great International Exhibitions, 1851-1937", being a series of seven x (average) 90min. radio programmes, written and presented for 3MBS-FM Fine Music Radio (Melbourne), and broadcast fortnightly from 1 April 1990 – with an introductory article in Libretto (April, 1990), p.7.
  15. ↑ Little, Jonathan, "Nostalgia, Exoticism and Brilliant Colour", Arts Rondo (Melbourne Winter, 1992).
  16. ↑ Little, Jonathan, "Orientalism" (An abbreviated version of the article "Orientalism: Counterpart of the Gothic in Nineteenth-Century Artistic Inspiration"), Udolpho, vol.26 (Autumn, 1996), 14-17.
  17. ↑ Little, Jonathan, "On Western Travellers who described and drew inspiration from "Eastern" instruments and music, ca.1830s-1850s", FoMRHI Quarterly, no.98 (January, 2000), 41-45, Comm.1690.
  18. ↑ Little, Jonathan, "Musical Instruments Evocative of the Ancient Orient", FoMRHI Quarterly, no.99 (April, 2000), 21-30, Comm.1707.
  19. ↑ Little, Jonathan, "Oriental Colour and Atmosphere: Why Exotic Colour became Prominent in 19th- and early 20th-Century Orchestration", FoMRHI Quarterly, no.102 (January, 2001), 23-28, Comm.1745.
  20. ↑ Little, Jonathan, "Exoticism Globalised: The Forgotten Roots of World Music", in Music Business Journal (April–June, 2001).
  21. ↑ Wheatley, John, "Jonathan Little: Terpsichore and other Works" [CD Review], in Tempo (UK), Vol.62: No.243 (Jan. 2008), pp.88-89.
  22. ↑ "Little, Jonathan: Terpsichore and Other Works" [CD Review] in Fanfare (US), Vol.31: No.5 (May–June 2008), pp. 179-180.
  23. ↑ See "Lynn René Bailey: The Want List 2008", in Fanfare (US), Vol. 32: No.2 (Nov-Dec 2008), p. 77.
  24. ↑ See Wheatley, John, "Jonathan Little: Polyhymnia" [CD review], in Tempo (UK), Vol. 64: No. 253 (July 2010).
  25. ↑ See "Jonathan Little's Story", article on Musicians Benevolent Fund (UK) website re Professional Development Award [online], May 2010. MBF (UK) 2010 Story - Jonathan Little http://www.helpmusicians.org.uk/help_you/professionals/professional_development/jonathan_littles_story.aspx
  26. ↑ See Tempo (Cambridge University Press), Vol.66, No.259 (Jan.2012)
  27. ↑ See Reviews New Age (Spain) (February 2012): http://www.reviewsnewage.com/jonathanlittle.html,
  28. ↑ See the Worshipful Company of Musicians' website:http://www.wcom.org.uk and Kelly, Jeff, "The John Clementi Collard Fellowship - Jonathan Little: 2011", in Preserve Harmony, ed. Adrian Mumford [Journal of the Worshipful Company of Musicians], Issue 44 (Spring 2012) pp. 10 & 16.
  29. ↑ http://royalphilharmonicsociety.org.uk/index.php/composers/encore/encore_choral
  30. ↑ See:http://www.acm.ac.uk
  31. ↑ Little, Jonathan and Katie Chatburn, eds, The Musicians and Songwriters Yearbook 2008 (London: A&C Black, 2008). http://www.amazon.co.uk/Musicians-Songwriters-Yearbook-2008-Essential/dp/0713684720
  32. ↑ Little, Jonathan, "Celestial Jukebox", in American Outlook (Jan/Feb, 2001), 42-44.
  33. ↑ Little, Jonathan, "Celestial Cinema; or, From Celluloid to Silicon: eCinema, Cyberentertainment and the Napsterization of Hollywood", in American Outlook, Vol.IV, No.4 (July/Aug, 2001), 28-33.
  34. ↑ Little, Jonathan, "The Sound of Money", in American Outlook, Vol.V, No.3 (Summer, 2002), 41-45.
  35. ↑ Little, Jonathan, "The Complete Songwriter/Producer", in Heart and Soul: Revealing the Art of Songwriting, ed. Chris Bradford (London: Sanctuary Publishing, 2005).
  36. ↑ Little, Jonathan, Digital Distribution and the Music Industry. Summary of the Proceedings of the First European Conference on Digital Distribution and the Music Industry, London, 22–23 May 2000, 14pp. (High Wycombe: Buckinghamshire University College, 2000).
  37. ↑ First reviewed by John Wheatley in Tempo, Vol. 65, No. 257 (July 2011) (Cambridge University Press,UK), pp. 92-3.
  38. ↑ See reviews by Elizabeth Markham in the IAML journal, Fontes Artis Musicae, Vol. 61, Issue 2 (Apr-Jun 2014), pp.203-7.
  39. ↑ See biography and works list at: http://www.australiancomposers.com.au/
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