University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA, a series of awards followed: the Shakespeare Prize scholarship from the Toepfer Foundation, Hamburg at the behest of Sir Simon Rattle,[4] an award from the Liverpool Foundation for Sport and the Arts, and on his return to London in 1999, Hesketh was awarded the Constant and Kit Lambert Fellowship at the Royal College of Music, with support from the Worshipful Company of Musicians.[1][5]
Musical style
Hesketh's work is notable for its colourful orchestration, dense harmony and a highly mobile rhythmic style.
His early work found its stimuli in extra-musical ideas. Several early works have their origins in medieval symbolism and iconography, notably three pieces for chamber ensemble: Theatrum (1996), Torturous Instruments (1997-8, after Hieronymous Bosch's depiction of Hell from The Garden of Earthly Delights), and The Circling Canopy of Night (1999).
Promenade Concerts at the Royal Albert Hall, London (London Sinfonietta) and the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam (ASKO Ensemble) soon followed. Described as "a glistening whirl of nocturnal colours, [with] a driving sense of purpose and onward movement", the piece was received positively.[7]
Early works also displayed an interest in the sinister or melancholy nature of children's literature.
Le Petit Prince, Hoffmann'sStruwwelpeter, and a poem by Walter de la Mare. Other such works include Small Tales, tall tales (2009, after the Brothers Grimm),[10] and Detail from the Record (2002, after Japanese folk tales).[11] Including such works as Theatre of Attractions (2007) and Wunderkammer[konzert] (2008), hallmarks of his more recent style show an interest in what the composer describes as 'unreliable machines': short bursts of mechanistic material that repeat, are transformed but ultimately burn themselves out.[12]
As an outgrowth of this, additional concepts of entropy (in humanistic terms),
computer-assisted composition and limited randomised procedures has ultimately widened organisational approaches and made freer, as well as made more abstract, the ultimate musical work.[14] This fascination with entropy, mutation and existentialism coexists with a notable interest in formal design based on the influence of 'pathways' (labyrinths and mazes) and the paradoxical notion of clarity through density.[2]
Career
From 2003 to 2005 Hesketh was New Music Fellow at
British Composer Awards.[23][24] The panel described the winning piece "as a mature and highly imaginative work that gives the listener an ever more rewarding experience. The writing for instruments show complete mastery of the medium with continually evolving and evocative textures."[3] Hesketh has also written extensively for pianist Clare Hammond including the piano concerto Uncoiling the River which was nominated for an Ivor Composer Award in 2019.[14][25]
Hesketh has received numerous commissions from international ensembles and organisations including the Fromm Foundation at
Psappha and Prima Facie labels; an NMC recording (titled Wunderkammer(konzert), released in 2013) was devoted to large ensemble and orchestral works.[26] A disc of Hesketh's piano music performed by pianist Clare Hammond was released by BIS in 2016;[27] in the same year, the Prima Facie label released a chamber music disc performed by the Continuum Ensemble.[28] An orchestral portrait disc, Hesketh's fourth disc, was released in 2018 to great critical acclaim,[29][30][31][32]
and Hesketh's fifth portrait disc concentrating on music for 2 pianos and piano four hands was released by the Prima Facie label, performed by the Françoise-Green piano duo in 2019.
His many concert works, including opera, orchestral, chamber, vocal and solo works are published by either
