Browse Works
Instrumentation
Additional Information
BMIC NO SCORE.
Review by Imogen Nicholls, Jersey Evening Post, 12th December 1994:
"Perhaps the reason that the Arts Centre was not full was because there was a contemporary work to open the second half. Martin Roscoe explained that the director of the Arts Centre, Rod McLoughlin, had suggested that he might like to include a contemporary piece, so he chose a piano sonata by Karen Markham. She is a young graduate who, impressively, is making her living from composition and has several commissions from Opera North and the London Sinfonietta under her belt at the tender age of 28.
Martin Roscoe had described the language of the sonata as gritty in his introduction, but if we expected crashes and bangs, we were to be disappointed - the opening of the first movement was not unlike the Schubert. I found this movement innovative and fresh, ending, as the second movement started, with an ethereal bell-like quality. There was a strong lyrical line and it was, overall, generally a romantic work.
Karen Markham has a great deal to say in her writing, and I shall be looking out for more of her work. I have to say that there was rapt attention from us as we listened, despite initial misgivings".