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Donald Macleod discusses the poignant, brutal wartime opera The Silver Tassie with its composer and his close musical and personal relationship with guitarist John Scofield.

Mark-Anthony Turnage is a man with a reputation for shaking up the world of British classical music - a composer with a distinctive and rebellious creative voice. His work vividly fuses influences of jazz, soul and contemporary pop with music that remains boldly and defiantly avant-garde. It’s music that packs a punch yet whose visceral impact accompanies a deep lyricism and emotion. Over four decades, Turnage’s work has tackled social commentary: domestic violence, drug abuse, and the refugee crisis. But he’s also a composer with a subversive streak, with an opera exploring the life of former Playboy model Anna-Nicole Smith, and orchestral pieces inspired by his beloved Arsenal football club and pop superstar, Beyoncé.

The new millennium saw the premiere of Turnage’s war opera The Silver Tassie - a work set in the trenches of World War I and yet as the decade unfolded would have a brutal, poignant resonance to the experiences of contemporary British soldiers. The composer talks to Donald Macleod about its enduring power - and also reflects on the nature of memorial and memory, in a recent work composed in remembrance of the son of one of his closest musical friends.

The Silver Tassie, Act 1: Oh Bring To Me A Pint Of Wine
Gerald Finley, baritone (Harry Heegan)
Chorus and Orchestra of English National Opera
Paul Daniel, conductor

Slide Stride
The Nash Ensemble

The Silver Tassie, Act 2, Scene 2 (excerpt)
Bradley Daley, tenor (Staff Officer)
Corporal – Jozef Koc, bass (Corporal)
Chorus of the ENO (Soldiers)
Orchestra of English National Opera
Paul Daniel, conductor

The Silver Tassie, Act 4 Scene 3
Gerald Finley, baritone (Harry Heegan)
Anne Howells, soprano (Mrs Heegan)
Sarah Connolly, mezzo (Susie)
David Kempster, baritone (Teddy)
Mark Le Brocq, tenor (Dr Maxwell)
Chorus and Orchestra of English National Opera
Paul Daniel, conductor

Scorched (Let’s Say We Did)
John Scofield, guitar; John Patitucci, electric bass; Peter Erskine, percussion
HR Big Band; Radio-Sinfonie-Orchester Frankfurt
Hugh Wolff, conductor

Remembering (4th mvt)
London Symphony Orchestra
Sir Simon Rattle, conductor