Cardiff University British Music Research Centre
We are a broad network, working on British art music since 1900. We embrace a diversity of musical contexts, approaches and scenes, conducting research on a wide variety of composers.
At CUBRIT, we aim to promote and advance research of twentieth- and twenty-first-century British art music at a national and international level and to disseminate that research excellence to a global community.
We exercise a broad definition of British art music since 1900, embracing a diversity of musical contexts, approaches and scenes, and conduct research on the life and music of a wide variety of composers, including Harrison Birtwistle, Peter Maxwell Davies, Michael Finnissy, Alun Hoddinott, Simon Holt, William Mathias, Michael Tippett and Judith Weir.
Our approach is broad and inclusive, and includes areas such as archival, analytical, creative and critical-theoretical perspectives on post-1900 concert music; interpretation; music, landscape and place; music theatre and opera; music and Welsh national identity; practice-based research studies; and sketch studies.
Our centre cultivates new musicological and practice-based research studies of creativity within and between Cardiff University and external organisations, and provides a forum for individuals to share their research through lectures, study days and conferences.
Aims
We aim to:
- encourage collegial research into any aspect of British art music since 1900
- foster mutual support for researchers active in this field of research
- provide opportunities to share and discuss research through networking and knowledge sharing and public engagement events
- support and develop new knowledge about post-1900 British art music through diverse modes of scholarly enquiry
- promote collaboration between musicologists and practice-based researchers throughout the UK and internationally
Research
We currently conduct research on the following composers and topics:
- Harrison Birtwistle
- John Casken
- Peter Maxwell Davies
- Michael Finnissy
- Alun Hoddinott
- Simon Holt
- William Mathias
- Anthony Powers
- Ronald Stevenson
- Michael Tippett
- Judith Weir
- Archival, analytical, creative and critical-theoretical perspectives on post-1900 concert music
- Interpretation
- Music, landscape and place
- Music theatre and opera
- Music and Welsh identity
- Music and Scottish identity
- Sketch studies
Events
Unmasking Max: Peter Maxwell Davies Study Day
Date: 4 December 2021
Location: Cardiff University Concert Hall
For further details, please visit the Golden Pages for musicologists website.
Peter Maxwell Davies (PMD) Research Network
The PMD Research Network is a research group which unites international scholars with interests in the life and music of Peter Maxwell Davies (1934–2016).
The Network provides a forum for individuals to share their research through online and in-person seminars, lectures and study days, as well as, where appropriate, online tutorial support led by established Peter Maxwell Davies scholars.
It aims to:
- create a focus for all kinds of research, analysis and interpretation centred on the life and music of Peter Maxwell Davies
- raise awareness of, and increase the interest in, the composer’s music
- promote collaboration between researchers throughout the UK and internationally, and to address the needs of those engaged in musical research on this topic, whether early career researchers, independent scholars, performers or composers, or affiliated members of universities, conservatoires, colleges and other music-related establishments
- build an international online interactive research community for individuals and groups to make contact with other researchers who share interests in this area
The Network was launched in November 2020. A recording of the event can be viewed on panopto.
If you are interested in joining the network, then please send an email to Dr Nicholas Jones at: pmd.research.network@gmail.com
We have also set up a Facebook group page for the Network. To join the group, please visit our Facebook page.
People
Academic staff
Associated staff
Publications
- Jones, N. and McGregor, R. 2020. The music of Peter Maxwell Davies. Boydell & Brewer.
- Beard, D. 2019. 'Out of the air': Judith Weir's emergence in 1970s Britain, or interpreting creative self-censorship. Music and Letters 100 (3), pp.481-528. (10.1093/ml/gcz002)
- Hamilton, K. 2019. Kenneth Hamilton plays Ronald Stevenson, volume 2. 2019-07-12
- Beard, D. 2019. Reconceptualising the performer in new music theatre: collaborations with actors, mimes and musicians. In: Adlington, R. ed. New Music Theatre in Europe: Transformations Between 1955–1975. Musical Cultures of the Twentieth Century Abingdon and New York: Routledge. , pp.227-254. (10.4324/9780429451669-11)
- Jones, N. 2019. Sir Peter Maxwell Davies: the man and the music. [Online].themaxtrust.org: The Peter Maxwell Davies Trust. Available athttps://www.themaxtrust.org/about.html.
- Hamilton, K. 2019. John Casken: Six Wooded Pieces (on CD Stolen Airs). [CD] 2019
- Jones, N. ed. 2017. Peter Maxwell Davies, selected writings. Music since 1900 Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (10.1017/9781316662519)
- Beard, D. 2017. Listening to the river's roar: stance, texture and space in the concertos. In: Charlton, D. ed. The Music of Simon Holt. Suffolk: Boydell & Brewer. , pp.194-231. (10.1017/9781787440692.012)
- Beard, D. J. and Birtwistle, H. 2017. Deep Time [Composer note]. Boosey & Hawkes
- Hamilton, K. 2016. Kenneth Hamilton plays Ronald Stevenson, Volume 1. 2016
- Beard, D. 2015. 'The life of my music': What the sketches tell us. In: Beard, D. , Gloag, K. and Jones, N. eds. Harrison Birtwistle Studies. Cambridge Composer Studies Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. , pp.120-174. (10.1017/CBO9781316145326.007)
- Beard, D. J. , Gloag, K. and Jones, N. eds. 2015. Harrison Birtwistle studies. Cambridge Composer Studies Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Jones, N. 2015. The sound of Raasay: Birtwistle's Hebridean experience. In: Beard, D. , Gloag, K. and Jones, N. eds. Harrison Birtwistle Studies. Cambridge Composer Studies Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. , pp.175-205. (10.1017/CBO9781316145326.008)
- Beard, D. J. 2015. A selected inventory of Birtwistle manuscripts acquired by the British Library in 2013. In: Harrison Birtwistle Studies. Cambridge Composer Series Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. , pp.304-309.
- Gloag, K. and Jones, N. eds. 2013. The Cambridge companion to Michael Tippett. Cambridge Companions to Music Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Beard, D. J. 2013. Zurück in Die Zukunft: Gawain. Salzburg: Salzburg Festival
- Jones, N. 2013. Formal archetypes, revered masters and singing nightingales: Tippett’s string quartets. In: The Cambridge Companion to Michael Tippett. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. , pp.206-228.
- Beard, D. J. 2012. Harrison Birtwistle's operas and music theatre. Music Since 1900 Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Jones, N. 2010. Peter Maxwell Davies in the 1950s: a conversation with the composer. Tempo 64 (254), pp.11-19. (10.1017/S0040298210000380)
- Beard, D. J. 2010. "Batter the doom drum": The music for Peter Hall's 'Oresteia' and other productions of Greek tragedy by Harrison Birtwistle and Judith Weir. In: Brown, P. and Ograjensek, S. eds. Ancient Drama in Music for the Modern Stage. Oxford: Oxford University Press. , pp.369-397.
- Beard, D. J. 2010. The shadow of opera: dramatic narrative and musical discourse in Gawain. In: Notley, M. ed. Opera After 1900. Vol. 6, The Ashgate Library of Essays in Opera Studies Farnham: Ashgate. , pp.319-355.
- Jones, N. and McGregor, R. 2010. Peter Maxwell Davies's Opus and WoO Numbers: A New Work List. Musical Times 151 , pp.53-86.
- Gloag, K. and Jones, N. eds. 2009. Peter Maxwell Davies Studies. Cambridge Composer Studies Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Beard, D. J. 2009. Taverner: An interpretation. In: Gloag, K. and Jones, N. eds. Peter Maxwell Davies Studies. Cambridge Composer Studies Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. , pp.79-105.
- Beard, D. J. 2009. Blurring the boundaries. Geschlechterbeziehungen und Körperbilder in Harrison Birtwistle's The Corridor und Semper Dowland, semper dolens. In: Berman, L. ed. Klang zu Gang Gedanken zur Musik in heutigen Theaterformen, Recherchen 73. Berlin: Theater der Zeit. , pp.37-48.
- Beard, D. J. 2009. From "Heroische Bogenstriche" to "Waldeinsamkeit": Gender and genre in Judith Weir's 'Heroic Strokes of the Bow'. In: Dichotonies. Gender and Music.. American Studies - A Monograph Series Heidelberg: Univesitatsverlag, Winter. , pp.77-96.
- Jones, N. 2009. Peter Maxwell Davies's articles, lectures, interviews and radio broadcasts. In: Gloag, K. and Jones, N. eds. Peter Maxwell Davies Studies. Cambridge Composer Studies Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. , pp.231-241.
- Jones, N. 2009. The writings of a young British composer: Peter Maxwell Davies in the 1950s. In: Peter Maxwell Davies Studies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. , pp.21-44.
- Beard, D. J. 2008. Birtwistle's 'Labyrinth' [a preview of the Minotaur]?. Opera 59 (4), pp.372-381.
- Beard, D. J. 2008. Beauty and the beast: a conversation with Sir Harrison Birtwistle. The Musical Times 149 (1902), pp.9-25.
- Beard, D. J. 2008. Opera by number [Programme Essay]. In: Punch & Judy. London: Royal Opera House. , pp.3-6.
- Beard, D. J. 2006. "A face like music": Shaping images into sound in the second Mrs Kong. Cambridge Opera Journal 18 (3), pp.273-300. (10.1017/S0954586706002205)
- Jones, N. 2006. "Disparagement and Invidious Comparisons": assessing critical reactions to Mathias's First Symphony. Tempo 60 (238), pp.8-14. (10.1017/S0040298206000283)
- Beard, D. J. 2005. Meta-narratives and multidimensional opera: Harrison Birtwistle's 'The Mask of Orpheus'. In: Markovic, T. and Mikic, V. eds. Music and Networking: The seventh international conference, Department of Musicology and Ethnomusicology, Faculty of Music, University of Arts, Belgrade.. Beograd: Fakultet Muzicke Umetnosti. , pp.143-153.
- Jones, N. 2005. 'Playing the Great Game'? Peter Maxwell Davies, Sonata form, and the Naxos Quartet no. 1. Musical Times 146 , pp.71-81. (10.2307/30044107)
- Beard, D. J. 2004. Britten's ambiguities; Tippett's times; Metzer's borrowings. Journal of the Royal Musical Association 129 (2), pp.305-323. (10.1093/jrma/129.2.305)
- Jones, N. 2004. Ranging over the forest: a conversation with Anthony Powers. Tempo 58 (228), pp.23-31. (10.1017/S0040298204000117)
- Beard, D. J. 2004. The endless parade: competing narratives in recent Birtwistle studies. Music Analysis 23 (1), pp.89-127. (10.1111/j.0262-5245.2004.00196.x)
- Beard, D. J. 2003. The shadow of night: UK premiere [Programme Note]. In: BBC Proms Festival: Prom 72. London: BBC. , pp.5-7.
- Jones, N. 2003. Anthony Powers at 50: Luminous, but with shadows. Musical Times 144 (1884), pp.26-35. (10.2307/3650698)
- Jones, N. 2002. Dominant Logic: Peter Maxwell Davies's basic unifying hypothesis. The Musical Times 143 (1878), pp.37-45. (10.2307/1004421)
- Beard, D. J. 2001. 'From the mechanical to the magical': A pre-compositional plan for Birtwistle's 'Carmen Arcadiae Mechanicae Perpetuum'. Mitteilungen der Paul Sacher Stiftung 14 , pp.29-33.
- Beard, D. J. 2001. Tenebrae David: UK premiere [Programme Note]. In: BBC Proms Festival: Prom 64. London: BBC. , pp.5-6.
- Jones, N. 2000. Peter Maxwell Davies's 'submerged cathedral': architectural principles in the Third Symphony. Music & Letters 81 (3), pp.402-432. (10.1093/ml/81.3.402)
- Jones, N. 2000. Mathias's String Quartet No.1. Something to shout about. The Musical Times 141 (1872), pp.24-32. (10.2307/1004395)
- Jones, N. 1998. 'Preliminary workings': The precompositional process in Maxwell Davies's Third Symphony. Tempo 204 , pp.14-22.