Oliver Knussen

The wish to compose something for Barry Tuckwell had been somewhere at the back of my mind for almost as long as I can remember. Hence, when I received an invitation form the Suntory Foundation to wri...

The slow movement of Three Little Fantasies is a quite elaborate Klangfarbenmelodie realization of the ‘Cloud-piece’ in my Hums and songs of Winnie-the-Pooh, and the outer pieces are variations on the...

... a little jewel of a five-minute orchestral piece. Edward Greenfield, The Guardian, 17 June 1988 Instrumentation: 3.1.ca.3.1.cbsn - 4030 - perc(4): timp/tam-t/2 t.bells/susp.cym/vib/tamb/sleigh bel...

... fresh as paint in its firing of a melodic line that just goes on in a kind of angular strain, shuttled from one instrumental colouring to another. Paul Griffiths, The Times, 12 February 1991 Instr...

... a stunning palette of orchestral colour which transforms the 16th-century material without abusing its essential character. Michael John White, The Independent, 1 April 1988 Instrumentation: 2(I=p...

Higglety Pigglety Pop! is the second of Knussen's two extraordinary fantasy operas created in collaboration with the acclaimed author Maurice Sendak. Composed between 1984-5 but finding its final form...

Written for the Matrix Ensemble, this four minute work for voice and three clarinets uses text by Georg Trakl.

Study for 'Metamorphosis' for solo bassoon was composed by Oliver Knussen in the early 1970s but was withdrawn and later revised by the composer in 2018. Two earlier versions of the piece exist: an in...

Oliver Knussen's concise and effervescent Eccentric Melody occupies a small but important place in the solo cello repertoire, and would enliven any recital. Composed as a double tribute - for cellist...

Commissioned for MusicNOW, the new music chamber series of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, this work for soprano and ensemble of 15 players lasts 12 minutes and uses texts by Auden, Machado and Emily...

This exquisite 'fragment of a Japonisme' - premiered in 2017 and conceived as a kind of double concerto for soprano, flute and ensemble of 23 players - proved to be Oliver Knussen's final work. The 8-...

This enchanting 8-minute piece for violin and piano - Oliver Knussen's penultimate work - is made up of various kinds of musical reflection: melody reflected in its inversion; a six-note mode reflecte...

Secret Psalm was originally written in 1990 for Nona Liddell to play at the memorial concert for Michael Vyner (1943-1989), Artistic Director of the London Sinfonietta for many years, who began life a...

... The symphony is the work of a modern Ravel. The Independent, 27 June 1988 Oliver Knussen’s reputation as a master of the large orchestra was cemented by his Third Symphony. Composed in 1979 when K...

This short piece, a little over three minutes long, was written in response to Nicholas Daniel’s request for something to commemorate this teacher Janet Craxton, whom I had known since childhood and f...

The slow movement of Three Little Fantasies is a quite elaborate Klangfarbenmelodie realization of the ‘Cloud-piece’ in my Hums and songs of Winnie-the-Pooh, and the outer pieces are variations on the...

Masks is on the one hand an attempt at exploring differentiated musical characters within a single-line medium, and on the other had a dramatic miniature enacted by the flautist.

Knussens wastes not a note, and though the work lasts only for seven minutes, its density of thought suggests something of sonata structure. Paul Griffiths, Musical Times, January 1981

This is the piano score only of Reflection Op.31a, composed by Oliver Knussen, for violin and piano in digital sheet music format.

These songs, written quickly and completely by intuition, were among the first music I composed after two years of virtual silence. “Gong” was written in August 1988 for the 70th birthday celebrations...

... as in his operas, Knussen displays a rare feeling for word-setting and graceful melodic writing. Hugh Canning, The Sunday Times, 23 June 1991

I hear in this Symphony an extraordinary feeling for the sound of poetry and for its meanings, a sure skill in timing and in plotting the motions from event to event, and beyond any question, that gif...