Conductor Dalia Stasevska is one of the best things to happen to the BBC Symphony Orchestra in years, and even on the gloomiest Maida Vale day she radiates enthusiasm and good humour. At present she's releasing a series of short BBCSO recordings one by one online, titled Dalia's Mixtape.
My 4-minute string orchestra piece (it also includes minimal woodwind and keyboard percussion) Still, Glowing has been included on the Mixtape. Here it's not so short - in fact it's played twice as slowly as usual, with a lot of reverb. As the composer of the original version, I'm probably not the best person to evaluate the results; but I'm really interested to find out how new listeners take to this super luxuriant iteration, which is in effect a new creation all of its own.
The Mixtape tracks are each accompanied by a Gramophone podcast, on which I much enjoyed talking to Dalia and musical writer Andrew Mellor. The interview recording is very relaxed - at one point, when we discuss ambient music, my dog Frank (pictured) bursts into the room and can be heard giving some background "grrrrs" - but besides that incidental detail, a lot of care and expertise has gone clearly into the production. Now possessed by Dalia-like enthusiasm myself, I'm going to download and listen to the whole series. From what I've heard so far, I can recommend it warmly.
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