A three-minute fanfare commissioned by BBC Music Magazine to celebrate its 20th anniversary will receive its world premiere as the very first piece played at this year’s First Night of the Proms on 13 July.
A riot of brass and percussion, Canon Fever was written by leading composer Mark-Anthony Turnage, whose acclaimed works include Twisted Blues, Blood on the Floor and last year’s smash hit opera Anna Nicole, based on the life of a Texan model.
Oliver Condy, Editor of BBC Music Magazine, commented: “Canon Fever is hugely entertaining: spirited and a little mischievous – a fitting start to our celebrations and the 2012 BBC Proms. To have Turnage write something for us is, of course, the most wonderful honour – a birthday tribute to cherish.”
Mark-Anthony Turnage said: “What I didn’t want to write was a very traditional idea of a fanfare… I thought, ‘I’m going to do something that’s quite a bit wild and a bit virtuosic’. I was aware that I wanted a cacophony of musicians playing in canon. That’s why I’ve called it Canon Fever – a play on ‘cannon fodder’ and ‘cabin fever’.”
A special recording of Canon Fever, performed by the brass and percussion section of the BBC Symphony Orchestra at Maida Vale studios, will feature on the cover CD of BBC Music Magazine’s 20th anniversary September issue, with a full report on the piece and interview with Turnage also published in the magazine.
BBC Music Magazine’s history of commissioning new music stretches back to the title’s 10th birthday in 2002, when seven composers including Colin Matthews, Judith Weir and Poul Ruders, were asked to pen a variation each on a theme from Purcell’s Hail! Bright Cecilia.