Boyle's delight at Muckle Flugga award

Rory Boyle.

THE composer of the set work for the 2014 European Brass Band Championships has spoken of his delight after the work triumphed at the British Composer Awards.

Rory Boyle's Muckle Flugga recently took the honours in the wind and brass category at the prestigious event, organised by the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (BASCA).

He commented: "I was naturally delighted to receive the British Composer Award for Muckle Flugga - it is always good to get the recognition of one's peers.

"I much enjoyed exploring a completely new range of colours and textures when writing the piece. As a brass band virgin, I came with no preconceived baggage but just relished the opportunity to try out new things."

Muckle Flugga acted as the set test at the 2014 Europeans in Perth and was a hot topic of online conversation, much of which, the composer reflected, came without even hearing the piece.

"Some of the bile that appeared on social media was unnecessary and offensive," he explained.

"What was interesting, and of course proves that there are a great many stupid people out there who think their pennyworth is somehow of value and interest (it isn't), was that the comments were made before a note of the music had even been rehearsed, let alone heard.

"At least have the intelligence to listen to the piece before spewing out nonsense."

A much sought-after name, Boyle's in-tray remains busy. He is currently adding the final touches to a commission providing the soundscape for the reviving of the St Peter's Seminary at Cardross which will be shown during a week at the end of March 2016. The event will mark the start of the rebuilding of St Peter's into a major arts centre.

Other commissions include writing the test piece for the 1st Olga Kern International Piano Competition in Sante Fe, New Mexico in November 2016, a commission to write a choral piece for Cappella Nova for performance in September 2016, and a commission from the Cumnock Tryst Festival in 2017.

There are also plans for a major work to mark the end of the centenary of the end of World War I in 2018 as well as another opera with a libretto by the Edinburgh poet Dilys Rose, who wrote the libretto for Boyle's opera Kaspar Hauser, which won a British Composer Award in 2010.

Despite the busy schedule, Boyle has gained a taste for the brass band world and spoke of his hopes to write for the movement again. He added: "I would happily write for the medium again - I hope that I may still have something new to say.

"I think it is vital that more contemporary composers from outside the brass band movement get the opportunity to write for brass bands. Whilst many of the European bands regularly commission new and exciting pieces from a wide spectrum of composers and therefore find tackling a piece like Muckle Flugga nothing out of the ordinary, the movement in Britain seems hidebound by tradition and therefore appears much more conservative in its outlook."