The Fish that became the Sun at HCMF

24. The Fish that became the Sun at Huddersfield Town Hall, Huddersfield, 23 November 2019, free entry - Visit now

The Octandre Ensemble is joined by musicians from Consortium5 and New London Chamber Choir, and percussion students and vocal students (the ‘Ruby Throat’ ensemble, coached by Linda Hirst) from Trinity Laban Conservatoire.

Frank Denyer (UK, 1943) The Fish that became the Sun (1991/4) World Premiere

For Frank Denyer, the music is enough. Without theme or affair, he has spent his career writing music of quiet visceral effect, creating gorgeous music focused on little more than melody and timbre. Composed three decades ago, The Fish that became the Sun is his opus. It’s such a grand undertaking that it’s never been performed in full before. That the piece is comprised of a lot of instruments – over 80, in fact – is one thing. That they’re all newly invented is another. Denyer has kept the piece in the back of his mind: as he said to VAN Magazine, ‘The one thing I want to get done in this life is to get it performed’.