'Lullaby for Joni' broadcast on BBC Radio 3
Lullaby for Joni by Southampton’s Lecturer in Composition Benjamin Oliver was broadcast on BBC Radio 3’s first ‘Hear and Now’ programme of 2014. The recording featured the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Garry Walker
The work was commissioned by Sound and Music as part of their Embedded artist development programme, which is funded by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation. As part of the Embedded programme Ben had two workshops with the orchestra to try out ideas before completing the piece for a concert recording at BBC Maida Vale Studios in November 2013.
Lullaby for Joni is a celebration of the arrival of Ben’s daughter in which he tries to resist mawkishness or overt sentimentality. The initial creative springboard was the widely reported idea in parental literature that young babies are placated by white noise as the sound reminds them of the fetal sonic environment. One of the main ideas explored in the piece is how musical materials can be transformed to be more like they might be experienced in a womb-like sonic environment!
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Dr Benjamin Oliver MMus, DPhil
Dr Benjamin Oliver is Head of Music and Associate Professor in Composition at the University of Southampton.
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