Selected Reviews

Bar Veloce (2011)

  • "as colourful and woozily jazzy as you’d expect from a piece structured around 12 cocktails- from Tequila Sunrise to Manhattan. In Ocean Breeze, cymbals and tambourine fluttered over a wave-like melody; Kamikaze feautured a vertiginous xylophone descent before a fierce drum duel. The elfin Glennie dated with balletic grace around her kit, a facial expression for every snap ,crackle and pop. The music was playful - Stravinsky meets Tom and Jerry- the orchestral instruments augmented by handclaps, whistles, a fire siren and, of course, cocktail shakers. But there was beauty, too, the ethereal lowing of the halo, a steel pan-like instrument, mingling with harp and plucked strings"

    John Bungey, The Times.

  • "The percussion concerto can all too easily degenerate into a parade of the percussionist’s colourful toy-box, but Phibbs slyly turned this to advantage in his piece, which was a musical portrait of twelve different cocktails."

    Ivan Hewett, The Telegraph

  • "Adding a second percussionist, Joseph Phibbs' Bar Veloce emerged as a colourful kaleidoscope of changing images. Using traditional percussion alongside everyday items such as cocktail shakers, matches and coins it transformed 12 named cocktails into an audio-visual wassail. From the gentle "spreading" of sound as the world awoke in Tequila Sunrise to a vibrant, jaunty journey through Manhattan this was an "audience-puller". "

    Jill Bacon, The Gloucestershire Echo

Night Interludes (2011)

  • "Better nourishment arrived in Thursday’s opening concert with Joseph Phibbs’s succulently expressive Night Interludes, cleanly dispatched by Vass and the Prestiegne Festival Orchestra"

    Geoff Brown, The Times

  • "the product of an ear well-attuned to earlier string masterpieces, with many expressive nuances"

    Christopher Morley, The Birmingham Post

Clarinet Concerto (2009)

  • "The Stratford-based Orchestra of the Swan performed a new work that they had commissioned, a clarinet concerto by Joseph Phibbs, the soloist Sarah Williamson. A fabulous piece and a fabulous player."

    Gavin Dixon.

  • "a very attractive little concerto"

    Anthony Burton, BBC Music Magazine 2010

The Moon's Funeral (2009)

  • "a masterly piece of word-setting."

    Michael Church, The Independent

Agea (2007)

  • "When four minutes bring such concentrated thought as Joseph Phibbs's Agea, who's measuring? The French players of the Psophos Quartet, probably the best young string group in Europe, attacked this miniature fantasy on three notes with passion, faultless intonation, and ensemble precision"

    Geoff Brown, The Times

Shruti (2007)

  • "Shruti continues Phibbs' admirable relationship with ‘the orchestra’ and it may be taken as a compliment that Shruti, at four minutes or so, is too short - there seems a longer piece here in the exotic and raucous opening...and the ensuing luminously scored reflection, both parts of the diptych being evocative. Petrenko and the LSO gave a thoroughly fine first performance."

    Colin Anderson, The Classical Source

  • "Odd though it might be to complain that a contemporary piece is too short, this one, running to only four or five minutes, sounded like a proposal for a longer one, with ear-catching ideas that seemed ripe for further development."

    Geoffrey Norris, The Daily Telegraph

  • "London-born Phibbs has already established his credentials in the orchestral arena, and his new work, Shruti - the title refers to a canon of sacred Hindu texts - shows a vivid command of colour. It also reflects his fascination with foreground and background. In the first and faster of its two sections, groups of players vie frenetically for attention before a sudden universal uprush catapults the listener into the slower second, where a solo clarinet holds sway over a static string foundation."

    George Hall, The Guardian

  • "What begins in stuttering, nervy, motion with caterwauling clarinets quickly dissolves into serene stasis."

    Edward Seckerson, The Independent

The Canticle of the Rose (2005)

  • "The link between Ernest Chausson, gloomiest and most refined of late Romantics, and Joseph Phibbs, young product of the British new-music hot house turned out to be the spell cast by the poetry they chose. [The] words that Chausson set... were matched by Edith Sitwell's deathly visions in The Canticle of the Rose, Phibbs' new work and the latest in a series of commissions made for the Wigmore by Nicholas and Judith Goodison and using the surprisingly rare medium of string quartet and voice.

    When followers of music think of Sitwell, it's usually the arch and contrived words of William Walton's flippant Facade. There was a degreee of overlap here, but Through Gilded Trellises took on an edgier tone in the context of meditations about destruction, centred on Sitwell's response to the first use of an atomic bomb.

    The music began aggressively, inflecting one note and its closest neighbour with a hint of flamenco. It spread out into a scampering pattern, instruments staying close together, and subsiding into the slow first song, which grew from a monotone towards an eloquent introduction of the texts' central image, the rose with the darkening heart. It isn't always in a new piece that the vocal line - as relished here by Lisa Milne - is more memorable than its accompaniment. This was the most striking setting, at least until the fifth with its high, Britten-like threefold repetition of "shine" Elsewhere the intricacy and variety of quartet writing stole the attention. The Belcea gave the work a concentrated, finely prepared performance."

    Robert Maycock, The Independent

  • "..such energy and musical density.... Madam Mouse Trots, what appears to be the most trivial text, acquires an ironic brittleness"

    Andrew Clements, The Guardian

Tenebrae (2005)

  • "In more than fifty years of concert-going I cannot remember an event that more electrified an audience than the world premiere of Joseph Phibbs' Tenebrae in St Albans on Saturday.

    Although only 15 minutes long, the work which was commissioned by the St Albans Bach Choir in memory of former member Mary Draper, was big in many other aspects. It used not only the Bach Choir and orchestra but also an off-stage choir made up of the Abbey Singers, with the Lay Clerks of the Cathedral Choir and soprano soloist Lesley-Jane Rogers. For the unaccompanied choir, Phibbs used words from the Latin Mass while the main choir and orchestra was provided with settings of one modern poem, David Gascoyne's The Uncertain Battle, and three seventeenth-century metaphysical pieces.

    The Uncertain Battle [is a] wonderfully-brassy and hard-sounding setting. The deep and sombre setting of Henry Vaughan's The World contrasted well, and the fast, staccato of Henry King's Sic Vita added huge excitement to the work, which concluded with an exquisite setting of Phineas Fletcher's verse which begins Drop, drop slow tears.

    Written specifically for the choir and St Albans Abbey, the piece was thoroughly exciting. Although it was essentially a modern work, it was not at all difficult to listen to, and it was clear that the choir thoroughly enjoyed singing it. Equally, Sinfonia Verdi, the orchestra backing the choir, gave an outstanding performance... It was a brilliant performance by all concerned.

    Conductor Andrew Lucas can be proud of his efforts with the choir and orchestra, which once more produced outstanding results which gave the packed Abbey audience a truly memorable evening."

    John Manning, The Herts Advertiser

  • "The richness and variety of the high level of choral work in and around St. Albans was marked up again last Saturday with the Bach Choir’s programme at the Abbey. Unfortunately a clash of not only choral concerts but also new commissions occurred that evening.

    The Bach Choir had been touched by a legacy from a former member, Mary Draper, and devoted most of it to a commission for a choral piece, Tenebrae, from Joseph Phibbs. So many good things arose from this imaginative action, not least an unusual request for both Bach Choir and off-stage (Abbey Singers and Lay Clerks; director Simon Johnson) choirs, together with solo high soprano and small orchestra, Sinfonia Verdi. Further, the composer had visited the main choir during their preparations, and the soloist had also been at that meeting. Three out of the four stimulating poems he chose come from the 17th century and deal with classically ‘metaphysical’ matters; three are brief movements with Latin Mass text, given only to the off-stage performers. The intention is that the work's title should convey contrast and opposites, such as movement between turbulence and calm, and darkness to light; the two choirs join forces only for the last pages.

    Merely a look at the total text attracts interest, and Phibbs has added a thrilling composer’s dimension. The choir found the preparations challenging (‘chords out of nothing, and rapid delivery of dissonances’) but seem really to have looked forward to the rehearsals from the outset. Lesley-Jane Rogers was outstanding in the stratospheric soprano role, sometimes making a 9th vocal line, above the divided choir parts. The composer was well pleased, the work deserves more performances, and quickly, after this significant world premiere.

    Another stylish concert from the Bach Choir, in turn thrilling, surprising and one to reflect on."

    John Westcombe, St Albans Observer

  • "Joseph Phibbs, born in London in 1974, received his early musical education at the Purcell School, where he was inspired by an Indian teacher, sixteenth-century harmony and poetic texts, before proceeding to King’s College, London, where he studied composition under Harrison Birtwistle.

    Numerous important commissions followed: I well remember hearing his fifth BBC commission Lumina, broadcast from the BBC Last Night of the Proms, 2003. This atmospheric piece already marked him out as a brilliant young composer raring to go, introducing his own stunning soundworld with flair for dizzy high registers, heady bursts of bold brass and percussion, and eerie sequences from the strings.

    Phibbs describes how, on a visit to St Albans at Christmas 2004, he was struck by the extraordinary acoustic effect of the first carol, with the (cathedral) choir singing from the far end of the Abbey. So when commissioned later to write a new work for St Albans Bach Choir, to be performed there, he incorporated an 'offstage' chamber choir of choristers into the piece, as well as a high soprano soloist, to join them offstage too.

    The world première of the new work, entitled Tenebrae, duly took place at the Abbey on 1st April 2006, before a full house audience, with the celebrated solo soprano Lesley-Jane Roberts reaching stunning top B-flats with ease, surrounded by around twenty boy and girl choristers and lay clerks. The angelic sounds issued from behind the altar for the opening 'Kyrie' and then from beyond, distantly intoning further texts from the Latin Mass, deftly intoning and alternating with the poetic texts sung by the main choir. As Lesley-Jane Rogers told me after the concert, 'In fact, during the noisy orchestral opening of the ensuing setting of the sonnet: The Uncertain Battle' (for the main Choir) we (herself and offstage choristers) went quickly up the long spiral staircase to sing above from the organ loft, gathered round the organ console'.

    Seated myself near the back of the Nave, I caught the full impact of the mystical balance between the nearly 200-strong Bach Choir, in full view on stage in front of the altar, and the ‘misterioso’ sound of off-stage choristers and solo soprano wafting from heavenly realms above and beyond. In his pre-concert talk, Phibbs had mentioned sometimes using the device ‘to add weight you add up top, not bass’, and this was certainly a feature of both his Proms piece (Lumina) as well as here in Tenebrae. Another feature is that he likes to choose texts that suggest ‘movement’, so his stormy battle sequence (using David Gascoyne’s 20th-century sonnet) was followed by the awesome sequence The World, leading onto the intrepid Sic Vita, featuring bursts of ‘low bassoon’ and ‘biting trumpet sounds’ as Phibbs himself describes them. Stunning top notes from Lesley-Jane (‘senza vibrato’ throughout) intercept from afar to punctuate this vivid fast-moving setting of Henry King’s seventeenth-century poem, amidst rapid percussion and searing strings.

    By contrast in one of the closing sequences, the Agnus Dei, two muted trumpets and mournful drums from the Herts-base orchestra, Sinfonia Verdi, added darker tones to enhance the dulcet sound of the offstage choristers, soon joined too by the main Bach Choir, all under the steady baton of St Albans Abbey’s Master of Music, Andrew Lucas, to realize true ‘Tenebrae’ indeed."

    Jill Barlow, Tempo magazine

The Dawn Breakers (2005)

  • "Phibbs’ succinct score for chamber strings and single wind never failed to engage either senses or mind. Like flickers of light at the outer edges of a misty horizon which gradually coalesce, the thematic material- always idiomatically conceived- became more vivid with successive appearances. The rising frenzy of the second movement was particularly striking, finally breaking off sharply to clear the air. The expectation and tight aural focus so astutely created in that movement was rewarded with the ensuing lucidity of clarinet, muted trumpet and flute. An impression of a carefully contained but intense piece was confirmed on second hearing."

    Rian Evans, The Guardian

Lumina (2003)

  • "...wonderfully evocative… the wide open landscapes of upstate [New York] to the scintillating reflection from the New York skyline were all clear in this brilliant score, expertly played. Great reception it got too - thoroughly deserved"

    The Classical Source

  • "Lumina was the first ray of light in the first half…under the baton of Leonard Slatkin the players of the BBC Symphony Orchestra were clearly excited by Phibbs’s exuberant exploitation of their skills in the world premiere of a work which alternated slow yet dazzling dawns over Coplandesque landscapes with glittering, volatile cityscapes of rapid figuration, spangled by piano, pitched percussion and woodwind"

    Hilary Finch, The Times

  • "A dazzlingly articulate depiction of changing light in New York State"

    Paul Driver, The Sunday Times

  • "In a good year for new music at the Proms, it was appropriate that Joseph Phibbs’s Lumina managed to make an impact here…Lumina’s clever alternation, and overlapping, of affecting, though never cloying lyricism and well-orchestrated but never vacuous glitter didn’t once risk alienating his enormous audience"

    Keith Potter, The Independent

  • "Carefully shaded sonorities…a real sense of speeding towards its climax."

    Andrew Clements, The Guardian

  • "Brass cried like wild beasts, strings soothed their anxiety, Phibbs having structured the piece around shifting contrasts between music played slow, and music played fast. Eventually unity broke out, a bright clarinet tune pointing a way out of Phibbs’s enchanting landscape"

    Nick Kimberly, The Evening Standard

  • "Phibbs…was saddled with the task of writing something interesting while appealing to a Last-Night audience [and] overcame these disadvantages with genuine aplomb. Lumina…was excellently crafted; displayed a subtle use of the orchestra, undoubtedly learned from Birtwistle, a former teacher, and kept a boisterous audience quiet for more than ten minutes. No mean feat. …it was the most successful response to a Last-Night commission since Panic"

    John Warnaby, The Musical Review

La Noche Arrolladora (2002)

  • "Phibbs is a young composer intent on building a soundworld of his own…he has a vivid imagination…[and] made use of this unusual ensemble in a most effective way…A most auspicious Proms debut.."

    David Wordsworth, The Classical Source

  • "..takes on the potential of the harpsichord with imagination and spirit…It is a fantastic piece...memorable for the variety of timbres produced in the ensemble…the evocation of the fantastical title is seductive"

    Christa Norton, Musicweb

Rituals Songs and Blessings (2002)

  • "...a beautifully constructed composition…[among] the best brand-new pieces I’ve heard at Spitalfields for some time"

    Keith Potter, The Independent

In  Camera (2001)

  • "...a highly polished essay in orchestral technique and large scale structure…the piece has a coherent sweep from beginning to end…the BBCSO and Leonard Slatkin responded warmly to this well-crafted synthesis of different modernist traditions"

    Tom Service, The Guardian

  • "...expertly shaped as well as competently orchestrated"

    Keith Potter, The Independent

  • "...his textures gleam and glisten, offering a kaleidoscopic range of colour…In Camera is a highly accomplished score"

    Barry Millington, The Times

  • "...an accomplished set of five diverse little pieces"

    Paul Driver, The Sunday Times

  • "...a striking talent…kaleidoscopically colourful and ingenious…a rich imagination at work…Phibbs sounds like one to watch"

    Jessica Duchen Classical Music (voted Classical Music Premiere of the Year 2001)

  • "We are willing to follow him wherever he goes as fold after fold of his 15-minute score opens up to us. He has a sure command of orchestration…Phibbs has eloquence and esprit at his command and I will listen to anything he offers"

    The Washington Post

  • "...an enviable command of the orchestra…In Camera is accessible and pleasing…his creation of mood and atmosphere are compelling features…Phibbs has a technical armoury and an imagination that should see him go far"

    Colin Anderson, The Classical Source

  • "Phibbs’s work was presented with orchestral transparency, exactness and temper…it is a five movement work, brilliant, above all a study full of a knowledge of vertical invention of sound and subtle rhythmic will"

    Jure Dobovisek, Slovenian press, following the closing concert of the ISCM’s 2003 World Music Days in Slovenia.

Dreams of a Summer Night (2000)

  • "...the first performance of the mere seven minutes of Joseph Phibbs’s Dreams of a Summer Night was well worth giving…it is not only brilliantly written for orchestra, which is remarkable enough for a composer in his mid-twenties, but also ingeniously constructed…a tautly sustained display of orchestral fireworks"

    Gerald Larner, The Times

Char Fragments (1999)

  • "...aphoristic as the rest of the programme, confirmed the promise of earlier works…packed with vividly scored ideas and hardly putting a foot wrong formally"

    Andrew Clements, The Guardian