RPS Music Award Winner Applauds Sibelius Software

Julian Anderson explains why Sibelius is the only software for him

On a high from the premiere of his new BBC Proms commission ‘Heaven is Shy of Earth’, award-winning composer Julian Anderson has been extolling the virtues of the highly acclaimed Sibelius notation software. Sibelius was key to Julian scooping the prize for ‘Large Scale Composition’ at the recent Royal Philharmonic Society Music Awards - widely recognised as the most prestigious in the field of live classical music.  These awards are decided by independent panels consisting of some of the music industry’s most distinguished practitioners.  In 14 categories, The Awards honour musicians, composers, writers, broadcasters and inspirational arts organisations for their work.

Julian Anderson received the award for his Book of Hours which was rewarded for its 'fusion of direct simplicity and delirious complexity'.  The official citation described the Book of Hours as an opulent and engaging score and tour de force of ensemble writing that offered a brilliant and joyous integration of acoustic and electronic music. Julian Anderson was praised for undertaking such a synthesis and his achievement was described as a major breakthrough.

On receiving the Award, Julian Anderson commented:  "I am deeply thrilled to have been awarded the RPS Award for 'Book of Hours'.  This complex piece took almost 3 years to complete, and is an  elaborate celebration of the colour and vividness of the famous medieval book 'The Very Rich Hours of the Duke of Berri'.

In acknowledging his achievement, Julian explained the pivotal role of Sibelius: “This piece has a particular connection with Sibelius for me.  As it uses non-tempered pitches frequently, I used Sibelius to check the sound of these unusual pitches at the often swift speeds prescribed.  In addition, having written most of the short score on Sibelius, for the first time, I drew up the full score on Sibelius by copying and pasting directly my short score as a basis for the scoring.  This method sped up the scoring of the final part enormously, and I have been using Sibelius this way ever since."

Sibelius Software CEO, Jeremy Silver, said: “Once again, we are delighted to hear that Sibelius has helped achieve success and we’re thrilled to be associated with one of this country’s most innovative young composers.  We consult our users very carefully when designing our software and we’re always pleased when we hear that certain features have been particularly useful – especially on such a large scale.”

‘The Book of Hours’ is to be issued on CD by NMC Recordings Ltd in October and his large scale oratorio, ‘Heaven is Shy of Earth’, which was inspired by the poetry of Emily Dickinson, premiered at the BBC Proms Concert on Sunday, 6 August.