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John Woolrich: Between the Hammer and the Anvil (world premiere) Between the Hammer and the Anvil is a twenty-five minute fantasy for seventeen instruments: seven woodwind, six brass, three percussion and a clavinet. The piece switches between brittle toccatas, musical widgets, chorales and something dark and carnivalesque. The London Sinfonietta gave the world premiere, conducted by Oliver Knussen at the Southbank’s Queen Elizabeth Hall on 28 January:  ‘Mechanical tickings and whirrings have long been a Woolrich obsession, and the work’s rhythmic kick was often delicious, whether relayed in jabbing vertical chords or pulses throbbing under horizontal finery. Knussen’s players ricocheted through the fray with typical guts and joy.’ The Times (Geoff Brown), 30 January 2009 ‘A new work by John Woolrich formed the largest piece in this Sinfonietta programme under Oliver Knussen.  Scored for a 17-piece ensemble, including a clavinet (a kind of amplified clavichord), plus three percussionists, woodwinds and brass, Between the Hammer and the Anvil is essentially a fantasy… Rhythmically alert and effectively scored, the work managed to maintain its vitality, with some quasi-military interventions from the percussion splitting up abrasively energetic ideas punched out by the brass and woodwinds.’ The Guardian (George Hall), 2 February 2009

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