On 21 June Dunedin Consort and Allan Clayton premiered Tom Coult’s Black Shuck Lament for tenor and strings. Commissioned by Britten Pears Arts, the 10-minute work was written as a companion piece to Zelenka’s Lamentations; its title refers to a demonic black dog of Suffolk legend, whose claw marks are said to be visible on the door of the church at Blythburgh, where the premiere took place.
A total triumph: riveting writing, gripping performance, especially when Clayton took over the plucked string ticking of the start.
The Arts Desk (David Nice) 26 June 2025
This dark and desolate work intercuts several sources for its text, presented as if in a collage: the Biblical Book of Lamentations, and extracts from various accounts of the fearsome dog, who has been reportedly terrifying locals since the 12th century. There is clock-like ticking in plucked strings for large portions of the piece”, Coult writes, “though it is a tired clock that keeps winding down, before regaining its tempo.”
Black Shuck Lament is first of two works Clayton will premiere from Coult in the summer of 2025. Monologues for the Curious will debut on 21 July at the BBC Proms, capping off Coult’s tenure as Composer-in-Association with the BBC Philharmonic. As with the work for Dunedin, Coult has collated, chopped up, and re-ordered his source text for the 24-minute work, drawing on ghost stories by M.R. James to create four eerie dramatic monologues. Its first movement recounts an erotically-charged encounter with a stranger, though its initial enthusiasm fades; the second movement recalls a series of chilling dreams. ‘A lonely hearts ad’ sees the tenor play a harmonica as he presents his views, experiences, and peccadillos. The loss of a child haunts the final movement, ‘Letitia has left me for Brighton’. John Storgårds conducts.
The Aldeburgh Festival has previously seen the premiere of Coult’s acclaimed debut chamber opera Violet (2022), as well as his reworkings of chants by Hildegard von Bingen and Byzantine composer Kassia for Daniel Pioro and the Marian Consort in 2024. In 2015 George Benjamin and Claire Booth premiered his song cycle after Oscar Wilde Beautiful Caged Thing with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra.