Tom Coult’s Monologues for the Curious, written for tenor Allan Clayton and the BBC Philharmonic, has received plaudits following its Proms premiere on 21 July, conducted by John Storgårds. The 24-minute work, concluding Coult’s tenure as Composer-in-Association with the orchestra, comprises four dramatic monologues made from fragments of ghost stories by M.R. James. Listen to Monologues for the Curious on BBC Sounds here.
Ingeniously put together — verbally, dramatically and musically…deserves to become a classic for tenor and orchestra…dark stuff but Coult’s instrumental imagination is so apt that the overall atmosphere is flamboyantly theatrical rather than morbid…there is no shortage of clever effects…Coult’s most powerful device is to create what seem like conventionally harmonised and orchestrated backgrounds, then subvert or distort them by warping the tuning or smearing disparate chords together — just as a great ghost-story writer gradually perverts normality into creepiness.
The Times (Richard Morrison) 23 July 2025 ****
…a name to watch…The sense of foreboding that hangs over [debut opera Violet] was also palpable…A multitude of delicately scored sounds mingle in this shadowy, slow-motion world, including cowbells, harmonicas and melodicas, while a lowering brass chorale pulls the music towards a dark unknown…the work deserves wide circulation. I have heard it twice since on BBC Sounds, each time with increasing fascination.
Financial Times (Richard Fairman) 23 July 2025
Every orchestral colour was fresh, from the use of harmonicas and melodicas, sonically bendy and atmospheric, to the clicks of metronomes in the percussion section. The composer himself describes the writing for strings, at one point and accurately, as “chocolatey”…a vivid and disturbing creation by a major talent.
The Observer (Fiona Maddocks) 25 July 2025
‘I have a kindness for owls’ had the audience giggling…[Monologues] went down a storm with the audience – including this critic…fascinating throughout, very accessible, and most entertaining.
Seen and Heard International (John Rhodes) 22 July 2025
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’. Coult discusses the piece with Tom Service on BBC Radio 3 here.
It is Coult’s second piece for Clayton in 2025. On 21 June Dunedin Consort and the tenor premiered Black Shuck Lament at the Aldeburgh Festival. 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. The Arts Desk described the dark and desolate work for voice and strings as “a total triumph”.