Sally Beamish

Summary

‘Composers are probably being laughed at today for music that will be iconic in fifty years’ time.’

When I was asked recently about the possible differences between the music of male composers and that of their female counterparts, I had to reply that I can't identify the sex of a composer from the sound of his or her music. Furthermore, I doubt that anyone who's surprised to discover that a forceful, uncompromising piece was written by a woman would question a male composer's ability to write music characterised by what might be considered typically ‘feminine’ qualities such as gentleness and warmth. So I hope that the interviews with female composers for this book will challenge preconceptions about the gender of music.

But as I write these well-meaning words I have to admit that the minority status of the female contributors tempted me to look for similarities between them that I didn't look for between male composers. My own perception, although no doubt some of the women would disagree with me, was that there might be something different about the way in which they articulate the mysteries of the creative process, even though the music that results from it cannot be gendered. Is it true that they have a more ‘holistic’ attitude to this process, one that admits a wider range of influences and more readily finds similarities with the working practices of other disciplines? I’m still not sure. But I was struck by the female composers’ emphasis on clarity of expression in both music and words. This is probably something about which male composers are equally concerned, but it seemed to me that they talked less about it. It was certainly a recurring topic of my conversation with Sally Beamish.

On a practical level, however, the clarity of this encounter was often compromised, and although the interview itself was straightforward and enjoyable it was one of the most difficult to transcribe and edit for this book. None of this was her fault. An opportunity to talk to her arose at short notice in July 2012 while she was on a business trip to London; on her last morning there she had a meeting at the Performing Right Society and suggested that we meet afterwards near her hotel in central London, before she and her partner drove back to Scotland, where she has lived since 1990.