Interview with David Ward by Emily White
By email, 1st of December 2008
EW: How would you describe Center's String Quartet?
DW: Original, passionate, powerfully rhythmic and sometimes a little Bartokian. It's startling juxtaposition of the tonal and the freely atonal is more like the music of the early twenty first century than that of the mid-twentieth.
EW: ...and his compositions in general (as much as you know of them)?
DW: Individual, well crafted and mostly passionate.
EW: As a composer yourself was it enlightening as to Center's composition, to work on the edition of the quartet
DW: It was fascinating and gave me what I feel is a deep insight into some of his highly individual compositional methods.
EW:Are you surprised at what came from a rather reclusive North East music teacher, who was self taught at composing?
DW: A bit of yes and a bit of no. After all, look at Janacek, an obscure Moravian who wrote superb and uniquely original operas in old age in provincial Brno. I don't suppose Center will ever be considered in quite that league, but great music may emanate from unexpected sources. Center may come to be considered Scotland's most original composer of the twentieth century.
EW:Is it common for composers to leave almost the entire output undated?
DW: No!!!
EW: Do you have a theory to why Center's works are undated?
DW: Perhaps he was just so absorbed in the composing itself that he was careless of the extras. It's not easy to explain though: when I get to the end of a piece, the first thing I do is date it as my way of saying: 'Finished at last!'. Perhaps Center didn't feel that any of his pieces really were finished, or perhaps he had some personal superstition around adding dates.
EW: Can you be specific as to his compositional methods that were unusual?
DW: It's difficult to be specific about the compositional methods without a detailed analysis - there were just so many things which seemed striking! It's not that he did any single thing at any specific moment which nobody else had done, it's the combination of all these things that is so extraordinary. He clearly supported no '-ism', belonged to no 'school of composition': he was his own man. Nevertheless, he shows a good knowledge of established musical theory, and if he breaks many of the rules he usually does so from a position of secure knowledge rather than of ignorance. Where he does seem to be less secure is in his understanding of the mechanics of stringed instruments - likely a consequence of not having heard enough performances of his music. The frequent double-stopped fifths in his quartet are an example. Non-string-playing students often suppose that fifths must be the easiest double-stops; but once they have heard the intonation problems that result they learn otherwise! However, certain awkwardnesses in Center's instrumental writing do not detract from the wonderful quality of the music itself.
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David Ward was born in 1941 and lives in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. He has composed everything from large scale operas to chamber music, including six string quartets. Emily first met David Ward when rehearsing for the premiers of his cello concerto in London. He now lives close to where Center spent most of his life in Aberdeenshire, and was involved in typsetting the first printed edition of the String Quartet number 2 as part of the Ronald Center project. As a classical composer in the North East he has a unique perspective on the recently premiered and recorded works by Center. For full details please visit David Ward's website: http://www.composers-uk.com/davidward