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Frail Skies performed
by the London Symphony Orchestra, Barbican Hall, London, 2018 Bachtrack: "It was good to have a new work in this concert celebrating the forward-looking
Debussy and very pleasing that it was such an impressively colourful work. Frail
Skies by Ewan Campbell
was a 15-minute exploration of the shifting firmament the composer remembered from his childhood in Kent. Written with a palpable
sense of relish for the big orchestral forces, it demonstrated the young composer’s ability not only to create atmosphere
and colour, but also an understanding of dramatic impetus. The work built to three wonderful climaxes, progressively more
powerful and complex. All this was given luxury attention from the LSO and Roth, making the case for a bright new composer
and an exceptional addition to the orchestral repertoire."
Classicalsource.com: "...Campbell's
sonic imagination is keenly intuitive, and he sculpts well, tam-tams to east and west of the stage framing the orchestra to
theatrically subterranean effect. A good showcase to open a Prom, I'd have thought." The Sunday Times: "...Ewan Campbell's skillful tone poem Frail Skies..."
London,
he felt fairly certain, had always been London The Hermes Experiment, Cockpit Theatre, London 2016)
M-Magazine: Interview about London tube-map piece
and composing in general.
Citymetric: Héloïse Werner, who sung her way round London Bridge, and mainly stayed south of the river
on the night, said it had been great fun working on the piece. “In the first rehearsal, we started at Bank, and said
we'd meet at Marylebone in ten minutes,” she recalls. “Now, when we walk around the city we hear pitch and
noise everywhere.” - Frances Robinson
Time Wastes Me Ensemble Matisse, Kings
Place, 2014 New Dots: "Campbell and Barner-Rasmussen’s work created
a stiflingly claustrophobic atmosphere with the tension constantly rising as the music built to a dense wall of sound and
the domestic visuals literally reached boiling point, only to melt away into a final moment of catharsis." - Alex Groves
Requiem for Hollow Churches CUMS, West Road Concert Hall, 2012 The Cambridge TAB: Ewan Campbell (Composer in Residence to CUMS) used unusual string bowing techniques, with endless downward
slides reminiscent of the Doppler effect generating a highly tense, even nightmarish atmosphere. - Harry Dadswell
Il
Tremore Dr K Sextet, Cheltenham Festival Composer Academy, 2013
Patterned Echo Patterns Mercury Quartet, 2010
Seen and heard: Ewan Campbell’s work, Patterned Echo Patterns was an enjoyable work, with repeated coruscating
note patterns creating a poetic and lilting movement. Sudden bursts of energy broke the reverie, gradually diminishing back
to the level of the opening. The composer made imaginative use of light, shade and colour, almost like a painting on canvas.
There were some wonderfully haunting moments, and some particularly beautiful playing from Antoine Francoise on piano and
Corentin Chassard on cello. - Carla Rees
Wilderness
Orchestra The Guardian (2016): Sunday night's Bowie tribute - featuring the Wilderness orchestra and choir;
London Contemporary Voices; Kate Nash and Charlotte Church - is a properly stirring experience. Hannah Jane Parkinson
Frontrow Reviews (2015): The first was a set of Radiohead, yes Radiohead, and Aphex Twin songs, recomposed
for the orchestra by the conductor Ewan Campbell, and joined by the courageous and singular singer Camille O’Sullivan.
If you ask me, they could start a new career as a Radiohead Orchestra and go and sell out lot of shows. - Jacob Jelen
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