Tim Souster wrote many articles on, and reviews of, contemporary and rock music, particularly in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when he was a frequent contributor to The Listener, The Musical Times, Tempo and other journals. A selected listing of his journalism appears below, as is a list of writing on Tim himself.
WRITING BY TIM SOUSTER
SELECTED ARTICLES AND REVIEW ARTICLES
From The Listener;
The Listener was a weekly journal published by the BBC from 1929 to 1991. Tim was a frequent contributor in the late 1960s and early 1970s (when Karl Miller and Mary-Kay Wilmers were editor and deputy editor respectively), writing chiefly on twentieth-century concert music and rock: he was one of the few critics to cross the boundaries with any ease. His regular contributions to The Listener’s review column ‘Last Week’s Broadcast Music’ are not listed here, but they cover a wide range of music as well as more general topics, and they contain delightful examples of his forthright views.
‘Frank Bridge’s Cello Sonata’ 23 December 1965
‘Szymanowski’s Piano Music’, 7 July 1966
‘Varese Today’, 25 January 1968, p.120
‘Berio’, February 1968
‘Loud and Long’ (The Who, Cream), 2 May 1968
‘The Velvet Underground’ (White Light, White Heat LP), 4 July 1968
‘A Music of the Whole World’ (Henze, Nono, Berio, Stockhausen and politics), 3 October 1968
‘Pop Form’, 10 October 1968
‘Stockhausen’s Plus-Minus’(also Cage and Cardew), 24 October 1968, p. 557
‘Wagner’s musical language’, 28 November 1968
‘Pre-Christmas’ (Beatles, Hendrix, Rolling Stones LPs), 12 December1968
‘Le Maitre sans marteau’ (Boulez early sonatas), 27 February 1969
‘Goodbye Cream’, 20 March 1969
‘Music from the Mire’, review of Black Music by LeRoi Jones, The Story of the Blues by Paul Oliver and Pop from the Beginning by Nik Cohn, 25 September 1969 (?)
‘Down Abbey Road’ (Beatles), 13 November 1969
‘Aprez Wagner, aprez Debussy’, 11 December 1969
‘Records’: review of Deutsche Grammophon Avant-Garde Vol. 2, 1 January 1970 (Vol. 1 reviewed previously: date not established)
‘Better all the Time’ (Stones, Grateful Dead), 11 June 1970, p. 806
‘Tin Souster Writes About his New Composition for Three Orchestras, “Triple Music II”, 13 August 1970, p.222
‘Stockhausen in Darmstadt’, 15 October 1970
‘John Cage: Tim Souster discusses …“Variations VI”’, 24 December 1970, p.892
‘The Beatles in their Prime’, 15 April 1971, pp.465-7
‘Records’: review of Argo series The Living Tradition (ZFB41-8) and others, 24 June 1971 (?)
‘Stockhausen’s Mantra’, 19 August 1971, p.251
‘Stockhausen’s Mixtur’, 1972, p.59
‘The Great Learning’ (Cardew) 17 August 1972
‘Captain Beefheart’, 28 June 1973, p.875
‘Soft Machine’ (also Riley, Tamla-motown), 26 July 1973, p.127
‘The Mike Oldfield Concert’, 23 January 1975, p.119
From Tempo;
Review: Edward Lockspeiser, Debussy: His Life and Mind 2, No. 76, Spring 1966
‘Shostakovich at the Cross-Roads’ (the Fourth and Fifth Symphonies),
No. 78, Autumn 1966
‘Homage to Stravinsky’: one of twelve short compositions published by Tempo to celebrate Stravinsky’s 85thbirthday, No. 81 Summer 1967
‘Roger Smalley’s The Song of the Highest Tower, No. 86, Autumn 1968
‘Notes on Pop Music’(performance, eclecticism, arrangement, electricity, antivariation), No. 87, Winter 1968-9
‘Who’s Exhausted?’ (Boulez, Amy, Barraqué, Stockhausen), No. 87, Winter 1968-9
Review: Theodor W. Adorno, Alban Berg, No. 88, Spring 1969
Review: ‘Three “Music Now” Programmes’ (Sonic Arts Group, Cardew), No. 89, Summer 1969
Review: Ives, Essays Before a Sonata, Cage, Notations, Read, Music Notation II, No. 89. Summer 1969
From The Musical Times;
‘Henze’s Fifth Symphony’, May 1965, pp. 340-2
‘Michael Tippett’s Vision’, January 1966, pp. 20-2
‘Martin Dalby’, profile, April 1967
‘The Second Viennese School’:Tim Souster interviews Pierre Boulez, April 1969
From other journals;
‘Cut-up for Cage’, review of A Year from Monday by John Cage, New Statesman
‘Crisis and Renewal’, review of Caliban Reborn by Wilfrid Mellers, New Statesman, 22 March 1968
‘Die Youngsters von London’ (Bennett, Davies, Bedford, Cardew), Melos 6, June 1968
‘Pop and Un-Pop’, review of Born under a Bad Sign by Tony Palmer , Observer, 17 May 1970
‘Rock, Beat, Pop’, in The World of Music XII 2, B. Schott’s Söhne, Mainz 1970
‘Great Britain since 1945’, in Dictionary of Contemporary Music, ed. John Vinton, E.P. Dutton, New York 1974 (see also Tim Souster Archive www.sara.uea.ac.uk/souster/index2.html)
‘Electronik in der Rockmusik’ in Die Garbe, Musikkunde, 5 Musik Internatinal, ed. H.W. Schmidt and E. Putz, Gerig, Cologne 1975
‘Intermodulation.: A History’, Contact 17, Summer 1977
‘Conlon Nancarrow’, in Neuland, Ansätze zur Musik der Gegenwart, Jahrbuch 1, ed. Herbert Henck, Cologne 1980
‘Voice of God’, review of Beethoven and the Voice of God by Wilfrid Mellers, London Review of Books, 21 April 1983
‘Rock- und Konzertmusik. Beziehungen und Parallelen’, in ‘Über die Grenzen’: E- und E-Musik,, ed. Bernhard Hansen, Verlag Hans-Jürgen Böckel, Glinde 1986
‘His Eggs’, review of Stockhausen: A Biography by Michael Kurtz, London Review of Books, 26 March 1992
‘Working with Stockhausen’: a ‘diary’ written by Tim Souster, following Stockhausen’s visit to London and Cambridge, 28 April – 4 May 1971. Journal of publication unknown, but see Tim Souster Archive, www.sara.uea.ac.uk/souster/index2.html
‘Form in the New Music’, unpublished essay for a projected (but abandoned) volume The New Music (Oxford University Press), to have been edited by Colin Mason before his death in 1971. See Tim Souster Archive, www.sara.uea.ac.uk/souster/index2.html
Journal not identified;
‘Thomas Mann and Wagner’s Musical Language’ (late1960s/70s)
‘The Emergence of a Master’ (Barraqué) (late 1960s/70s)
RADIO TALKS
Tim gave a number of radio talks, but not all the dates of transmission are established. They include:
‘Electronic music: transformation and after’ BBC Radio 3, January 1973
‘Composers and criticism’ BBC Radio 3
‘Stockhausen and African Music’
‘Raw Sound as Music’ (the composition of Souster:Song of an Average City) 1970s
‘Composer’s Portrait’ (on his own work) BBC Radio 3, 13 July 1979
WRITING ON TIM SOUSTER
‘Tim Souster’s Titus Groan Music’ by Robin Thompson
Tempo 89, Summer 1969
‘Triple Music II –Tim Souster’s Prom Commission’ by Peter Britton
Music and Musicians, August 1970
‘Song of an Average City – Tim Souster’s Answer to Delius’
by Michael Nyman
The Listener, 7 March 1974
‘Souster’s Sweet Dreams’ by Keith Potter
Records and Recording, September 1977, pp.12-13
‘Souster Looks Around the Electronic Scene’ by Mike Ashman
Classical Music, 4 February 1978, p.8
‘New Music’ (Souster Pt 1) by Keith Potter
Classical Music, 24 January 1981, p.9
‘New Music’ (Souster Pt 2) by Keith Potter
7 February 1981, p.15
‘Tim Souster: Electronic Music Composer’
Electronics & Music Maker, May 1981, pp.62-4
‘Not So Quiet a Revolution’ by Hugo Cole
Country Life, 22 October 1981
‘Tim Souster’ by David Jefferies
Contact, Autumn 1983, pp.20-27
‘Living British Composers: 4. Tim Souster’ by Nick Brenton
Set to Music, Vol. 7, No 4, March/April 1983
‘Don’t be Afraid of Synthetic Notes: Nicholas Kenyon meets a
master of electronic music’
Observer, 20 October 1985
‘Tim Souster’ in British Composers of the 1980s by Paul Griffiths
Faber & Faber, 1985
Also
‘In What Form can “Live Electronic Music” Live On?’ by Simon Emmerson (includes discussion of Souster’s Spectral)
Organised Sound, November 2006
‘The Style of the New: British Music Between Avant-Garde and Pop’ by Philip Rupprecht: Keynote Address, “New Music in Great Britain,” Christ Church University, Canterbury, UK, May 2012 (includes discussion of Souster’s World Music)
TV FEATURES
Tim Souster: 15-minute film directed by Richard Witts BBC 1983
The South Bank Show: The Isle is Full of Noises (1985)
Documentary examining the history of electronic music. Follows the composition and performance of Souster’s The Isle Is Full of Noises (Caliban’s Dream from The Tempest) for voice and live electronics with synclavier computer, commissioned for the South Bank Show and conceived in collaboration with the programme director Bryan Izzard. ITV. Presenter: Melvyn Bragg.