Joybox broadcast

Joybox broadcast

John McCabe’s toe-tapping orchestral opener, Joybox, written for the BBC Proms 2013, makes another appearance on Friday 20th November 2015 at Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, where the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, for whom it was written, gives its northern debut, this time conducted by John Storgårds. The whole programme is interesting and unusual, with works by Stravinsky, Ives and Antheil, as well as a new Concerto for Drum-set and Orchestra by Mark-Anthony Turnage. It is broadcast live on BBC Radio 3, starting at 7.30pm.

John wrote of Joybox, ‘I was in Osaka, listening with amazement to an “entertainment centre” full of slot machines, playing widely different musical jingles, all going on simultaneously but independently. Eventually I seemed to perceive a kind of musical structural pattern to the babel of noise, and this gave me the idea for what I hope is an “entertainment” piece.'