EARLY IN HIS CAREER David found a growing split between the music he listened to and played as an emerging piano virtuoso, and the music that fascinated him as a composer. His parents were keen on him becoming an outstanding pianist and at home he heard the best-known works of the Western classical repertoire, by Beethoven, Bach, Chopin and others.
But David's parents weren't so keen on new music, and so he explored the new sound-worlds of composers such Oliver Knussen and Brian Ferneyhough independently. One thing he admired in Knussen’s music was the sheer beauty of the sound he could elicit from an orchestra. Listening to more contemporary music also changed the way David listened to the more familiar music of Beethoven and others.
In retrospect, it’s possible to see a pattern emerging. David became interested in musical colour, exciting rhythms (such as those in Latin American music) and structure. He was bit by bit entering the world of musical creation and exploring for himself how it was done. He fondly remembers the moment when he discovered how Rachmaninov had made a great melody by turning another upside down.
David confesses that his musical tastes were for the complex and high-minded. He was for Western classical music not pop and its easy pleasures. In addition David was much affected by the collaboration of others, notably those at school with him who discussed and played the music that fascinated him. He was excited by the joint exploration.
