Violin Concerto, CD review, London Sinfonietta Label
Andrew Clements, The Guardian, 14 March 2008

The London Sinfonietta is selecting the works for its own-label series of premiere recordings very carefully. The latest trio, in recordings taken from the orchestra's concerts in London's Queen Elizabeth Hall, doesn't contain a single dud; Ben Foskett's remarkably assured concerto and Luke Bedford's wonderfully vivid song cycle are considerable achievements by any standards. Jonathan Cole's Testament is less ambitious, but it is a still carefully crafted tribute, composed in memory of Oliver Knussen's former wife, Sue. Foskett's 2004 Violin Concerto is a 15-minute single movement that etches the solo violin line on an ever-changing instrumental landscape, before pulling everything together in a satisfying way. Bedford's Or Voit Tout en Aventure is a six-movement setting of medieval French and Italian lyrics that gorgeously wraps itself around soprano Claire Booth's voice, and sets it off against sparkling instrumental writing that sometimes threatens to hijack the music and take it in totally unlikely directions.

The Scarlet Pimpernel, London Children's Ballet, Peacock Theatre
AN Wilson, Evening Standard, May 2006

Ben Foskett's music was fantastic. The whole ballet was funny, moving, brilliantly paced...

The Scarlet Pimpernel, London Children's Ballet, Peacock Theatre
Graham Watts, Ballet.co, May 2006

There is very little that is childish about the London Children’s Ballet – it is an impressively grown-up company with a developing maturity that is very evident from year to year...Ben Foskett’s original score was a sympathetic and expressive setting for story-telling dance, providing a descriptive and melodic accompaniment to the choreography. It had a strong, thematic approach, giving vital continuity across a fragmented narrative of 14 scenes. In particular, Foskett’s music created clearly identifiable themes to delineate the two principal characters (Sir Percy - the Pimpernel - and his wife, Marguerite). Given the number of characters on stage, this was essential...

Violin Concerto, Young Brits: BBC invitation concert, London Sinfonietta / Gould, Kok
LSO St. Lukes
Andrew Clements, The Guardian, Saturday January 29, 2005

The Sinfonietta had played Ben Foskett's single-movement Violin Concerto before, and, with Clio Gould again the soloist, its well-sustained trajectory seemed just as impressive on second hearing.

Violin Concerto, Young Brits: BBC invitation concert, London Sinfonietta / Gould, Kok
LSO St. Lukes
John Allison, The Times, 31/1/05

...and the Sinfonietta was right to revisit Ben Foskett’s assured Violin Concerto, in which Clio Gould set up a concentrated dialogue with the orchestra.

Trying to see more, John Barker, Tim Sidford, Kirckman Concert Society Young Artists
Purcell Room, London
Stephen Pritchard, The Observer, Sunday September 26, 2004

The ink was barely dry on Ben Foskett's Trying to see More before it received its world premiere last week - indeed, it was so new he only thought of the title after the programme had gone to press.

Music this fresh fairly leaps off the page and in the hands of saxophonist John Barker and pianist Timothy Sidford, it achieved astonishing cohesion; rather more than the composer intended, judging from his programme notes. He planned a piece made of two ideas which play off each other, attempting compromise until breaking apart. Barker and Sidford work so seamlessly together that this tension was never really apparent. Instead, we heard an immensely enjoyable piece of intense rhythmic vitality and character.

Violin Concerto, London Sinfonietta / Gould, Knussen, Queen Elizabeth Hall, London
By Keith Potter, Independent, 13 April 2004

Still, when they produce such a stimulating world premiere as that of Ben Foskett's Violin Concerto - performed with Clio Gould as soloist - then their value is quite obvious. Like so many of the composers the Sinfonietta plays these days, Foskett, who is 27 this year, has studied with Simon Bainbridge. His concerto is the result of another laudable side of the ensemble's activities, the Blue Touch Paper project, which allows works to be written under the guidance of established figures such as the Finnish composer Magnus Lindberg.

Foskett insisted, in a pre-concert talk, that he selected the violin as he knew less about stringed instruments and was thus taking on more of a challenge. And the concerto's opening gives the impression that we might be in for another hand-me-down response to Alban Berg's Violin Concerto, which has stalked many composers for more than 60 years.

But as the work develops, Foskett soon makes it clear that he knows exactly what he is doing. In the first half, a searing solo line of considerable intensity - magnificently etched by Gould - soars and dips above a simple but telling chordal accompaniment. It emphasises the lower registers in this ensemble of seventeen players, from which violins are banished. In the second half, the relationship between soloist and ensemble becomes more complex, even confrontational, and the music moves through a series of emotions. The line of tension is expertly maintained, right through to the terrifying climax and the final plunge into stillness. The reception from this audience of musical diehards was unusually warm.

Violin Concerto, London Sinfonietta / Gould, Knussen, Queen Elizabeth Hall, London
David Murray, Financial Times, Tuesday 6th April, 2004

Gould found forceful eloquence in the domineering solo role of Foskett's Concerto. The orchestral accompaniment is largely derived from it, and much of that consists in sharp, abrasive punctuation. With "gathering momentum and intensity", as promised, this single 17-minute movement made a confident, formidable impression: slightly raw, full of promise.

Violin Concerto, London Sinfonietta / Gould Knussen, Queen Elizabeth Hall, London
John Allison, The Times, 6th April, 2004

Working in collaboration, too, with the soloist and dedicatee, Clio Gould, Foskett has come up with a concentrated score that never loses direction, moving from stream of consciousness to something tightly argued.
It begins with the violin descending into a dark landscape. With very little break for the soloist, the music gathers intensity and momentum, building up ferociously before dissolving into sustained stillness and – a Lindberg influence? – an intense chorale.

Violin Concerto, London Sinfonietta / Gould, Knussen, Queen Elizabeth Hall, London
Andrew Clements, The Guardian, Monday April 5, 2004

Ben Foskett's Violin Concerto is one of the first products of the Sinfonietta's Blue Touch Paper scheme, in which young composers are guided by established figures to a produce a work for the Sinfonietta. Foskett's single-movement concerto clothes a solo violin line (commandingly played by Clio Gould) in increasingly luminous and independent instrumental harmonies; the ideas are always striking, and the way the music exploits the changing relationship between the soloist and the ensemble is compelling.

Wind Quintet, Zephyr Ensemble of London, Park Lane Group Young Artists Concert, Purcell Room, London
Tom Service, Guardian, 13 January 2003

Ben Foskett's Wind Quintet was more ambitious in structure, with two short movements preceding an extended finale. The contrast between the acerbic first movement and the slow, undulating chords of the second was the catalyst for the energy of the third.

State Of The Nation/London Sinfonietta, Queen Elizabeth Hall, London
Keith Potter, Independant, 2 May 2002

I also enjoyed Ben Foskett's "Es gibt einige hohe Wellen", a splendidly brutal exercise in reckless note- and chord-throwing.

Hornet, Andrew Mason, Park Lane Group Young Artists Concert, Purcell Room, London
Keith Potter, Independant, 17 January 2002

Mason, a dynamic player, made the stronger impression; he created a powerful impact immediately with Ben Foskett's new Hornet.