Frederick Stocken is a Catholic composer who composes genuinely high quality classical music that actually sounds good. There is no hint of either dissonance or minimalism in his work (which seem to be the two streams that most modern composers occupy). I was lucky enough to hear his First Symphony performed at the Albert Hall in London under the direction of Vernon Hanley several years ago (I was reviewing it for the Catholic Herald). This was my introduction to his music and I have been following his work, which has steadily grown and developed, ever since.
I was pleased to hear recently that Frederick Stocken's premiere of his organ work, St Michael the Archangel was well recieved and he has been asked to perform it again when the Archbishop of Westminster visits Poplar in December. Frederick seems to be working hard at the moment and there is another premiere, this time a piece for organ and choir, commissioned by the Worshipful Company of Musicians for their carol service at St Michael's in Cornhill, London in December.
Unfortunately, there is very little of his work available on CD. There are clips of some of his work at www.frederickstocken.com . If you want to hear a complete piece his charming Bagatelle for piano is played in full.
His early work, Lament for Bosnia, which made the classical charts some years ago now is out of print but still seems to be available on Amazon. I look forward to the day when more of his work is available.
