Naresh Sohal’s The Wanderer: Diversity versus Institutionalisation at the 1982 BBC Proms

Marshall, Christopher (2026) Naresh Sohal’s The Wanderer: Diversity versus Institutionalisation at the 1982 BBC Proms. In: Musical Modernisma and its Art Worlds. Brepols. (In Press)

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Abstract

This chapter examines the commissioning of Naresh Sohal’s The Wanderer for the 1982 BBC Proms, using it as a case study to interrogate three interrelated concerns in contemporary classical music discourse: equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in commissioning practices; the institutionalisation of composers by large cultural organisations; and the neglected legacy of Sohal himself, the first composer of Asian heritage to receive a Proms commission.
The chapter argues that Sohal, whose earlier output was characterised by microtonal, expressionist writing inflected with Indian musical influences, made a significant stylistic departure in The Wanderer. He chose to set a modern English translation of an Old English poem for baritone, chorus and large orchestra, and produced a work whose musical language shows the influence of Britten, Ravel, Vaughan Williams and Mahler, none of whom had been audible antecedents in his previous work. The chapter contends that this shift represents a form of self-imposed institutionalisation: without any documented directive from the BBC, Sohal appeared to internalise and conform to an unwritten set of expectations about what a Proms commission should sound like.
Using programme notes, press reviews, and a radio interview in which conductor Andrew Davis unexpectedly appears and interrupts Sohal, the discourse surrounding the premiere is analysed to show how the work was framed through a lens of assimilation and Englishness, raising uncomfortable questions about race. Situating its methodology at the intersection of musicology and media studies, and responding to Georgina Born’s critique of post-Bourdieu sociology, the chapter demonstrates how the aesthetic object itself, the score, functions as a primary voice within this broader cultural and institutional discourse.

Item Type:	Book Section
Dates:	Date Event 25 March 2026 Accepted
Subjects:	CAH25 - design, and creative and performing arts > CAH25-02 - performing arts > CAH25-02-02 - music
Divisions:	Royal Birmingham Conservatoire > Royal Birmingham Conservatoire - Music
Depositing User:	Gemma Tonks
Date Deposited:	01 Apr 2026 11:02
Last Modified:	01 Apr 2026 11:02
URI:	https://www.open-access.bcu.ac.uk/id/eprint/16952

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