Rough chronology of compositions
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2016
Nebula IC 434 |
A piece of short electronic music aimed at children. I thought that I would keep the sonorities interesting and diverse; they include contrabasson, prepared piano and ondes martenot! The fairly straightforward style is intended to stimulate visual interpretations.
IC 434 is a bright emission nebula in the constellation Orion. It was discovered on 1 February 1786 by William Herschel. |
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2016
Passing Bells |
Another very short piece of electronic music (fixed media). It takes bell sounds from many sources, processes them, and plays them in ways that would not be practical for real instruments.
A passing bell rings to announce a death. The funeral procession with strange ancestral images and trophies approaches. It is included in the album Sn (Stannum): Experimental electronic music (Janus Music & Sound, JMS-011). Bell metal is 22% tin, 78% copper by mass. |
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2016
Prière de la fourmi |
One of several pieces that were inspired by Prayers from inside the Ark (Prières dans l'Arche) the poems by Carmen Bernos de Gasztold. Prière de la fourmi (Prayer of the Ant) was selected in Les Pois Music Office call for scores 2016. The premiere was at Kyoto Art Center in Japan on 8 September 2016.
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2016
Watching in the White Sunshine |
This percussion trio won third prize in New Sound Publications' 2016 Call for Scores. Lineage Percussion played the premier at the University of Georgia on 29 April 2016.
‘Watching in the white sunshine’ is a quote from the 1924 poem The Gentle Water Bird by John Shaw Neilson, a poet born in Panolla, South Australia. The poem describes his transition from a fearful, thunder-blue state of mind to the pure white, joyous light as he observed a water bird.
The percussion trio was written for the Lineage Percussion in 2016, and is inspired by the calls of Australian birds. In the first movement, ‘By the water,’ the quiet, reclusive Australian reed warbler sings its complicated song from its hiding-place near the water. In the second movement, dawn is announced by the abrupt call of the Eastern yellow robin. The grey butcherbird then sings its long liquid song of short bubbling phrases played on tom-toms, echoed by the marimba. The third movement, ‘Rainforest,’ is more exotic. The strange-sounding Eastern whipbird stands out from the indistinct, dark background under the tree canopy. The calls of the dusty Emu in the fourth movement, ‘In the bush,’ hardly sound like birdsong. The strange elusive grunts sound through the hot, dry land and then fade away. |
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2016
Cantus |
This concerto mouvement for euphonium and strings was a finalist in III International Composition Award 'Ciudad de Orihuela' The finalists' concert was scheduled for 9 April at “La Lonja” Concert Hall, Orihuela (Comunitat Valenciana - Spain), but has been postponed.
The piece is based on the plainchant 'Christi miles gloriosus' used at the feast of St Vincent. He is the patron saint of the Comunitat Valenciana. I also used one of my favourite ingredients, birdsongs from that area of Spain. |
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2016
Three Haiku after Bashô |
These three pieces are for violin, flute and trombone and were played by members of Red Note Ensemble In Edinburgh in January 2016.
The three sections are:
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2015
Two Prayers from inside the Ark for viola da gamba and piano |
These two pieces are awaiting recording and/or performance as part of the 2015 VdG (viola da gamba) Call for Scores.
I. Prière du ver luisant II. Prière du papillon Carmen Bernos de Gasztold was a French nun of Lithuanian descent. Prières dans L'Arche (Prayers from inside the Ark) were intended for children, and are imaginative and moving views of what the various animals in the Ark might ask for.
These two prayers are from the scatter-brained butterfly and the feeble glow-worm. |
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2015
Two Prayers from inside the Ark for solo viola |
Prayers from inside the Ark (Prières dans l'Arche) the poems by Carmen Bernos de Gasztold have inspired several several pieces. Two Prayers from inside the Ark is for solo viola and consist of:
I. Prière du petit poisson rouge II. Prière du chat. |
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2015
Leise flehen die Lieder |
This solo piano piece was written for a Composer’s Voice concert series at Symphony Space on 24 October 2015. It was part of the Vox Novus festival celebrating 15 years of new music.
Stephen Porter played the recital with the theme Re-Imagining Schubert. Although it may not sound like it, Leise flehen die Lieder (The songs beckon softly) is derived from Schubert's songs. An accompanying figure from one, characteristic motifs from several places, harmonies from others. These are worked up into a repeating form like those Schubert used. |
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2015
Danse et sarabande |
Two pieces for fixed electroacousic media (La danse de l'âme and La sarabande du corps) chosen for a project in 2016 to add music to the philosopher Jean-Luc Nancy reading from 58 indices sur le corps
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2015
Six Haiku after Bashô |
This piece for percussion quartet second prize in the "Nothing with Wheels" call for scores in 2015 of the Portland Percussion Group. Percussion instruments without wheels means there are no xylophones, marimbas or vibraphones or other large, tuned instruments.
The six movements are: 1 A cuckoo 2 Lightning 3 Spring rain 4 Autumn storm 5 Temple bell 6 A cicada shell. The Portland Percussion Group has played Six Haiku in a couple of venue in Portland in the summer of 2015. |
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2015
Pekham Pastorale (Re:CHORDS) |
This is my contribution to Re:CHORDS, a collaborative piece for strings, commissioned by The Peckham Chamber Orchestra, and played at their August 2015 concert.
I called my section Peckham Pastorale. |
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2015
Shadowed from heaven's eye |
This was first written in 2014 for on-line mictotonal music, (mp3 version) .
The first performance of the version for piano and wind quintet will be played by London New Wind Festival Ensemble on 9 October 2018 at Burgh House, Hampstead, London. Shadowed from heaven's eye was inspired by a performance of Titus Andronicus. Shakespeare's first tragedy is a violent story where cycles of revenge result in rape, murder and disfigurement. The most violent actions in the play are done "shadowed from heaven's eye" in a forest near Rome. By the end of the play, all the main characters have killed each other. Shadowed from heaven's eye is a passacaglia . It is written in an octatonic mode consisting of two interlocked diminished chords a quarter tone apart. This provides two types of tritone-like intervals that are prominent in the passacaglia theme. The tonality of Shadowed from heaven's eye shifts between the two diminished-chord tone centres. The piano part uses a more conventional chromatic mode. |
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2014
Valse vocale |
Valse vocale was written for Aurae, a flute and soprano duo (now called conText). They played it at a concert on 23 November 2014 at Jan Hus Church, New York City, with a repeat the Elebash Recital Hall, City University of New York. The theme of the concert was La Belle Époque (from the end of the Franco-Prussian War in 1871 to the outbreak of World War I in 1914), and Aurae commissioned 15 one-minute pieces via the 'Fifteen Minutes of Fame' programme.
The 15 minutes were recorded an put on YouTube. |
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2014
What song the Syrens sang |
This electroacoustic piece was written for a performance on St Pete's Beach, Florida at sunset on 21 November 2014. It is scored for alto flute and an ensemble including le cistal Baschet; a bit impractical for live perfomance, but a vibraphone is a possible alternative. The original version (for low fi earphones) is available form soundcloud, but I have put a high-quality, uncompressed version without extra reverb on bandcamp.
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2014
La valse des ours |
A little present for my partner on Valentine's Day!
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2014
To see a World... |
Originally a solo for percussion, the original intended performer pulled out, but I was happy with the piece. It is based on the song of the robin (Erithacus rubecula), which is mentioned in the Blake poem that supplied the title: 'A Robin Redbreast in a Cage \ Puts all Heaven in a Rage.' The success of this piece inspired a more recent suite for percussion ensemble based on Australian bird songs.
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1984
Remember me (Innocent one) |
The choir of St Michael-le-Belfrey recorded this song on their 1984 album Behold the Man. I sang in the choir for many years. Although I sang on other albums (there is an embarrassing picture of me on the cover of one), I was in New York when Behold the Man was recorded. The album is no longer available, but I have made a string arrangement. Click on the picture to the right.
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1973 (I think)
Children of the King |
Incidental music for a play at school about the Slaughter of the Innocents (King Herod). It was broadcast on BBC Radio and Harlech TV News. I am not sure why there was any interest; perhaps they were looking for a child prodigy, but found a scruffy and uncommunicative adolescent. They broadcast the music, but not the interview.
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A rough MIDI realization of one of the five sections
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There will be more when I have time.
