Reflections
Composer's Comments
I've recently finished a set of songs for baritone and piano based on poems by Tatyana Voltskaya, translated from the original Russian into English. One of her particularly atmospheric poems describes an extreme winter landscape, and I have used her imagery as inspiration for these brief sketches. There is one simple harmonic idea behind the piece: to combine groups of white notes with groups black notes - although this makes more sense if you are sitting at sitting at a piano!
The low clouds, the shreds of dry grass,
Beet leaves tufting behind the decayed fence,
The gravel path staggering blind-drunk down:
This is no English landscape, sleek as fine china,
With ancestral oaks and the family silver of a brook:
No: here the snare of a dropped fir branch
Lies across every path, trees hold charred stumps
In their midst like blackened teeth:
And in fields there´s no help from the storm-crossed showers
That have it in for everyone, even God
(translated Catriona Kelly)
First Movement:
'The low clouds, the shreds of dry grass'
Here I've combined floating duets, free and tentative at first but getting more sure as the movement progresses. It begins with a moderate speed that leads into a more rhythmic, dry and aggressive passage. On the score, ' trees hold charred stumps In their midst like blackened teeth' indicates the return of the duets, which build to a tam tam strike before returning to the opening sounds.
Second Movement:
Here I've combined floating duets, free and tentative at first but getting more sure as the movement progresses. It begins with a moderate speed that leads into a more rhythmic, dry and aggressive passage. On the score, ' trees hold charred stumps In their midst like blackened teeth' indicates the return of the duets, which build to a tam tam strike before returning to the opening sounds.
Second Movement:
This brief movement takes one reference from the poem - 'This is no English landscape' - and tries to create a mood that yearns for all things English. There's a rising pattern of 2nd inversion chords against a tune that falls until the two collide. There follows the briefest of reprises before this short movement ends.
Third Movement:
'The gravel path staggering blind-drunk down'
This is a fast, fugal movement. The cymbals are played with brushes to start up a rhythmic, drunken and disjointed dance, and the wind players gradually build up the volume and texture towards an abrupt resolution. Listen out for the vibraphone which takes its falling figure from the first movement and uses it as a commentary on the surrounding madness.
'The gravel path staggering blind-drunk down'
This is a fast, fugal movement. The cymbals are played with brushes to start up a rhythmic, drunken and disjointed dance, and the wind players gradually build up the volume and texture towards an abrupt resolution. Listen out for the vibraphone which takes its falling figure from the first movement and uses it as a commentary on the surrounding madness.
Reflections had a natural progression, each movement flowing onto the next - and I loved the conclusion
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Anthony's website: www.antbailey.com
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Reflections...
Tim Ellis
Philharmonia Doodles
Composer's Comments
These three modest pieces were written specifically for the event. I wanted to explore a low dynamic level and specific technical issues. They represent “works in progress”.
The first doodle explores a melodic line opening out into something more harmonic.
The second is scherzo like. This time the melodic line is used more obsessively avoiding a harmonising the melody. The function of instrumental colour propels the music, not any usual structural device.
The final doodle is made up of mirrors. The piece is not a perfect palindrome. I wanted to see how obvious ´fractured´ mirror forms would sound when performed.
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Philharmonia Doodles...
Alan Hilton
Fanfare and Scherzo
Composer's Comments
This piece originated from desire to break free of 'traditional' style classical/romantic music. The intention was to use irregular rhythms, and avoid scale passages and diatonic triads. The mental picture of two boxers sparring, sometimes imitating and occasionally surprising each other came to mind. The boxers are introduced by a brief fanfare and, equally briefly, advised by the referee. Later, a short smoother section gives all three participants a bit of a breather before the end of the round. It was originally written for two trumpets and a trombone (without the 'breather' passage).
Other Comments
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Fanfare and Scherzo...
Allen Wilson
Adagio
Composer's Comments
I composed my piece originally for 4 horns .You may remember that you said at the time I would have to score them for the instruments which would play at the event.I did my best and sent them off and was delighted to be chosen.
I do not have access to any orchestra or musicians to play any music that I compose and only listen to them on the computer. However,listening to them being played 'properly' was quite something and the comments informative.
I am now in the process of re-scoring the piece and adding a string quartet ,and taking into account the comments of the players the piece may be a lot better.
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Adagio...
Laurence Rose
Four Little Pieces
Composer's Comments
Four Little Pieces are miniatures that have a close relationship because they largely use the same note rows, although each successive piece has some notes removed from the previous row. They were written around the time Radio 3 was celebrating the life and works of Anton Webern, on the 60th anniversary of his death and are a kind of homage.
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Four Little Pieces...
Daniel Barkley
Poems for Winds
Composer's Comments
My piece Poem for Winds is an abstract work for wind ensemble.It's a simple piece in ternary form, in a moderate tempo.I feel the simplicity of the piece gives it a natural charm, with some of the sounds even reflecting those of nature.The piece has 3 main sections. An A section, a B section and a repeat of the A section.The return, at the end, of the A section (and the return of the original key) brings a feeling of finality and conclusion.
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Poem for Winds...
Partrick Browne
Never A Crossword
Composer's Comments
Never a Crossword was inspired by Tudor part-song books, in which all four parts are printed on the same page and are read from different directions. In this case, however, the staves are extended so they intersect.
Never a Crossword is for any four instruments. Each player takes a different part and reads the staves conventionally, left to right, top to bottom. Each part is read in the normal clef and key for that instrument. Each intersection of two staves, and the gap following it, represents two ´bars´ of music.
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Never A Crossword...
Paul Burnell
Buffing Up
Composer's Comments
I was able to borrow a friend´s vibraphone for a day and so the starting point for ´Buffing Up´ was a vibraphone riff, which is repeated many times during the piece. Over the top of this riff, the other instruments play a melody which shrinks each time it is repeated, and is punctuated by energetic pulsed moments. The repeating riff on a the shiny tone bars of the vibraphone, together with the diminishing melodic phrases reminded me of the action of polishing a car - hence the title ´Buffing Up´.
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Buffing Up...
Ron Holley
Schoenberg's Nightmare
Composer's Comments
The piece is constructed from several 12 tone serials in melody and harmony, but the harmonic cells are consonant throughout. It opens with three chords for vibraphone containing all 12 tones; otherwise it is in B and C major, keys which contain all 12 tones between them. As a result, it sounds tonal: to poke fun at serialism, the final bars are a chromatic scale in C - a 12 tone serial with no tone repeated.
The nightmare was to be Schoenberg's not Peter Fry's but only a synthesiser can play the vibraphone part at the required tempo and dynamics!
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Schoenberg's Nightmare...
Nicholas Skedgell
Divertimento
Composer's Comments
The piece represented here is the first movement of a 3 movement work. Inspired by the Autumn 05 Composers Resource session, it now becomes the middle work of a larger collection: 3 Divertimenti for Winds (the First for 3 winds, the Second for 4, and the Third for 5).
Generally, each of the three works follows a grouping of three movements (fast, slow, fast), with the exception of the Divertimento for 5 Winds (moderate, fast, slow, fast).
The use of the title Divertimento is not used to suggest traditional light amusements, but more as diversions (of varying character and mood) that distract and capture the listener's attention.
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Divertimento...
Andrew Rosciszewski
Romance
Composer's Comments
Romance is a highly expressive work set in the key of G minor. The melodic group consisting of the three notes G, A, Bb, which figures prominently, is to be interpreted as a musical anagram made of the intials G, A, R, A. From this combination of three (really four) notes there are numerous melodic threads which are weaved in and around each other, uncertain of where one begins and another ends. The motive is first introduced by solo clarinet over the ghostly, haunting lonliness of the french horn. The oboe echoes the motive of the clarinet which is transformed by the horn. Various augmentations and diminutions follow, other melodies grow and evolve until they build into an intense cry of grief only to be resolved to its previous beauty. The original motive returns until the french horn echoes the three notes repeatedly over a descending bassoon line and sustained chords in the vibraphone and winds until at last, peace.
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Romance...