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Now is a work for chamber orchestra that was written for the last Futures project.

The
project involved 4 composers working with designers and artists from the GSA and
members of the CCP course to create a work that reacted to the legacy of the political
revolutions that occurred in 1968. Each composer chose a reaction to social change to
explore in their piece; I chose the initial impetus behind social change and the coalescing of
people and ideas to spark revolution. Now starts in a liminal, nowhere space with a melody
in the bass clarinet which is taken by the other instruments who interpret the melody in
their own way, reminiscent of Gaelic psalm singing of the Isle of Lewis. The entries of the
instruments become more disparate and individual, everyone in agreement but with no
order to their thought. Suddenly the guitar, electric organ and saxophone play a driving
rhythm that slowly builds up from underneath the texture. Whilst still individuals, the
strings and remaining winds start to lock in to the now prominent pulse. The strings, who
were playing large unison ‘added note’ chords now break away into interlocking rhythms
which grow more and more intricate and complex. The winds play their own interlocking
rhythm until the ensemble reaches breaking point and snap into con legno battuto strings
driving forward with powerful quavers. Three groups of actors with megaphones call for
action, the orchestra shouting with them. The piece then drops into a large intricate web of
parts all centres around the rhythm that the organ and sax started at the beginning. The
ideas have come together as one. Over the top of this the brass play a chorale version of the
melody from the opening. Sax and organ rhythm then takes over and and is played phased
in all the parts except for the basses keeping the initial melody alive. This builds until a final
shout of Now from the orchestra before the piece ends

The sonatete for French horn and guitar started as a sort of commission. I have many
friends that are French horn players and they constantly complained that they were bored
of playing the standard repertoire required of them and wanted something new and
unusual. Horn and piano is a much used combination so I suggested that another
instrument should accompany. I had heard unusual combinations whilst trawling the web
but a version of a marcello piece for horn and guitar caught my ear. I liked the soft tone of
both the instruments. I had written a short perpetuo for mandolin solo a few weeks
precious and I thought to arrange and expand it as an orchestrational experiment. This
formed the first movement of the sonatete, a classic two instrument, 3 movement sonata
but much shorter. After the barrage of the first movement The second movement explores
the softer and more lyrical qualities of both the instruments, as well as the horns’ low range.
The final movement is another barrage this time of rhythmic hits rather than semiquaver
lines. The previous 2 movements are combined in the more subdued B section before the
percussive slaps of the A section are brought back before a brief coda that ends on almost a
mic drop of a final chord

3 Matches combines my love of spoken word poetry and my love of music. This piece was
based on a setting of a Simon Armitage poem from the Book ‘Book of Matches’, an
anthology of short poems in which he tells the story of his life in the ephemeral time that it
takes for a match to burn down. The orginal version had me speaking the poem but I didn’t
connect with the material very well and so decided to write my own matches to set. The
first is based on a heavy hip-hop like beat with airy sections in the middle to contrast the
version of me that I hold in my head and the version of me that exists in the real world. The
second movement I split into three parts each based on characters that I invent when I see
people through their living room windows with a different feel and harmonic field
depending on the character. The last movement is a barnstorming ending with small solo
passages for each of the string trio. This movement is in the format of a strophic song
bringing the elements of popular music that inspire me to the piece

The love song of Count von Cosel is a piece for accordion and is based on the story of Carl
Tanzer, a radiology technician living in Florida in the 1930’s who fell in love with Elena de
Hoyos, who unfortunately died and then proceeded to dig up and live with her decomposing
corpse. The piece is based on the song that Tanzer, who referred to himself as Count Von
Cosel, thought he heard coming from Elenas’ grave; the tune is called La Boda Negra and is,
coincidentally, about a mortician that digs up the body his love and takes her home. The
piece starts with a hammer horror organ style introduction with the performer breathing
ominously. It takes a turn for the sweet in the B section of the song, the love part of the love
song, made grotesque by the performers increasingly raspy and beleaguered breaths. Then
comes a waltz and a tango as Tanzler… well this is fairly self-explanatory. After a dark and
brooding build-up of atonal material the piece breaks into the final love song, the heart
wrenching ballad of a necrophilia in love. I chose the accordion because I wanted to
juxtapose at all times the macabre nature of the story with the form in which it is told; many
a couple in almost any European country have kissed in the moonlight to the sweet
romantic sounds of the accordion, this should still be true even if your lover is a cadaver.

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