list works:
chronologically
alphabetically
orchestral works
large chamber works
small chamber works
theatre / opera
solo works
Detours
I – Echo’s Tape
II – Memory Crash
III – Only the Driver Deserves to be Saved
IV – Lorelei
V – Phoenix
In contemporary music we often seem reluctant to hold the mirror up to our own events and experiences seeming more content or comfortable to search the world for drama,explore Greek myth for narrative and trawl anthologies of twentieth century verse for poetry to set,connecting up with “art” rather than the mundane and ordinary that screws up many of our days.Never write about Brazil if you’ve never been to Brazil ( fiction was always my first interest ).
Detours concerns itself with personal memories and reflections concerning cars and I cant apologise for their confessional nature.The language of the, at present, three works draws upon musical loves and references from genres outside the classical canon , and this reminds me of something a fellow composer said recently which is probably relevant to the the use of these references .In a talk I gave at a recent composition course , he intimated that in this “ironic” age it is very difficult to suggest the musical vernacular without it being misinterpreted as irony (either that or that dreaded misnomer “crossover” ) and this is indeed frustrating if the musical memories that fire your imagination are morning radio , punk or the country and western boom of the early seventies.Particularly in the first and third works irony may perhaps be detected , but the references here are meant to be happily real not ironic.Unsuccessful perhaps but real nevertheless.
Echo’s Tape (1998)
Many years ago after partaking of too much whisky I accidentally found myself in a rather beautiful stranger’s taxi on the way to a party and rather than argue whose cab it was we decided to share it.Two years later after a particularly awful relationship we found ourselves in the same cab, splitting up for the umpteenth time.On the cassette was a country number sweetly sifting into all that wasted negativity and bile.The cars registration code was E .
Memory Crash (1999)
This year, at a particularly emotional moment , my computer blew up.I thought that everything that had not been saved would be lost and in panic I drove the machine to the nearest computer hospital in Glenrothes.The road there from Dundee is an ancient and straight Roman road.There were very few corners to be taken and as such not many decisions.
Only the Driver deserves to be Saved (1998)
It seem important that no matter how fast things appear to be moving you should always try to be in control.
Lorelie (1998)
Before Christmas in 1997 I was involved in a car crash in Sauchiehall Street Glasgow on a busy Saturday night. Thankfully I was not hurt although my car was almost written off. It had not been a good day, I had just split up with a flautist and Glasgow Royal Infirmary casualty department was not the best way to round off the day.
At the time I had been working on a short piece ,Lorelie, and had been doing some research on the subject. What I had always expected to be a genuine Teutonic myth – the ancient German equivalent of the Siren luring sailors to their Rhine soaked doom – turned out disappointedly to be nothing more than a 19th century literary invention filling the void of history and myth with something that seemed to fit. The myth of the Lorelie seemed in fact to be – a myth.
Fitting I suppose whilst trying to find inspiration from a more respectable source. I should have known better – and it fitted my “relationship” with the flautist so nice.
The melodic material for the work features extensive use of Bavarian herding calls using structural devices from the Hogschulle Frumentevert manuals of counterpoint from circa 1657.
It centres around the flute. You know it makes sense…….
Phoenix (1998)
The still underrated Jimmy Webb is one of those singer-songwriters that straddled the ballad and pop worlds without ever fully fitting into either.Generally regarded as one of the best post-war American song-writers many of his songs have slowly become standards.”By the time I get to Phoenix” was taken into the charts by Glen Campbell in 1967 and has been covered numerous times (perhaps most notably by the great Isaac Hayes in a glorious eighteen minute version – now thats brave).
The song was about the end of a love affair and an early morning journey from LA to Phoenix .Later Webb admitted that it was an episode that actually happened the difference being that it was a journey he never made , the song being more about something he would have liked to have had the strength to do.I was in a similar position once the only difference being I didn’t have a car.The piece remembers 3.00am in a Glasgow flat merged with a dream of the Californian plains.
Echos Tape , Driver and Phoenix were commissioned by the Hebrides Ensemble with a financial subsidy from the Scottish Arts Council and premiered by them at the Queens Hall Edinburgh earlier this year , and Memory Crash was written for Psappha and premiered by them earlier this month at Sema Group Concert Hall .
Phoenix (1998)
The still underrated Jimmy Webb is one of those singer-songwriters that straddled the ballad and pop worlds without ever fully fitting into either.Generally regarded as one of the best post-war American song-writers many of his songs have slowly become standards.”By the time I get to Phoenix” was taken into the charts by Glen Campbell in 1967 and has been covered numerous times (perhaps most notably by the great Isaac Hayes in a glorious eighteen minute version – now thats brave).
The song was about the end of a love affair and an early morning journey from LA to Phoenix .Later Webb admitted that it was an episode that actually happened the difference being that it was a journey he never made , the song being more about something he would have liked to have had the strength to do.I was in a similar position once the only difference being I didn’t have a car.The piece remembers 3.00am in a Glasgow flat merged with a dream of the Californian plains.
Echos Tape , Driver and Phoenix were commissioned by the Hebrides Ensemble with a financial subsidy from the Scottish Arts Council and premiered by them at the Queens Hall Edinburgh earlier this year , and Memory Crash was written for Psappha and premiered by them earlier this month at Sema Group Concert Hall .
Detours was commissioned by the Hebrides Ensemble and Psappha with a financial subsidy from the Scottish Arts Council.
Instrumentation
Large ensemble
First Complete Performance
Psappha / Nicholas Kok /Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival 2002