Vexations Reimagined 2020
(15 minutes)
In response to Kathy Hinde's Vexing Responses (alongside her Vexations Livestream), I reimagined Erik Satie's piece as if all 840 cycles are played (almost) simultaneously. Featuring Kathy Hinde playing the piano.
Tidal Iterations 2019
(24 minutes)
These pieces were written in relation to the tidal movements in an estuary. Ideas of reiteration and superimposition are explored by way of using a single melodic motif and placing it in different relationships in terms of pitch and time to reflect the changes in flow, direction and height in regards to the tides.
Initially written as a string quartet, then for clarinet, piano and cello (Plus/Minus) and for medium sized ensemble. I am currently writing an iteration for solo viola.
Tidal Iteration 2 was performed on 6th June 2019 by Plus Minus Ensemble in a workshop at Bath Spa University.
Mark Knoop - piano
Alice Purton - cello
Vicky Wright - clarinet
I have been working on a series of pieces informed by the tides in the Severn estuary. The next piece will essentially be a canon taking information from tide charts from five locations along the estuary, the piece echoes the relative movement of water along the river. The parts which describe the height and flow of the water move in and out of phase with each other. The listener can affect how this phasing is heard as they move between performers and so change the location of the central point of focus.
After Kurtag 2018/9
(4 1/2 minutes)
Written for oboe and brass quartet. Takes the first nine bars from Kurtag's Hommage A Mihaly Andras (1978) for string quartet, using this as a starting point for the piece. Each subsequent cycle contains one bar but the piece is slowed so that each repetition has the same duration.
Coming Up For Air, 2018
Coming Up For Air uses an audio recording of a foetal heart beat to underscore the piece. The audio track gradually slows; not fast enough to immediately notice but enough to realise that the piece has been decelarating. The length of some sections is defined by the length of the clarinetist's breath. Within the duration of the clarinetist' breath, the performers play a melody described by paper hearts which are dropped onto a very large stave on the floor. These hearts have no time value so the melody played takes o a 'fuzzy" line. This contrasts and seperates the tightly written sections in-between. It has been performed in a workshop setting by members of Plus Minus. For piano, cello and clarinet.