Characterful • Acoustic • Explorative
Solo Bassoon (May 2019) 3’30”
Psappha Ensemble // Composing for: Bassoon // Bassoonist: Ben Hudson
Compos Mentis, the useful Latin phrase we’ve held onto, translates literally into English as ‘of sound mind’. This fast and fluid solo for bassoon primarily stems from a background of listening to bebop music and its lucid tangling phrases and wild imagination. The swing is a fundamental element to the piece as might be expected, but frequent exchanges with straight, compound and tuplet rhythms add to its developed identity, keeping the feel fresh and evolving. Dynamism in pitch and volume is also exploited, with coats of colour from timbral techniques splashed onto a melody that explores and recycles itself freely and evocatively in a post-modal mindset.
This work was written for Ben Hudson in 2019 as part of the Psappha Composing For: Bassoon project.
Ben Hudson and the composers of Composing For: Bassoon, 2019.
Symphonic Brass (April 2017) 4’45”
The RWCMD SYmphonic Brass Ensemble // American Originals
Sounds from the Sacred Harp was commissioned for the American Originals concert in the Dora Stoutzker Concert Hall (February 2017) as the last creation from a prosperous partnership between the composer and RWCMD Symphonic Brass. Initial inspiration for this piece came from the profound archaic recordings of Alabaman Sacred Harp singers from the Lomax Collection in the American Folklife Centre at the Library of Congress. The composition presents a rich and embellished reimagining of three admired Sacred Harp songs, including Windham, David’s Lamentation and I’m Going Home. The raw qualities of the stark harmonies and booming communal vocalists that feature in the source material resonate particularly successfully with brass and provide a vivid pallet for crafting a novel compositional postcard of this fascinating corner of American music.
The Library of Congress Archive of Folk and Culture - Sacred Harp Singing. Inspiration to Sounds of the Sacred Harp.
(Formerly Fanfare for Fireworks)
Symphonic Brass (October 2015) 2’00”
The RWCMD SYmphonic Brass Ensemble
The Resonant Hoard (Fanfare for Fireworks) was commissioned by Kevin Price and the RWCMD Symphonic Brass Ensemble, primarily to feature as the opening spectacle to the annual Fireworks Night Concert in the Dora Stoutzker Hall. The piece stands out for its grandiose demeanor and implicit quartal harmony sound, panned across the ensemble’s wide range for striking effect. It is structured in a ternary form with themes and exploration; in which bright blasts, rolling melodies and chiming antiphony punctuate its journey. Influences for the work highlight a French connection, alluding to the wind works of Paul Dukas and Igor Stravinsky. The Resonant Hoard received further performance at the ‘Burning Bright’ RWCMD showcase concert in Cardiff, January 2016.
The RWCMD Symphonic Brass Ensemble
Big Band (May 2014) 4’30”
DEFUNKT
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy…
Flute, T. Recorder, Horn and Viola (March 2022) 3’00”
ParaOrchestra // CODI LEAD // Ty Cerdd
Read about CoDI: Lead and listen to the workshopped piece at the Ty Cerdd website.
CoDI: Lead rehearsals at Ty Cerdd Studio
Voice and Piano (April 2018) 3’15”
Ludlow English Song Weekend // Young Composers’ Workshop // Nicole Boardman & Conal Bembridge Sayers
Australian Henry Lawson’s 1906 poem of the same name inspired this piece, for its perceptive and universal message delivered on anecdotally personal terms. It appears as consequential of today as it would have one hundred years ago. Pensive in tone, this setting distinctively presents a fusion of western folk forms and contours, combined with tonal foundations from jazz technique, using extended tension harmony and substitute chord progressions to colour its mood.
The Things We Dare Not Tell was written for the Ludlow English Song Weekend 2018 Young Composers Showcase, where it was performed by Nicole Boardman and Conal Bembridge Sayers.
Speaking about The Things we Dare not Tell at the Ludlow showcase event, 2018.
Wind Quintet (June 2016) 5’30”
Zephyrus Quintet // Quiberon Festival of Music
Taking its name from the internet bred acronym for ‘in case you missed it’, this micro-movement made chamber piece brings the inspiration of summertime in the Worcestershire countryside to life in three nostalgic daydreams from the mind of the composer. A spritely first movement sees flowing melodic lines interweave at play, distracted by curiosities along their way. A slow middle movement assumes the (far too common) rainy day; more adrift in temper, but soaked with rich flowering harmonies. An encompassing third movement adds a redeeming lease of life, encouraging exploration of motivic pathways and articulated switching complex rhythms. ICYMI was commissioned by the Zephyrus Quintet, originally for performance within the Quiberon Festival of Music 2016 in the west of France.
The Zephyrus Quintet having performed ICYMI in 2017.
Euphonium Quartet (February 2016) 6’45”
Eu4ia
Ragaworks is a colourful euphonium quartet written after a personal exploration into North Indian classical music and its encompassing modern Indian culture. This piece, which follows a traditionally inspired exploratory structure, is built from sections using the Raga tonal systems. Weaving melody lines and ornamentation feature heavily within the quartet, representing the character of traditional soloists and the often improvised passing of the Raga within their ensemble. The musical style's legacy then affects the development of the music, with unique interpretations and even a Bollywood influenced touch included. Ragaworks aims to celebrate a fusion of different musical mediums in an exhibition written to exploit the qualities of the euphonium quartet.
Grant Jameson has also excitingly recorded the work as a soloist.
Workshopping Ragaworks ideas with EU4IA.
Chamber Orchestra (January 2015) 1’20”
RWCMD Composers’ Orchestra
Since falling in love with the Isle of Wight theme park Blackgang Chine as a child, I have held a particularly fond memory of the mystical banquet scene in its fantasy inspired Rumpus Mansion, most notably because of the looping soundtrack that plays through the small speakers above you. After searching for answers, the seemingly composerless musical theme gripped me to the extent that I decided I just had to be able to hear it outside the park. In 2015, I arranged the parts as accurately as I could from a ropey phone recording and my memory, scoring for a private recording session. I contently shared my results with fellow enthusiasts on tribute forums online.
Symphony Orchestra (April 2021) 6’00”
Royal Scottish National Orchestra // Composers’ Hub 2019:20 // Stuart MacRae
The RSNO ready for the delayed Composers’ Hub 2019:20 in one of their first rehearsals back after the pandemic.
Symphony Orchestra (March 2017) 4’30”
BBC National Orchestra of Wales // Composition: Wales 2017 // Cond. B. Tommy Anderson
Designed with an emphasis on impact, Do Not Go Gentle packs a lot of punch into its short duration to provide an encapsulating vivacity to any programme. The piece pursues a three part structure, exploring oscillations in the building of textural, rhythmic and harmonic energy with a stimulating dynamic range. The opening exposition outlines the processed tonality that provides the backbone to the work, whilst repeatedly swelling, eventually to a climactic release. A central passage expands melodic notions, decorated with kaleidoscopic accompanying timbres, which itself sizes up stirringly before dissolving into the final recapitulating section. Familiar material is revisited here with the same clarity and precision, as the final surges grow into an explosive coda.
“Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight, And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way, Do not go gentle into that good night.” - Dylan Thomas
Do Not Go Gentle was written for the BBC National Orchestra of Wales Composition: Wales 2017 composers’ project and is dedicated to Peter Reynolds.
Please contact to hear the complete recording!
Rehearsing Do Not Go Gentle with B. Tommy and the orchestra in BBC Hoddinott Hall, 2017.
Voice & Piano (April 2016) 4’45”
Music Theatre Wales // Make an Aria 2016 // Llio Evans & Michael Rafferty
Written for the Music Theatre Wales’ ‘Make an Aria’ composer and writer initiative, The Unwanted Wife is an aria for female voice with piano accompaniment from a hypothetical opera derived by Daniel Soley and Pey Pey Oh. The impactful moment described by the aria is a reflective and revelatory scene, referencing themes of polygamy, jealousy, Indonesian culture and migration. The music’s rich, agile and sprawling makeup represents a meld of musical matter inspired by pentatonicism and the free atonal compositions of early Arnold Schoenberg, along with modern operatic vocal techniques and rhythmic array. Demanding technicality and a desire for stage spectacle allows the music to serve the poignant drama. The Unwanted Wife premiered in an open workshop and performance by Llio Evans and Michael Rafferty at the Dora Stoutzker Concert Hall in June 2016. Composer Stuart MacRae and director Michael McCarthy mentored the project.
The writers, composers and performers of Make an Aria 2016.
Symphonic Brass (March 2015) 1’00”
The Royal Battalion The Welsh Guards & The RWCMD SYmphonic Brass Ensemble
Commissioned by Major Kevin Roberts, Fanfare for the Welsh Guards was written for the 2015 centennial celebrations of the Royal Battalion the Welsh Guards and was premiered by members of the Welsh Guards Band and the RWCMD Symphonic Brass Ensemble at a gala event in Cardiff.
Inspired by the history of the Guards and traditional welsh music, the fanfare has gone on to enjoy further performances across Wales at occasions including the Kidwelly Castle 900 Years Celebration, the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble Awards, the ‘Northern Lights’ symphonic brass concert in the Dora Stoutzker Hall and the 2015 RWCMD Graduation Ceremony in St. David’s Hall. In February 2016, Fanfare for the Welsh Guards was chosen to feature in the prestigious Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama’s Gala Showcase for HRH the Prince of Wales at Buckingham Palace.
