Here’s another piece of mine from the past: written in 1987 and first performed in February 1988, it was commissioned by the Colchester Chamber Orchestra (conductor Christopher Phelps) with funds provided by Eastern Arts. The rest of the programme was the Rodrigo Concerto di Aranjuez for guitar, and Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony – and I can’t remember the reason for the choice of ‘no woodwind’ for my three-movement concert opener, but it certainly gave me a particular musical focus and the opportunity for some colourful textures.
I think that the scoring must have suggested to me a kind of contrast between the brass (in this case two horns and two trumpets) and the strings (normal orchestral forces) with the percussion in the middle, perhaps as a kind of umpire or commentator. Now the most comfortable keys for brass instruments are on the flat side – F, B flat and E flat major– whereas for the strings the sharp keys lie under the fingers more naturally – G, D, A and E major. So this suggested a harmonic contrast as well as a textural one, which I exploited in a number of ways.
The first movement, marked ‘fast and precise’, introduces the basic contrasts and ideas common to the whole work. There is a steady pulse but fluctuating metre, and the low strings and percussion determinedly repeat their sharp-side chords while the brass interrupt with flat-key held notes, and then this moves into a more fugal section with much instrumental interplay ending with fragments of the material thrown around the three instrumental groups.
The second movement has a very different feel and is marked ‘slow and mournfully’. Again the contrasting keys are exploited, and the pulse is steady, but here there is a sense of slow growth achieved by melodic shaping both in the brass and strings, sometimes simultaneously, but at other times punctuated by brass/percussion chords seemingly unrelated rhythmically to the strings, or by relaxed fluctuating string chords as accompaniment to the more decorative brass melodies – all underpinned by low timpani rolls and colourful pitched percussion. (In my sketches, which unusually I have kept, I can see plans and matrices – a little Birtwistle-like…)
The third movement is marked ‘fast and lively’ and, I wrote in the programme note, ‘presents material that we have already heard before, but now in a more dance-like manner’. Actually I’d defy anyone to dance to it, as the metre changes almost every bar at the beginning, though it does bounce along a bit more regularly later on. What is a little different to before is that in this movement there is more of a sense of rapprochement between the two keys, and thus, after a slower interlude, achieving a final feeling of resolution. Listening again now, I can see ways I might have done it differently – but there we are!
The image is of part of the second movement.
I prepared the scrolling score of this piece very recently, using the recording of the first (and only) performance in 1988 and the handwritten manuscript of the score. I hadn’t listened to it for many years, and it was good to revisit it again. Although the performance is accurate and skilful, there are balance issues, which may partly be due to the recording, but it perhaps needs a larger string group for the brass and strings to be perfectly balanced. Hope you enjoy it!