LCO
The Materials & The Calm Work
20/01/10 15:45 Filed under: New Music
This is what its like to work in a vacuum. When there’s no client or boss to tell you the job is done, when the only goal is to effectively express yourself, when there are no limitations to guide you. I need to get better at this.
Anyway, enough of that. I have finished the short little LCO piece, and have just now sent this demo off. It is in the hands of fate whether it gets picked for performance in March - they may not like it for many reasons, but I feel satisfied that I have responded to the brief in my *own* way, aside from the desire to spend the rest of eternity polishing it up and fixing little details, I think it’s more or less there. The only thing I’m not happy about is the instrumentation (chamber orchestra) and the fact that technology is forbidden (I mean, really?). It was inspired by “the Frame House” - a home design and built by architect Marcus Lee (it was featured on Channel 4’s Grand Designs program, to give you an idea of what I’m talking about). The brief was to compose a short piece for chamber ensemble that is inspired by architecture - either the Frame House or another building, the “Hot House” (designed by Cany Ash). Here’s the programme notes I sent along with the scores:
My piece starts with the raw materials, working with them and perhaps even bending them slightly to construct frames around spaces, floors and rooms. The spaces have different functions and house varying levels of activity, yet they are all made of the same stuff and share the same very simplistic design.”
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UPDATE - it wasn’t selected, but I’m cool with it because I think this piece would have a better life with a smaller, plugged in ensemble, like I originally intended.
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Happy New Year! Let the teenies commence...
02/01/10 14:50
Apologies (to the one person who actually reads this blog! Hi Liz), it has been a while since I have written here - I can hardly remember what actually happened in December, I can only remember a blur of flu, snow, christmas concerts, student uni applications and just general end of year stress. It went so quickly, as did the rest of 2009... which, on reflection, I suppose has been a very big year for me. It was around this time last year that I decided to create this site and try to write some music again - I remember announcing it to Matt & Liz on New Year's Eve 2008 at the Roy Ayers Jazz Cafe gig that I wanted to start my PhD over again and be a composer, and amazingly somehow I actually had the balls to give it a proper go rather than leave it as just wishful talk. I really do feel like I’ve come a long way in these last 12 short months. It’s a shame Helzuki didn’t make it, but I suppose that was always going to happen...
2 weeks off work has been wonderful - I’ve been dividing my time between writing music and playing xbox/being a bum. The game “Dragon Age: Origins” temporarily took over my life for about 6 days straight, which was great fun. It’s not often I get the chance to completely geek out like that, and it only happened because I managed to get sick with flu and couldn’t think straight enough to get any other kind of constructive work done. A blessing in disguise! I definitely have a “thing” now for the guy who voiced acted the Alistair character. SWOON.
Music writing wise, I’ve been developing some pieces for piano solo + laptop technology, which has been a real blast putting together. That, and slowly chipping away at the String Quartet (sloooowest composition ever! writing it has been like pulling teeth... but in the end I think it will come together as something i can be proud of)... also the LCO thingy which i will be working on as soon as this blog post is competed. Plenty to do, as always.
I hope everyone who stumbles across this little message has had a wonderful holiday break. Here’s to the Twenty-Teens being the best decade for us yet.
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