ensemble & orchestra
if this is all we have
for chamber orchestra
2023 | 5’
1.1.2.1— 2.1.0.0. — Strings 7.7.5.4.2.
Commissioned by Kammerakademie Potsdam with funding from the Ernst von Siemens Musikstiftung
Premiered by the Kammerakademie Potsdam, conducted by Finnegan Downie Dear, Potsdam 09. December 2023
(were the ruins still there)
for ensemble
2023 | 12’
fl, a. fl, 2cl (1=b.cl), 2tpt, perc, 2vn, 2va, 2vc, db
Commissioned by ACHT BRÜCKEN / Musik für Köln and the Podium Gegenwart of the German Music Council for the European Workshop of Contemporary Music
The signs of erosion and weathering in our inner and outer landscapes speak of our forgetting
and of an absence.
Chords shifting.
Swaying.
(N)ever-changing.
The holes, the spaces that take hold in our memories.
“…was the ruin still there where you hid as a child…”
Samuel Beckett That Time
Performances: European Workshop of Contemporary Music, Rüdiger Bohn (cond.) at:
- ACHT BRÜCKEN Festival Köln, April 2023
- Warsaw Autumn Festival, September 2023
The field is woven
for orchestra
2018 | 13’
2fl (1=picc, 2=a.fl), 2ob, 2cl (2=b.cl), bsn, c.bsn - 2hn, 2tpt, tbn, b.tbn - 2perc - strings
Commissioned by BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra with funding from the PRS Composers’ Fund
In a 1963 review of Agnes Martin’s recent paintings, Donald Judd wrote:
the horizontal lines go through, but the irregular vertical gaps between the rows of dashes are dominant. The field is woven.
Embedded in the meaning of woven and weaving is a sense of movement in and out, and repeatedly from side to side.
The field is woven explores the delicately shifting dynamics of intimacy and space within the orchestra.
Performances:
- BBCSSO & Ilan Volkov (cond.) at Tectonics, Glasgow 2018 (premiere)
- Stavanger Symfoniorkester & Ilan Volkov (cond.) at Only Connect, Stavanger, Norway 2019
- Orchestre Philharmonique Luxembourg & Ilan Volkov (cond. )at Rainy Days Festival, Luxembourg 2019
- WDR Sinfonieorchester & Manuel Nawri (cond.) at Funkhaus Köln, Germany 2022
- HfM Saar Orchester & Manuel Nawri (cond.), 2022
- Royal Northern Sinfonia & Dinis Sousa (cond.), 2024
Between
for ensemble
2017 | 5’
fl, cl, perc, vln, vla, vc, db
Commissioned by the Crash Ensemble
with funding from the Arts Council of Ireland
my way is in the sand flowing
between the shingle and the dune…
Samuel Beckett
Between was written for the Crash Ensemble’s 20th anniversary project, CrashLands. It was first performed at a former prison on Spike Island, just off the coast of Cork.
Performances:
- Crash Ensemble, Safe Harbour Festival, Cork, Ireland 2017 (premiere)
- Metapraxis, London, UK 2019
- Badisches Staatskapelle & Ulrich Wagner (cond.), Karlsruhe, Germany 2024
Always again
for two pianos and ensemble
2014 | 14’
2pf - 1.1.1.0. - 1.1.(= flugelhorn)1.0. - 3perc - 1.1.1.1.1.
Commissioned by Kate Halsall with funding
from the RVW Trust
NB. there is also a version for two pianos and one perc
Premiere:
-Kate Halsall & Fumiko Miyachi (pianos), Chimera Ensemble & James Whittle (cond.) hcmf//, Huddersfield, UK 2014
CD: a recording of the version for two pianos and percussion is available on Miniaturised Concertos
Obstinare
for ensemble
2003 | 6’
fl, ob, cl, hp, pf, vn, vc
Performances:
- London Sinfonietta, London, UK 2003 (premiere)
- Ensemble Linea & Philippe Wurtz (cond.), Festival Musica, Strasbourg, France 2007