members

Recollections

We are bounded to some extent by our memories; they form part of who we are. For me composition is often very much concerned with an evocation of time and place. To aid this process I enjoy making sound recordings to become part of a piece or simply to aid reflection or recalling the experience.

 The recordings provide source material for the composition of the piano pieces (for melodic, rhythmic and harmonic ideas). The piano is then recorded and processed along with the other sampled material and electronic sounds. The pieces are essentially contemplative miniatures and influences include jazz, French piano music and the electro-acoustic world. Although the piano is for the most part timbrally separate from the other sound world, the pieces illustrate a concern to investigate moments when the two worlds meet.

I intend to take the exploration further by writing for live keyboards (laptop sampler) and piano. This allows for a degree of more subtle interaction and expressive possibilities than pre-fixed sounds.

Whitby (2003)

This piece was written as part of ‘3 Recollections’ given their first performance in July 2003 as part of the expanding keyboard concert. Although the other pieces are to be revised, this final piece in the work gave me a clear direction for future compositions and I still enjoy it.

The sounds are a blend of sea, snow, ice, birds, and  water sounds which capture the memory  a lovely family New Year holiday by the sea. The sounds form a rhythmic collage with the piano style which is jazzy with a simple lyricism.

 At the Gates of Nessebar (2004)

We hear the Priests and congregation in the Eastern Orthodox church, cicadas, and the unforgettable sound of the Bulgarian pipers who herald the entrance to the City.
These sounds inspired the piano writing which mirrors and expands phrases from the church service, at times using a free quasi-improvisational approach. The difference here is that although the piano is played live it is subsequently processed in the studio which allowed the sounds to be matched in a more precise way than I achieved in the 2003 ‘Recollections’.