Movement for String Quartet - "Surfaces"

Performed by the Dulcinea Quartet, summer 2017.

This is the first of three movements for string quartet. The others are called "Arcs" and "Shadows". Geometrically, a surface is a two-dimensional object possessing area but no thickness. This piece introduces several sonic surfaces in the form of combinations of sounds, and proceeds with their evolution and inter-relationships.

Bone Memories for solo piano

Performed by Ieva Dubova, June 2017. Winner of the John Halford Prize for a composition for solo piano.

While there is no real programme associated with this work, a rather fanciful notion might be memories of sounds of a tolling bell resonating in our bones.

Polar Soundings for chamber choir

Performed by the Trinity Laban Chamber Choir, June 2017.

The British National Antarctic Expedition of 1901-04 was undertaken in the ship, Discovery, under the command of Robert Falcon Scott. Chief Engineer Reginald Skelton was the principal photographer of the Expedition, with other duties that included taking soundings of ocean depths. Skelton’s writings portray the harshness of the conditions, the exhausting work of manhauling sledges of equipment and supplies on the ice, and the beauty and grandeur of the Antarctic landscape. Polar Soundings is based on some few words from Skelton’s journals. As well as a photographer’s eye, Skelton had an ear for the Antarctic; in his own words, “The silence here cannot be understood unless one has heard it”.

Nocturne for Ted for violin and harp

Nocturne for Ted is written for violin and harp. It was written in memory of my brother who died in 2015. I wanted particularly to explore some more unusual harp techniques. Here it is performed by Helena Moore (violin) and Micol Degl’Innocenti (harp) as part of the Old Works – New Works concert at St. Alfege’s Church, April 7, 2016.

Percussion for Two

Percussion for Two is scored for two tam-tams, cymbals and triangle. I chose to explore the wide range of metallic sounds available from these instruments. Here it is performed by Matt Arnold and Laura Prescott at St. Alfege’s Church, July 7, 2016.

Blaze for small orchestra

Blaze's harmonic structure is derived from spectral analysis of some ring modulated sine waves generated by a synthesiser. Here is it performed by the Trinity Laban Contemporary Music Group at the National Maritime Museum, 2016.

Lifecycles for chamber ensemble and electronics

Lifecycles is the first composition where I explored the sonic harmonic series. The idea is to gradually unfold the harmonic series based on E1, using synthesized sine waves. The process is spatialized by distributing the tones around 9 channels arranged in a circle. Tones were played by each channel based on a chaotic generating pattern derived from Conway’s Game of Life. Here it is performed by the Trinity Laban Contemporary Music Group at the London ICA, 2015, and recorded in stereo.

Emergence for solo treble recorder

Emergence was performed by Kathryn Corrigan at the Escher Exhibition opening night, Dulwich Picture Gallery, October 15, 2015. A prevailing theme in Escher’s work is metamorphosis, or the emergence of one form from another. Emergence explores this in sonic terms, where a melody, Spiritus sanctus vivicans vita, composed by Hildegard von Bingen, is allowed to emerged from some simple looping riffs.