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CATALOGUE OF WORKS
Piano   Chamber   Vocal   Orchestral

PIANO


Incantation - (2003)
A short lively piece of approximately 2 minutes duration.

Prelude - (2000)



click above to view FULL score.

This prelude for piano is composed around three related pitch collections, although the piece mainly explores different aspects of piano writing, using just one of these. Bars 1-4 present the simple form of the note collection
( 0, 3, 5, 6, 9, 10 ) – the nexus set - as a melodic phrase. The opening tempo is slow with a prevailing feeling of calm, which contrasts with a feeling of nervous energy in the faster sections. The opening melodic phrase is repeated throughout the piece, decorated sometimes by acciaccaturas, trills, or flowing semiquavers. In bars 23-26 the melodic phrase also appears in retrograde in the left hand, decorated by triplets.

In bars 18⁴,19³, 20³ one finds the appearance of a second p.c. ( 1, 2, 4, 7, 8, 11 ) the complement of the original. These broken chords are placed here to add an extra richness to the harmony. The use of the sustaining pedal blends together the two note collections. The new chords overlay a variation of the trill decorated ‘main theme’.

The third p.c. ( 0, 2, 5, 7, 8, 11 ) is a transposition, a major second higher, of the original. This appears at bar 30³, completing a 4 bar phrase, while echoing the triplet variation of the section before. The six notes of this collection move the melodic line away from the harmonic centre for a brief instant, this sets up tension, which is released in the forte chord punctuations of the next two bars. These chords also signal the approaching end of the piece. Just before the più mosso/pianissimo ending, the music briefly looks back to the calm mood of the opening bars.


click above to download MP3 2' 09
Piano - Ian Harris
recorded on 13 December 2000 at Colchester Institute.



Spin Light Voyage - (1997)
A one movement work of approximately 7 minutes.


Proximities - (1991)
Composed for Andrew Behrend. 
Nos 3 & 5 released on DISCUS 
(see CD releases for details.)

1. Adagio
2. Moderato
3. Allegro
4. Andante
5. Allegro
6. Andante


The Traveller's Mythology - (1991)
Music for an imaginary film.
1. When Nature perceives the Traveller
2. Between Life and the Mind
3. Summer Thunder Speaks
4. The Traveller


Crowfield - (1989)
Inspired by the landscape surrounding Crowfield Church.

CHAMBER   
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El Verano Espanol - (2010)
for classical guitar

click on above image to download MP3 excerpt
The guitar on this  2010 recording is  played by Ian Harris.


Soleil d'avril - (2010)
for classical guitar
or classical guitar & flute

click on above image to download MP3 excerpt
The guitar on this  2010 recording is  played by Ian Harris

 

Jardin de los suenos perdidos - (2009)
for classical guitar
'Garden of Lost Dreams' was written for Sebastian Chew and was inspired by a visit to the gardens of the Alhambra in Granada.

click on above image to download MP3  excerpt 
The guitar on this  2009 recording is  played by Ian Harris.


Dahl's Room - (2008)
for flute
Dahl's room is a short intriguing work for solo flute. The character of the music is melodic and intense. The title refers to Dr Dahl, a Moscow hypnotherapist, whom Rachmaninov visited for help prior to writing his 2nd Piano Concerto.


click on above image to download MP3 (excerpt) of Dahl's Room in an arrangement for flute, vibraphone, glockenspiel and strings.
The flute on this  2008 recording is  played by Matthew Tucker 


Summer Thunder Speaks - (2001)
for flute and piano performances
Summer Thunder Speaks is a short but very energetic work for flute and piano. The music is bright and bursts out of nowhere like the sudden appearance of a thunderstorm on a summer’s day. One moment the storm is upon us, and the next it has disappeared completely.




click above to view FULL SCORE


Dance - (2000)
for cello & piano.
This music combines ideas derived from two pieces: the medieval composer Guillaume de Machaut’s ‘Douce dame jolie’ and Kevin Volans’ String Quartet No.1 ‘White Man Sleeps’ . I have ‘borrowed’ three melodic cells from the Machaut song, and one rhythmic cell. These cells are then developed through repetition, and placement in new context. In bars 1 - 3 of my Dance repeated melodic phrases are established, based on melodic cell 1. Then at Bar 3⁸, the cello enters with a six note figure, forming the beginning of a structural unit, used rhythmically in Volans’ string quartet, which I have developed to include melodic cell 2. (Volans’ structural unit comprises: cell a, cell b, axis note, repeat cell b, mirror cell a.) Therefore after the six note cello figure, the piano right hand plays the notes b,d,d,c,b, from cell 2, the missing note of cell 2 the a, becomes the axis note. The melodic cell is repeated (except for the note a ), followed by the six note cello figure in retrograde. One example of my use of the rhythmic cell 4 (from Machaut), occurs in bars 5 – 8. Starting at bar 7, followed by bars 8,5,6. By overlaying a six note melodic cell with a five beat rhythmic cell the same notes are given the rhythmic variation of detail evident in the Volans model. The possible drone on the notes d and a in the Machaut score, become short punctuation marks for the cello underneath the piano part in bars 11 – 13, 25 – 26, and punctuation marks for the piano above the cello part in bar 32. This piece maintains the use of the pentatonic scale c,d,e,g,a, (as does Volans in the first movement of his quartet), with the additional note b used only melodically, as in White Man Sleeps.


Abflug - (2000)
for string quartet.
Departure - a short, lyrical serial composition for string quartet.In the opening we hear the prime series followed by three set versions, one after the other. Each one is introduced by a different instrument. At the this point the music reveals itself through long melodic phrases, the notes of each set version can be followed horizontally across the score. The lyrical mood which is created at the beginning is never far away throughout the whole piece. The music goes on to present four more versions of the original series during the central contrasting part of the piece. The use of the notes vertically creates the harmony here. The music at the centre is defined by rhythms in different groupings of semiquavers, at faster tempos with pizzicato strings.

The bridge between the centre and the remainder of the music is signalled by the violin harmonic at 41¹. This moment is also reinforced by the repetition of the A maj.7^th chord from the bar before. The use of this chord is the most explicit use of tonality, although other set versions contain further tonal implications. The high violin harmonics from bar 42⁴ through the return to the original tempo have a cold ethereal quality, but this coldness is suddenly transformed to warmth in the last section from bar 47². One sustained and repeated chord derived from P4 (transposition of original series, up maj.3^rd), underpins the closing bars, supporting the appearance above of the prime series in retrograde form. The first lyrical thoughts of the music are thus reflected in the last.


Ivan - (1998)
for cello & piano.
Inspired by the novel: 'One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich' by Alexander Solzhenitsyn.


The Realm of Falling - (1996)
for string quartet.
The title for this piece comes from the idea of suspending, prolonging and examining fragments of time (the realm) during which the mind is in the process of passing into new conditions, for instance: into error, into anxiety, into calm.


Circles of Inner Blue - (1995)
for cello & piano,
Composed for Harriet Bennett.
"Blue of the mind, my island, this engine of interior time, spiralling"


Meta-Flight - (1992)
work for clarinet, violin, cello & piano.
(see performances for details)


Time of the Deep Night - (1990)
for violin & piano.
Composed for Michael Peck.


Games of Apollo - (1988)
for violin & piano.






VOCAL  
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When This Day Is Over - (2007)
for voice, piano, flute, strings, tuned percussion
duration: 3' 41
"Winter sky is sparkling clear, the story forever with me...."

The Wind - (2005)
for voice & strings
duration: 4' 10
"When will the wind know my name?..."

The Snow Was Falling - (2005)
for voice, strings, flutes, harp, classical guitar, tuned and untuned percussion
duration: 2' 28
"The snow was falling, like stories unending..."


click on above image to download MP3

Carnival - (2005)
for voice & piano
duration: 1' 15
"...I am free, to be who I want to be."

Beyond The Sun - (2004)
for voice & piano
duration 2' 30
"...this land of light, so full of hope."




click above to view FULL SCORE


Night Song - (2004)
for soprano or tenor, violin & strings. 
strings (6.6.4.4.2.)
duration c. 3' 30
"....silence fills up my mind, this hidden magic night."

Shadows of Conflict - (1991)
for soprano or tenor and piano.

Secret Words - (1991)
for soprano, violin, cello & piano.
"Meta-Sea-Arcanum-Saphires-Hearer-Ever"

Cantata - (1988)
for soprano, flute & piano.
Composed for Sharon Jones.
Libretto: Ian Harris.

Across this Land - (1987)
for soprano and piano.



Vocal (non-classical)



These Blue Days - (2001)

West - (2001)

Last Chance - (2000) (see CD releases for details)

Winter - (1998)

click on above image to download MP3 2' 58
Vocals & keyboards - Ian Harris
recorded February 2001
(also see radio broadcasts)

Like Snow - (1998)

Summer - (1998)

Over Ice Land - (1986)





ORCHESTRAL
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Cloud Garden - (2002/2003)
for Vibraphone & Strings
3 Octave Concert Vibraphone
Strings (8.6.6.4.2.)
Duration: c.15 minutes

• Society for the Promotion of New Music shortlisted work 2003-2006 SPNM

• included in the British Music Information Centre collection BMIC

"We turned and looked at the sky above the garden. There could be no more doubt. The cavalry of the great army of cloud was rounding up the last stray bits of blue. Thunder rang out again and again loud and long and the lonely hills at the end of the plain went white with the advance mist of the storm. Then we saw the rain itself come up fast, rushing with a sound like that of the great wind of the first spirit of life once more taking up its quest on the parched and long rejected earth upon which we stood."



Cloud Garden is intended to be a very free suggestion of the above extract from the novel ‘The Seed and The Sower’ by Laurens van der Post. This section of the novel is concerned with the meeting of two brothers in South Africa. The meeting is emotional and nourishes the state of reconciliation (of the long rejected earth). The primary intention was to write a piece in a single movement. This one movement would contain interrelated and repeating sections of varying length and tempi. These sections would contribute to the effect of being within a changeable emotional landscape. Symbols and states in different configurations appear and re-appear, rather than continually develop throughout. The reappearance of similar material suggests how similar memories resurface within the garden. The garden is a place of fragile beauty within a wilderness. The interior world (emotion) is at odds with the exterior world (nature).

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The Winter Portal - (2008)
for classical guitar, percussion & string orchestra - c. 14 minutes duration

I. Largo - Andante
II. Adagietto
III. Scherzando
IV. Andante

A work in four movements, inter-connected by re-emerging melodic phrases. The guitar remains the centre of focus throughout the work, alternating between serenity and a positive rhythmic dynamism. The title of the piece refers to an imagined secret doorway into a timeless winter landscape.

click on above image to download MP3 extract from the first movement - 1' 59
 

The Invisible Magician - (2003)
for orchestra

Background
"Each year the Ipswich Orchestral Society presents a family concert. The programme consists of a number of short pieces from the orchestral repertoire that introduces children to classical music and the instruments of the orchestra. Included in the programme this year was my piece ‘The Invisible Magician’ a short audience participation piece commissioned specially for IOS. This year’s concert took place on Sunday 9 March at the Ipswich Corn Exchange. The concert was sold out (seating capacity 750). The conductor was Adam Gatehouse, Executive Producer, Live Music at BBC Radio 3. For my piece Mr Gatehouse conducted the audience, and the orchestra was conducted by Neil Mathews. The orchestra was in costume, appropriate to this year’s theme ‘magic’.

For my piece, special lighting effects were employed, to enhance the magical atmosphere. The lighting was controlled by David Ferguson, and devised in consultation with me during the dress rehearsal in the morning of the concert.The full programme was as follows:

Raider’s March – John Williams
Ritual Fire Dance – De Falla
The Nutcracker Suite (excerpts) – Tchaikovsky 
Danse Macabre – Saint-Saëns
The Firebird Suite (excerpts) – Stravinsky
‘Mars’ from The Planets Suite – Holst

- interval –

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice – Dukas
The Invisible Magician – Ian Harris
Czardas – Monti
E.T. Medley – John Williams

Brief
To compose an audience participation piece to the following brief.

1 The piece should be no more than 3 minutes long.
2 Linked to the concert theme: 'magic'
3 Involve as much of the orchestra as possible.
4 Readily accessible to children thematically and harmonically.
5 Involve special effects that the children can take part in, for example clapping or specific percussion effects (for a small selected group from the audience).
6 Suggested story line involves casting a spell with a progression to a climax, culminating in stage effect (blue smoke, bangs etc).

Pre-Performance Audience Explanation
The following story should be read out to the audience by the conductor before the piece begins, as an explanation for their participation in the ‘magic’.

"As you arrived at the concert hall an invisible magician has turned your keys into magic keys. Every time you shake your keys you are sprinkling magic dust in the air. We need to fill the hall with magic dust in order to make the magician appear at the end of the music !!"

Description
Pizzicato strings (2^nd violins and violas) create the mysterious slow opening.The audience are divided into different groups, (up to four) adding to the magical opening by jangling keys between phrases in the music. Clarinet and flute share the melodic line that gradually increases in tempo leading into the more sprightly Giocoso section. Here the remainder of the instruments enter, first the harp followed by the brass each playing short melodic phrases, creating a richer sound texture although keeping the melody in the foreground. When the music again reaches a slow section, percussion alternates with the audience over a quietly sustained low C natural in the cellos and double basses. Harmonics in the other string parts at bar 25 act as a bridge to a longer audience participation section. The audience has been instructed before the piece began that if they have any keys with them (e.g. car/house keys) then they will be directed by the conductor at certain points in the piece to begin jangling them quietly at first but becoming louder and louder. The conductor will stop the sound at its loudest. A cymbal crash marks the return to a lively tempo (the spell is working). At bar 34 the cellos play the four note motive from bar 1 (2^nd violins - pizz) with lengthened note values against a pulsating rhythm derived from the clarinet solo in bar 6. The theme is played three times, each time another instrument adds to the texture. A huge brass chord marks the end of this section and leads to a short vivace section ending on a forte A major chord for the whole orchestra concluding the piece. On this last chord special effects (i.e.coloured smoke) should be used for a visual representation of the Invisible Magician finally appearing.