This is a setting of a beautiful and stirring poem by Robert Macfarlane. Written in 2018 at the time of the Sheffield tree cutting protests and for the protesters, he encouraged it to be set to music as part of the campaign. Recent events regarding the felling of the Sycamore gap tree has further added to the emotional content of these words. The poem gives voice to a tree and asks us to consider their relevance in our lives.
Musically I wanted to create a strong dialogue between the piano, and the choir with soprano soloist.
There are broadly 3 sections, the first characterised by a motif for the tree asking us to be aware of its (rising) sap and heartwood as perhaps human-like equivalents. I use a lot of dynamic contrast to bring the tree ‘voices’ near and far away as in a wood perhaps.
The second more lyrical section entreats us to consider the importance of trees, but this is interrupted with a more dramatic section and sudden key change; ‘I hear the roaring engines thrum, but I cannot run’. The final section is a reprise of the first section (in part) but there are more subdivided voices representing the thankfully still numerous trees.
Originally written as a studio composition in 2004 after a holiday in Nessebar, Bulgaria. It was titled ‘At the Gates of Nessebar’ with reference to the piper who plays standing on the ruined walls to the Old town. as people enter the town.
It is here rescored and amended for live solo piano (and electronics), as I have always thought it would be fascinating in live performance, with the bells sounds in particular enhancing the piano writing. The audio includes sounds from a Greek Orthodox church service which I attended, crickets, and a piper on the walls as aforementioned.
The piece is a kind of piano Fantasy in 2 sections; the first features the sonorous church bell outside Nessebar St. Stephen’s church (11th century Byzantine architecture). Now a museum since my visit, but restored, especially the lovely wall paintings.
The second section features a fast-moving figure alternating between the hands, and chords which augment the sounds of voices and bells in the church service. I was struck and inspired by the play of light on the stonework in an otherwise dark and mysterious environment.
Amongst other innovations the instrument allows compositions for piano and electronics to playback prerecorded material from computer (via transducers) to the piano, employing the piano soundboard and resonances in the piano. The result is to hear the sounds plus the live piano, in a truly integrated way.
I recently went to the Royal Academy in London to hear the piano, and as an ‘extended’ instrument for small concert venue it is for me an exciting development.
However, as access to these pianos is very limited (currently only one in, the UK) this piece can also be played using a pair of small desktop speakers either in or as near to the piano as possible.
I have recently performed music by Federico Mompou (his Fetes Lointaines) and I particularly like the duality of ideas in some of the pieces.So for example recreated bells are followed by a lively children’s song-like idea recalling aspects of the fetes.
In this piece I wanted to oppose a calm tranquil early morning on the pine-walk in Pollensa, using the sounds of gentle lapping water, distant church bells, crickets etc with the activity of the little 1915 train journey from Palma to Soller, with excited voices, train tracks and brakes etc. I found that grouping my recorded sounds in this way inspired related piano writing and like Mompou bring these ‘opposing’ ideas together to conclude the piece. I also add to these 2 sound groups in the second half of the piece, with flamenco dancing feet joining the ‘active group’ and the sound of the congregation’s singing of the sanctus joining the ‘tranquil’ group of sounds.
The piano score sometimes requires synchronicity with the prerecorded sounds and at other times uses aural cues to move forward in the music. The aim is to dynamically blend the live piano with the other material, though it remains very much a solo piano work.
The piano writing uses tones found in the other material either naturally found such as the train whistle or created, such as resonating certain frequencies (within the lapping water for example).
This is a gentle piece, sharing fond holiday memories like a postcard, and even though my personal recollections of events will always be more precise than a listener perhaps, the impression given is hopefully relatable.
This short suite of 6 pieces (apart from the last piece) was composed and developed from fragments of folk tunes which might have been known to the Pilgrimage of Grace rebels in 1536, and perhaps sung as they marched to York. Rather than base the music around a detailed narrative (which does not exist), the music explores wide-ranging emotions to tell the story. From fervour and joy, through calm and reflection, to anger and sadness in the penultimate piece. (for more detail about the compositions and the relevant history please see below the videos).
Pilgrimage of Grace IV: ‘Blessed be that Maid Marie’
Pilgrimage of Grace V: Betrayed!
Pilgrimage of Grace VI: Timeless Beauty
I developed the ideas initially through improvisations at the piano, followed by a lot of editing, resulting in pieces reduced to their essential elements.
Stylistically I’m very eclectic when writing for the piano, and there is a lot of variety within the pieces, and I hopefully will revisit and explore further, some elements in future piano- based projects.
The story…
In 1536 Robert Aske from Aughton near Howden in East Yorkshire and fellow insurgents, gathered on Market Weighton hill to march on to Hull and most importantly to York. This was a significant rebellion against the King (Henry VIII) as a result of the dissolution of local monasteries and the seizing of wealth. The march known as ‘The Pilgrimage of Grace’ was not a religious pilgrimage but was keenly supported by the church.
A section of the walk went via Warter and Nunburnholme priories and on to Pocklington, gathering supporters along the way. This 8 mile walk is now regularly walked by many, including recently by myself and members of our chamber choir ‘Coracle’, and was the inspiration for these piano pieces.
Sadly the story does not end well as after arriving and taking York the now sizeable rebel forces were met by the Duke of Norfolk at a location near Doncaster whereby a truce was negotiated and false promises issued on behalf of the King to meet grievances and reinstall local religious leaders. The marchers disbanded and later following false accusations, Robert Aske and 200 others were arrested and executed.
The music:
I: ‘As I went to Walsingham‘
A crowd of rebellious and angry citizens congregate on Market Weighton hill.
Fanfares and the singing of ‘ Walsingham’ (a pilgrimage song) all combine in this piece with a use of long pedalled phrases, to suggest a misty landscape.
The song (‘Walsingham’) was composed well before the rebellion and would be known to the rebels. Hidden within, is praise for Catholic Queen Mary, appropriate for a march against the Protestant King.
II : ‘From Priory to Priory’
Following in the footsteps of the marchers, our walk went from Warter down The Nun’s Walk (road) to Nunburnholme, and ascended through Bratt wood.
The music alludes to the gathering of supporters accompanied by the singing of ‘Hey Robin, jolly Robin’ and ‘Down in yon forest’ and the pealing Nunburnholme and Warter church bells. I imagine the scene to be noisy, but full of positive energy!
III: ‘Summer is Icumen In’
After the wood we walked on ancient routeways (on the Wolds way) with views towards York and Kilnwick Percy.
The wide open spaces, rolling hills and abundance of natural colour, form the inspiration for this piece. I feature ‘Summer is icumin in’ and ‘Lyke wake dirge’ as contrasting tunes that may have been known. The latter certainly in this region.
IV: ‘Blessed be that Maid Marie’
The featured melody is an old carol from the 16th century which may have been known. The imagined scene here for me is the quiet singing of the pilgrims at night camped outside Pocklington on their way to York. We know crowds were addressed in Pocklington square. Fragments of the tune can be heard on the wind at distance, with a star-lit night.
V: Betrayed!
The character of the music is angry and dissonant combining two of Henry’s compositions ‘Pastime with good company’ and ‘The hunt is up’ in dark ironic fashion.
Robert Aske and his rebel army agreed a truce with the King, but the following year he and other leaders were rounded up on trumped up charges, tried and executed.
The final bars of the piece, once more in a tonal world, present a sad final reflection on events.
Vi: Timeless Beauty
The music concludes with a piece celebrating the timeless beauty of the Wolds and the persistence of Nature. This is a relatively unchanging world, away from our human dramas, . It is easy to suppose that parts of the walk have changed little since 1536.
The inspiration for this work is a large book I borrowed entitled ‘Eos’; An enquiry into the theme of lovers’ meetings and partings at dawn in poetry. ‘
There are many examples from literature around the world in the book. In the English chapter Chaucer in the ‘Nonnes Preestes tale’ has the lovers warned by a cockerel, of imminent day. (The bird is often seen as unwelcome, detested and even treacherous to the lovers.)
Shakespeare has in Romeo and Juliet the lark heralding the morn, but Juliet pretends it is a nightingale.
I chose to set an Anglo-Irish ballad ‘The Lover’s Ghost’ in which the cockerel bade the lovers to part, but the lady is a ghostly visitant and the bird is a sign for her to return to the grave.
I wanted to set the mood for the choir piece with natural woodland and bird sounds from my archive of environmental recordings. I’ve used sounds recorded at Dawn in Barmby Moor and Londesborough churchyards,and in Warter, sounds in Bratt wood Nunburnholme and on the estuary at Bernaray in the Western Isles. Deliberately dream-like, the inclusion of water bird sounds and a church bell create a recognised but unreal soundscape. This coalesces (the sound is filtered) to a Bb and related harmonics before we hear the first ‘cello Bb introducing the choir.
I have had it in mind for some time to write a piece for choir and ‘cello where the ‘cello is not a solo instrument, but is rather an added voice to the overall texture. A very good recent example of this writing is in Eric Whitacre’s ‘The Sacred Veil’.
In my work the cello underpins the choir, and previews/reiterates phrases heard in the choir.
The choir piece itself is structured as follows; After an overlapping textural opening we hear the first verse divided amongst voices in the choir. This is followed by an extension musically, of the line ‘ night should be never never day’ . The verse following flatters the bird and implores him not to announce day, this leads to a climax followed by the return of the opening overlapping textural idea, but now a tone down reflecting a more sombre mood. The final section is more elemental as the spirit reveals her true nature.
We are left with a reiteration of ‘night should be never, day’. The final Eb/Ab in the choir is then taken up by a return of prerecorded natural sounds balancing the opening section, and emphasising this tonality. This is chiefly achieved through the use of a comb filter. However, many of the sounds are now slowed down and there is a sound I programmed on my Korg DW8000 synthesiser, representing the spirit lover leaving for the churchyard.
In addition to a poem ‘Range-finding’ by Robert Frost ,which places nature (in particular a spider) in the foreground, even on the battlefield, I found other poems by Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson and Rudy Francisco featuring the spider. The Whitman and the Dickinson poems celebrate the beauty and ingenuity of the spider’s web, whilst the Francisco is contemporary, and asks us to be compassionate towards them when they come into our homes.
I use excerpts from the poems, which provide the text for my choral piece and allow me to create 3 sections for a choral piece showing 3 different musical moods. The first busy and expansive, the second slower and more reflective, the 3rd lyrical and appealing to our better natures. The final section also recapitulates the opening idea now more fully scored and in the brighter key of E (up one semitone from the opening) which continues the web idea to a conclusion and appropriately envelopes the piece.
The style of the piece has elements of American composers such as John Adams and harmonically at times Stephen Sondheim. I’m realising as a choral composer that the text suggests a style of writing so pieces can be very different.
Although perhaps not technically the most challenging piece, it is precise dynamically and with a lot of articulation detail. In particular the differing grouping of 8 quavers suggested by the movement of the creature.
Here is the latest part of my ‘Warter’ project; a piano solo inspired by the act of walking on the Yorkshire Wolds around Warter.
The music reflects the gentle undulation of the hills, stopping sometimes to appreciate the beauty of the landscape. Bird calls are heard particularly the ever-present red kites and alarms of pheasant and grouse. It is a peaceful place where you really can immerse yourself in its charms away from other worldly sounds. You can really be in the moment, listening to your own footsteps.
Musically, following large chords there are two elements . A busy theme giving the music an onward drive and alluding to the act of brisk walking, and a lyrical theme which emerges. This is ‘An Acre of Land’, a well-known East Yorkshire folk tune as timeless as this unchanging landscape. I have included points of repose in the music with the relaxing of the tempo suggesting moments of reflection; looking around.
The piece ends with an embellished version of the opening chords, but disappearing into the distance with a slow reminder of the walking music recalling a good day’s walking perhaps!
This is an early piano work by the composer who I much admire. I love the arpeggiated extended chords and the shifting time signatures.
CHILDREN’S SONG NO.6 (1971) by Chick Corea
This is the first recording in a larger Chick Corea ‘Children’s songs’ project. I love the combination of folk melody meets jazz in these pieces. As the composer says they lend themselves nicely to expansion which is why I include a little improvising as a coda to the piece.
Composition for keyboard, cello and electronics inspired by a Dawn visit to Water, East Yorks.
After the first lockdown (May 2020) I decided to go to Warter , East Yorkshire to experience a dawn chorus. The place has long been a favourite of mine for walking. (If you go to the local church, which is the Wolds heritage centre, there are maps available for all the local walks). I could not think of a better place to be in nature, and it was a necessary balm for me at that time. It’s odd that after prolonged isolation some seek the quiet of nature. I think it’s possibly to do with the fact that although our (normal) time and schedules have been disrupted, nature has just been getting on with things as usual and we find that comforting.
Hawthorn blossom above in Dale above Warter, East Yorks
I filmed and recorded from 4.30am- 6.30 in various locations and realised subsequently that this gave me interesting points of reference for a piece of music.
I analysed the recordings and initially decided to create a piece around transcriptions of bird song I made from my recordings, although modified to conform to a scale (Lydian on G). I created a score rather in the manner of Terry Riley’s’ ‘in C’ for any number of players, though in my case any number of recordings with my ‘cello as the only instrument. I intended to electronically modify the lines to create added interest . However, I quickly became dissatisfied with this and the score became more of an aide memoir:
I decided to improvise on the ideas with my Nord piano keyboard and found that I could capture different moods for parts of the film using the same scale but breaking the ‘rule’ towards the end of the piece. This worked nicely with the gradually increasing light (and sun) I experienced with all tones heard only in the final part of the film, representing the full risen sun of the higher ground above Warter (accompanied by the mad chatter of sedge warblers etc)
Gorse bushes in flower, Warter, East yorks
I then went back to the ‘cello ‘birds’ and recorded complimentary bird motifs. These I then modified electronically to create hopefully interesting colours musically and to further expand the expressive capacity of the cello and to suggest different birds and avian characteristics.
The resulting piece now has a clear structure complimenting the film as follows;
Cellos introduction (tones from the scale and trills)
Early light- the first bird calls, some near and some distant.
Sunrise in the lane- more energetic including a ‘trio’ of keyboard, ‘cello and blackbird.
View over fields- a brief section complimenting a more open misty landscape
In the woods- a more mysterious section leading to music for a ‘Hockney tunnel’ with emerging sun followed by music by a stream.
The Lanes- A more rhythmic section, minimalist in style leading to raucous sparrow chatter.
Higher Ground- A folk-like theme emerges with rhythmic bird chatter (sedge warblers) in cellos etc.
Closing cellos (modified from introduction)
The music in general compliments increasing light and bird activity culminating in full sunlight on the hills around Warter with sedge warblers, larks, dunnocks etc. The treatment of the ‘cello ‘birds’ in particular reflect my emotional response to the changing environments.
..shadows in lane and trees painted as ‘Bigger trees’ by David Hockney
I have been particularly concerned with balance throughout the piece. I wanted to oppose the increasing bird activity with a calm lyrical piano part (suggesting the calming effect of the experience). I was recently asked why I did not concentrate on recording the ‘cello naturally rather than manipulating the ‘cello sound. My answer is that I wanted to create differences between the ‘bird’ motifs used and I thought this would not be quite as effective if the multiple recordings were just conventional ‘cello sounds.
The film I made documents the changing light throughout from early light to full sun and I have enhanced this by adding slow moving colour transitions. It is a film without any other drama and it was suggested I focus on colour changes to provide an interesting narrative which I hope I have done, at least contextualises the recorded bird audio.
Warter Church (Wolds Heritage Centre)
Finally, the ‘Colours at Dawn’ is the first part of a larger ‘Warter Walks’ project. Part 2 will be a short acousmatic composition leading to a solo piano piece. The final part will be 3 pieces for choir based on local folk songs.
I can do no better than conclude with a quote from Steven Lovatt;
“Finally, the Earth could hear itself think, and the voice of its thought was birdsong. A year on, we’re still too close to it to tell which stories and emotions will survive from that strangest of times. But it also seemed possible, even in the grimmest days, that the spring of 2020 might be remembered differently – as the time when we first heard the birds and, hearing them, began to recover an appreciation of something universal we had somehow mislaid.”
One of the few nice things to emerge re the Covid19 crisis has been reconnecting with my friend and former band member Joe Martin who is now a prize winning and much sought-after fiddle player in London. ‘Moonglow’ is a laid back jazz Classic and I love the soulful feel especially Joe’s interjected violin phrases.
The ‘cello bass line was developed by Joe from the Stephan Grappelli version of the song and I have, apart from my solo, attempted a gentle vamp style which works especially in the absence of a bass. I want to continue exploring the ‘cello in this musical world and am much influenced by Yo-Yo Ma in this though my efforts more modest.
