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Bog Bodies

Bog Bodies is a trio for clarinet, cello and piano of about 8 minutes' duration.

Bog Bodies is a trio for clarinet, cello and piano of about 8 minutes' duration. It was commissioned by one of Brazil's leading contemporary classical music ensemble, GNU (Grupo Novo da UNIRIO), base din Rio de Janeiro, in 2010. The work received several performances by that ensemble in 2010, in Rio de Janeiro, and in Pernambuco. The work also was broadcast on MEC, Brazil's national classical music network. http://www.nme.com/nme-video/youtube/id/Y4nLccMju7A/search/

The piece explores Adorno’s notion of 'sedimentation' in music; by using several 'layers' of material, and subjecting these to a process of transformation through what is apparently a set of variations on an opening series of chords. This process also attempted to portray the process whereby the surface (skin) of a body preserved in the acid waters of a bog is twisted into unusual shapes, while the underlying structure (skeleton) dissolved.

The piece received further exposure through performances by NYOS Futures, a contemporary music off-shoot of the National Orchestra of Scotland, at the Glasgow Festival of Music and Film in 2011, and at Salford University, this time accompanied by a specially commissioned film, which can be seen here (to a MIDI version of the piece):http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKCOho3pVgI. A further performance formed part of the New Music North West festival in 2012 by Manchester University's contemporary music ensemble Vaganza (http://events.manchester.ac.uk/event/event:v17-gxa9g493-xa0vu9/) In addition, the piece was discussed in an article in Scottish cross-arts periodical The Drouth: http://www.nyos.co.uk/images/uploads/file/drouth%20article.pdf