Output details

Dubstep Symphony, for orchestra and live electronics

Commissioned by BBC Radio 1 and the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. Premiered at Media City, Salford, 6 June 2011, by the BBC Philharmonic and Nero, conducted by Joe Duddell. Broadcast on BBC Radio 1 and webcast on bbc.co.uk/radio1 on 6 June 2011.

Further documentation available on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JAxgFe4hpE with over 750,000 hits.

The Dubstep Symphony project investigated ways to fuse original orchestral music with existing material by electronic duo Nero. Dubstep as a form relies heavily on sampled material (sometimes from other artists), and the project plays with this, sampling electronic material, recreating and transforming it through compositional processes and realising it with the orchestral musicians. Small electronic elements were recreated acoustically, morphed and developed and then played by the orchestra in conjunction with an extra layer of live electronic sampling within a four-movement symphonic structure. There are several allusions to symphonic traditions, in terms of tonal architecture and motivic development, with the literal meaning of symphony as ‘sounding together’ being applicable. Commissioned by BBC Radio 1, it formed part of the BBC Philharmonic’s series to celebrate moving to their new studio.