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Seven

Seven is an electroacoustic composition which explores samples of an orchestral piece which I composed in 1990. The title of this piece was Apocalypse (first performed 1991) and it explored the sounding of the seven trumpets in Revelation. FuseLeeds aims to introduce audiences to new experiences - especially music which crosses boundaries. Seven was written in an attempt to do this by combining both classical and popular influences, for example the polyrhythmic grooves in dubstep.

I had been investigating the use of digitally manipulated pre-recorded instrumental sounds for some years. Opaline (1995) explored sampled piano sounds and After Syrinx (2007) the flute. It was a natural progression to consider moving from these monotimbral environments into multi-instrumental samples. After Syrinx features melodic samples in the compositional fabric. Seven explores the timbral and textural properties of the sampled material (the sections of the piece explore how timbre can transform through time and how it can generate momentum in time). The rhythms in the two preceding works stemmed from either the natural qualities of the sound materials or from the aforementioned melodies. Seven explores the use of a pre-compositional grid which is used to manufacture rhythm and form derived in part from my research into Roberto Gerhard (Serial Metamorphoses in the Music of Roberto Gerhard published by the Centre for Research in New Music, University of Huddersfield, ISBN 978-1-86218-088-8 and Serial Structures in Roberto Gerhard’s First and Second Symphonies published in Tempo no. 248, April 2009, pp.21-34). For example, his complex orchestral ‘time-lattices’ derived from layering ‘conflicting’ pulsating ostinatos or his use of proportions to govern the structures of his music. The form of Seven is, unsurprisingly, governed by the number seven: seven minutes in length; seven equal macro sections each divided into seven with metrical emphasis created in sevens.