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On Reflection, for ensemble (13')

On Reflection was written for performance by the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra’s Kokoro Ensemble (conductor Mark Forgen) and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic’s Ensemble 10/10 (conductor Clark Rundell). It was first performed at Bridport Arts Centre in October 2011 by Kokoro, and then by Ensemble 10/10 in November 2011 in Liverpool and at the Huddersfield International Festival of Contemporary Music. It was recorded and broadcast by BBC Radio 3.The title was chosen as I had been examining my practice as a composer. Much of my earlier work reflects the fact that I trained in an era that was dominated by post 1945 serial thought, and many of the techniques that I employed (and continue to employ) reflected this. However, I was also becoming concerned that the range of expression of my instrumental work in particular was perhaps becoming a little restricted – put simply, somewhat ‘over melancholic’. I wanted to write a work that, whilst uncompromising in its language, might address the fact that for me many of the intervals which are commonplace in an atonal musical language have a tendency to take the music in this direction. The harmonic and melodic material developed for the work consciously aimed to address this, working with modes and intervals in ways that would not ‘exclude’ the possibility of consonance, but would nevertheless be handled very carefully. I did not want the music to represent a radical stylistic departure, more a subtle development. In addition to describing my own reflection on my practice, the title also describes technical ‘reflections’ which take place within the work, both vertically and horizontally.