Output details

Invocation : A Rhapsody for Trumpet and Mixed Choir

Invocation marks the beginning of a current compositional pre-occupation: that of trying to re-invent and re-encounter ideas relating to the pastoral and pastoralism. Because there is such a strong association between the pastoral and composers of a previous generation (in this case those of the early twentieth century in Britain), one has to decide how to deal with this when treading on similar ground. There appears to be two options: firstly, to disassociate my work from theirs and to try and create something totally new, free from any previous association. The second option is to try and 're-encounter' these similar influences, to play on the existing associations and legacy and to create something imbued with the sights and sounds of a previous generation. Invocation is a piece which responds directly to aspects of the pastoral, and is a work that follows the second option of 're-encountering' the pastoral and working within an existing framework of association.

The work is also an attempt to begin a codification of a new tonal organisation - one based on tonal means but with a different hierarchy - eroding the power of the dominant as a secondary key area. On a large scale tonal level, the work begins and ends in the same modal C minor but each new tonal area bears little relation (in a traditional sense) to the previous. Often tonal 'poles' are set up and the piece oscillates between them. The work also features another compositional pre-occupation, that of musical commentaries and bridge passages. In this work, the trumpet provides not only a commentary on the previous material, but also introduces fragments of the next choral section - it also provides a tonal 'bridge' and 'modulates' the tonality from one key to another.