Output details

"The Tiniest House of Time for orchestra" (commissioned by BBC Radio 3)

The goal of the researcher/composer’s orchestral work "The Tiniest House of Time" was an exploration of aspects of Buddhist meditation, their encapsulation in sound and subsequent communication.

The starting point for the research process was three quotations from the 13th and 16th century mystic writers Rumi and Kabir. These provided the philosophical background to the three movements of the work as well as suggesting some of the musical processes that were used in the construction of the piece. An example of this links the overall title of the work with a key musical principle: constriction within a small space, the resulting concentration of energy; and the subsequent effect of the release of that energy. The meditative roots of this idea are stated in the text initiating the second movement, whilst its musical parallel can be seen, for example, at the start of the work where large amounts of very loud melodic and percussive material are concentrated into the space of just a few bars.

A second example of research process that links meditation with musical structure is the extensive use of the accordion in the work. The second movement’s philosophical roots lie in Vipassana meditation, one aspect of which is the concept of asymmetrically breathing in pain then breathing out calmness – two beats in, three beats out. The accordion is perhaps one of the most obviously “breathing” wind instruments and, in this movement, it briefly “takes in” musical material presented as antagonistic, before reforming it into longer-lasting positive material that aids the unfolding of musical thought.

"The Tiniest House of Time" was commissioned and broadcast by BBC Radio 3 and first performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra in the Barbican Hall, London in November 2012. It is published by Ricordi, London.