Output details

Songs and Shards

Songs and Shards was commissioned by pianist Philip Mead and first performed by Mead with Farwell (electronics) on 25 April 2012 at the Victoria Rooms, Bristol.

The work explores a central conundrum in new music and, especially, in music that involves electronics: the more the language and soundworld are "new", the less context the performer has for creating a meaningful interpretation. Expression in music is a complex topic but, for me, remains crucial. In Songs and Shards I try to construct a space for nuanced and organised expressive interpretation.

The piece grows "fractally", through cumulative motivic reworking. This is seeded in the opening melodic phrase by the scalic formation, neighbour note / ornament / semitone displacement, perfect fifth as sonorous object, and open cadence to electronic extension. In parallel and in increasing tension, the nature of the piano is transformed through electronic extrapolation of string resonances and addition of self-played note material. From a clear point of departure, the music and the instrument progressively challenge the performer.

The piano and electronic parts were written together in score, then the electronics realized from the notated schema. This was informed by extensive preliminary and ongoing tests, and workshop sessions with Mead. The electronics, created in Max software, has three layers: a user interface for fluent rehearsal and performance; the synthesis engines; and, in between, the compositional layer. Here, multiple elements realize the scored sounds, ranging from instantiation of single partials, to macros controlling the trajectory of thousands of partials simultaneously, to the coordination and timbre of note figuration. The cues, some 180 in total, are triggered either at the computer or by the pianist on pedals. Over successive performances, Mead has absorbed the choreography of all the pedal cues, and their sonorous consequence, with subtle but profound impact on the performer-piano relationship.