Works for orchestra
The River in the Sky (2020) - for large orchestra (15’)
This large-scale work for symphony orchestra was inspired by the final book by Australian poet and critic Clive James. His work is a profound exploration of the passing of time, and represents the reflections of someone conscious of the approaching end of life. In my piece I have tried to reflect a very slow progression of time through sustained and glittering material, which gradually transforms over time. James’ book took me back to a very vivid memory I have of being on a boat with my parents on the Mediterranean sea around Stromboli, and seeing the sun setting behind this active volcano which protrudes out of the sea. As the sun set I could see the molten lava atop the silhouette of this island volcano, and due to the lack of artificial light, the whole of the milky way became visible in an enormous stretch across the sky. I was struck by the sheer vastness of everything around me, and this piece therefore tries to recreate this feeling in sound, to whatever extent that is possible.
Relics (2018) - for large orchestra (15’)
Composed in the summer of 2018, this work, for me, represents the antithesis of my more recent orchestral work The River in the Sky. Rather than glittering and shimmering textures, this work focusses on volcanic explosions of sound, with sonorities requiring extreme exertion from the players. A single movement work, this piece also explores some of the approaches to time that I have developed further in more recent work. For example, the juxtaposition of free-time material with precisely notated ideas creates a temporal tension that propels this work forward.
At Ghosting Hour (2017) - for large orchestra (8’)
My first completed work on the large-scale canvas of symphony orchestra, this piece is inspired by the feeling of dread and terror during the night, when sounds are transformed by the mind to create feelings of uncertainty. This piece reflects on the anxiety this causes, as our minds go into overdrive trying to pair fairly innocuous sounds such as doors closing, animal sounds, or wooden beams adjusting in cold temperatures into sounds of potential intruders. This piece was workshopped by the Royal Academy of Music Symphony Orchestra in 2018.
At Ghosting Hour is based on a poem by James Joyce from his collection of poems called 'Chamber Music'. The poem reads:
Thou leanest to the shell of night,
Dear lady, a divining ear.
In that soft choiring of delight
What sound hath made my heart to fear?
Seemed it of rivers rushing forth
From the grey deserts of the north?
That mood of thine, O timorous,
Is his, if thou but can scan it well,
Who a mad tale bequeaths to us
At ghosting hour conjurable –
And all for some strange name he read
In Purchas or in Holinshed.