Programme Notes: Chamber Music
Brass Quintet
The Quintet was written in 1994. It is in three movements, each of which seeks to evoke and exploit a different aspect of the brass instrumental tradition. Thus, in the first movement the music ranges from organum to polyphony to the stile concertato of the Venetian tradition and the Gabrielis; the second movement blends a chorale with romantic solo passages, and the third combines explosive fanfares with rhythmical games.
Slate Fanfare, for Slate Xylophone and Brass
Having come across a xylophone made from slate at the Llanberis Slate Museum, I couldn't resist the challenge of writing for it, and so on April 13th, 1999 I wrote the Slate Fanfare, Opus 120.
As well as the (unique?) slate xylophone, or 'Llechiffôn' there are two trombones and a tuba. The brass instruments provide a kind of evolving chorus or ritornello section, while the xylophone part, which is derived from a fragment of the Welsh National Anthem, also changes, becoming more and more challenging as the music progresses.
Voyage to Patagonia
Written for the Argentine-Welsh Guitar Duo in June 2009, this is a suite of six pieces which try to evoke the tension, excitement and nostalgia of the epic journeys made by many Welsh people to Patagonia in the nineteenth century. The flavour of the music hovers between Welsh and Patagonian (Argentinian), between anticipation (Cyn Gadael – Before Leaving) and hiraeth, or melancholy nostalgia (the Ffarwél pieces) before finally arriving at its destination (Rio Chubut – based on adaptations of two Patagonian-Welsh folksongs, one a kind of Tango, the other optimistically forward looking). The six movements are:
Cyn Gadael (Before Leaving)
Ar Lan y Môr (By the Side of the Sea)
Ffarwél i Dre' Caernarfon Lon (Farewell to Caernarfon)
Ffarwél i Aberystwyth (Farewell to Aberystwyth)
Hiraeth (Longing)
Rio Chubut (River Chubut)
Chica Latina Opus 164
This work was written for the virtuosic Ni Ensemble, the prize-winning Luxembourg-based Brass Quintet who premiered the work in February, 2008, at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.
A one movement work, it combines salsa and tango rhythms, often in disruptive five or seven beat bars with Mexican-flavoured trumpet fireworks, all of which is interrupted periodically by single and very loud trombone notes. Fun to hear, difficult to play!
April Snow Opus 79
A snowy meditation for piano and glass crystal. The first performances were given in Paris in Autumn 1995
Mersch, Luxembourg, 29th March,1995
Brass Quintet ‘From an Old Tower’ Op 365
Jeder Turm braucht eine Trompete … und für den weißen Vogteiturm in Senheim, der dem Künstler Christoph Anders gehört und von ihm betreut wird, beginne ich mein kurzes Blechbläserquintett „Aus einem alten Turm“ genau damit: mit einer festlichen Trompetenfanfare, die sich im Laufe des ersten Satzes entfaltet und ausdehnt.
Die Schwere der massiven Mauern und ihre eindringlichen Erinnerungen bilden das gewaltige Fundament für den zweiten Satz, der mit unterschiedlichen Klangblöcken spielt und sie kontrastiert. Der Schlusssatz hingegen ist deutlich leichter, mit einem Echo von Staccato-Glocken, durchsetzt mit kurzen rhetorischen Gesten und Aussagen.
Dieses Quintett entstand nach einem Besuch des Turms. Die physische Präsenz und das Potenzial der Räume im Inneren haben diese drei akustischen Experimente unmittelbar inspiriert. Das Werk, entstanden im Herbst 2025, ist selbstverständlich Christoph Anders gewidmet.
Every tower must have a trumpet …. and for the white Vogtei tower in Senheim, owned and curated by the artist Christoph Anders I begin my short Brass Quintet - ‘From an Old Tower - with exactly that, a festive trumpet fanfare which develops and expands throughout the first movement.
The heaviness of the massive walls, along with their stark memories, provide the massive fundament for the second movement which plays with and contrasts differing sonorous blocks, whereas the final movement is much lighter, with an echo of staccato bells interspersed by short rhetoric gestures and statements.
This Quintet was written after a visit to the tower. The physical presence and potential of the spaces within have inspired these three acoustic experiments directly. The work, written in Autumn 2025, is of course dedicated to Christoph Anders
Chaque tour se doit d'avoir une trompette… et pour la tour blanche de Vogtei à Senheim, propriété de l'artiste Christoph Anders qui en assure également la conservation, mon court Quintette pour cuivres – « D'une vieille tour » – débute précisément par cela : une fanfare festive de trompettes qui se développe et s'amplifie tout au long du premier mouvement.
La lourdeur des murs massifs, ainsi que les souvenirs poignants qu'ils évoquent, constituent le fondement imposant du deuxième mouvement, qui joue avec et contraste différentes masses sonores. Le mouvement final, quant à lui, est beaucoup plus léger, avec un écho de cloches staccato entrecoupé de brèves interventions et déclarations rhétoriques.
Ce Quintette a été composé suite à une visite de la tour. La présence physique et le potentiel des espaces intérieurs ont directement inspiré ces trois expérimentations acoustiques. L'œuvre, écrite à l'automne 2025, est bien entendu dédiée à Christoph Anders.
Senheim, 2025