Programme Notes A - K

Why ‘ Ballade’? The Chopinesque title was suggested by the lyrical character of the opening tune. This contrasts with chromatic, chorale-like material, spacious and contemplative.

Ballade for saxophone quartet and strings was commissioned by the Norfolk and Norwich Festival in association with the Britten Sinfonia and the Apollo Saxophone Quartet, funded by Eastern Arts Board and the Friends of the Festival. It was first performed on 10 October 1997.

© Howard Skempton
reproduced by permission of Oxford University Press

The Bridge of Fire (2001)

James Elroy Flecker died in 1915, aged thirty. He is perhaps best known to musicians as the writer of Hassan (Delius wrote incidental music for the first production in 1923). The Bridge of Fire, written in 1906, is the title poem of Flecker’s first published volume. The title came before the poem, and according to a friend, once the title had been chosen, “[we] then debated the not unimportant question of what ‘The Bridge of Fire’ would be about. At midnight we parted, the question still unsettled. Flecker, however remarked cheerfully that it did not much matter – it was a jolly good title and he’d easily be able to think of a poem to suit it” ‘The Bridge of Fire’ is largely a vivid description of the many Gods of Heaven, the great and the good, the bad and the ugly. This ten-minute setting deals only with the first and last of the poem’s six verses. It was first performed by the BBC Singers under Bo Holten in York in May 2001.

© Howard Skempton
reproduced by permission of Oxford University Press

Catch (2001)

Catch was written for the Smith Quartet and first performed at The Warehouse, London, in October 2001. The commission was supported with funds from The Performing Right Society Foundation and the RVW Trust.

"Catch" has several meanings, one of which is musical and reflected in the canonic writing of much of this single-movement work. The opening idea recurs twice, a major third higher on each appearance, and is followed each time by a pair of episodes the second of which is a fugato.

© Howard Skempton
reproduced by permission of Oxford University Press

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My Chamber Concerto was commissioned by the 1995 Brighton Festival for Cambridge New Music Players. The title dates from a time when I intended to write a piece similar in scale and character to Webern's Concerto Op.24. What emerged was somewhat different: four confidently independent movements. The second and third are clearly related, but (as in many families) physical resemblance emphasises individuality. The Chamber Concerto is my second piece written especially for Cambridge New Music Players. The first was The Witches' Wood dating from 1990.

© Howard Skempton
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Chorales was commissioned by the Merseyside Arts Trust for the Merseyside Youth Orchestra, who gave three performances in 1982. It is a short work consisting of a series of short movements. The opening material is recycled twice, in the middle and at the end of the piece; and between these three 'pillars' lie shorter, lighter sections of varied character. Some are mere fragments - chips off the same block. Others, notably two movements for strings alone, are more clearly defined.

Chorales was my first piece for symphony orchestra and I remember arguing at the time, when challenged about this, that my inexperience was evidence of my practicality (I was not in the habit of wasting my time!). Most of my pieces from 1967 to 1980 were 'open letters' to friends. Few were longer than a minute or two and many were piano pieces. These were invariably performed in groups, a truly collaborative exercise, since the choice and ordering of the pieces was left to the pianist. So, in composing a series of short movements for the youth orchestra, I took the line of least resistance. The challenge was to shape and manoeuvre the parts to form a strong, coherent work of around twelve minutes.

© Howard Skempton
reproduced by permission of Oxford University Press

Clarinet Quintet (1997)

My Clarinet Quintet was commissioned by Warwick Arts Society with funds provided by West Midlands Arts. The first performance took place in the Royal Pump Room, Leamington Spa, on 5 July.

There are three movements: a subdued prelude, an airy interlude, and a bluesy postlude.

© Howard Skempton
reproduced by permission of Oxford University Press

Concertante (1998)

1. Moderato
2. Largo
3. Comodo

Concertante for violin and string orchestra was commissioned by the English Chamber Orchestra and Oxford University Press. It was composed during the summer months of 1998, and its extrovert qualities serve to celebrate OUP’s 75 years of music publishing and to acknowledge the extraordinary vitality of the ECO.

There are three movements. The first is an extended melody which unfolds with the minimum of disruption. The second is an arrangement of a simple tune (“Highland Melody”) composed in 1982. The opening of the third movement resolutely “breaks the spell” with a broad theme from which a fugue emerges; but this soon becomes chorale-like in character. A final, self-contained section is more genuinely “liberated” and relaxed, with its wide-ranging arpeggios and metric regularity.

© Howard Skempton
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Commissioned by Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council and funded by the Borough Council, Southern Arts and Hampshire County Council.

It is sometimes said that composing has become too easy; that "anything goes". It is a plausible view, but no more than that. It is easy to produce something worthless. But producing work of real character remains remarkably difficult. And the more experienced we become, the more we trust in the struggle to "get it right". There are new freedoms, certainly. There are also new disciplines.

The prospect of writing a concerto for hurdy-gurdy, percussion and chamber orchestra was both alarming and appealing. There were no precedents. This alarming/appealing sense of freedom was nicely counterbalanced by all the restrictions normally associated with a commission. Whether or not "anything goes", it remains true that composers thrive on restrictions. The drone of the hurdy-gurdy may seem inhibiting; in practice, it offers a challenge that fully engages the imagination. With such an unusual medium, there is an occasional twinge of doubt that everything will work precisely as planned. In the end, one has to trust one's judgement, and hope that one's particular strengths as a composer will carry the day!

As yet, the work bears no dedication. There are so many individuals and organisations whose contributions merit acknowledgement; Roger Watson of Traditional Arts Projects, who had the original idea of the concerto, and Andrew Burn of Bournemouth Orchestras; Basingstoke & Deane Borough Council who commissioned the concerto to celebrate Music Matters, the first community music week in Basingstoke, Peter Bolton of Southern Arts and John Botteley of The Anvil. In the end, the principal beneficiaries of a composer's gratitude are the performers; the Bournemouth Sinfonietta and Martyn Brabbins, and the two marvellous soloists Evelyn Glennie and Nigel Eaton.

© Howard Skempton
reproduced by permission of Oxford University Press

Concerto for Oboe, Accordion, and Strings (1997)

The phone rings. Somebody wants a new piece. More often than not, this is good news for a composer. One is careful to ask the right questions. Details of duration, first performance, and so on, are usually enough to fire the imagination. Sometimes, the commissioned is a colleague or friend. Or the friend of a friend for whom one has already written a piece.

This concerto owes its existence to Joseph Petric. In 1984, I composed a suite for free-bass accordion entitled Twin Set and Pearls. It was written for a British accordionist, John Chilton, who suggested that I should send a copy to Joseph, and it was Joseph’s enthusiasm for the work which led to a first meeting a few years ago. Several possibilities (including a concerto for accordion and strings) were discussed over an enjoyable lunch and a glass or two of something inspiring. When the commission materialized, a second soloist had been added, much to my delight. I had written a characteristically short piece for Nicholas Daniel in 1994 and welcomed the opportunity to present him with something more substantial.

The combination of oboe and accordion is a happy one, and I have opted for a flexible variation form rather than something more combative.

© Howard Skempton
reproduced by permission of Oxford University Press

Eternity's Sunrise (2003)

Eternity's Sunrise was commissioned by Music in the Round for the Wakeford Ensemble with funds provided by Arts Council England.

The title comes from a brief poem, "Eternity", by William Blake:

He who bends to himself a Joy
Doth the winged life destroy;
But he who kisses the Joy as it flies
Lives in Eternity's sunrise.

Eternity's Sunrise is primarily a set of variations on a theme derived from a simple setting of the Blake poem. The opening music is contemplative and the piece takes wing at the mid-point, coming to rest with references to the opening melody.

One of the virtues of variation form is that it allows a musical idea to retain its freshness. There is also the possibility, most charmingly, of being able to retrieve discarded fragments, allowing one to turn a succession of false starts to one's advantage!

© Howard Skempton
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The Flight of Song is comprised of settings of four poems by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: The Arrow and the Song, Becalmed, Chimes and The Tide Rises, and the Tide Falls. The third of these is for female voices; the others for mixed voices. The title is taken from the second verse of The Arrow and the Song: The setting of the opening verse (“I shot an arrow into the air”) of this first poem takes the form of a graphic score realised by my brother, Trevor Skempton, from a skeletal sketch which embellishes the Longfellow with fragments from Shakespeare, Shelley, Tennyson, Browning, Dryden, Milton, Wordsworth, Blake, Burns, and Coleridge. Such a departure from the norm struck me as a possibility during a spell in hospital earlier this year. It struck me (and this must have been due more to my state of mind than to the acoustics of the ward) that everything was equally audible but nothing was comprehensible. The Flight of Song was commissioned by COMA (Contemporary Music Making for Amateurs) with funds provided by the Arts Council of England. Its first performance, directed by Jane Manning, took place at Bretton Hall on 2 August 1996, during the COMA Summer School concert.

© Howard Skempton
reproduced by permission of Oxford University Press

Four New Poems (2004)

Four New Poems was completed in April 2004. It was composed for the spnm 'Composing for Kids' initiative with funds from the John Lyon's Charity and the Musicians Benevolent Fund.

The work is seven to eight minutes long and consists of settings of poems by pupils from two of the participating schools: Miu Stead and Paulina Nowosiad from Lady Margaret School, and Luan Wills and Lorenzo Strappelli from The London Oratory School. The order of poems is as follows:

1. The Sea (Miu Stead)
2. People hurry past me (Paulina Nowosiad)
3. They've all disappeared (Luan Wills)
4. Taurus (Lorenzo Strappelli)

© Howard Skempton
reproduced by permission of Oxford University Press

Garland (2000)

Garland for oboe and string trio was commissioned by Camarada with funds made available by the Foundation for Sport and the Arts. The title reflects the circularity of both form and melodic material.

© Howard Skempton
reproduced by permission of Oxford University Press

Gemini Dances (1994)

Gemini Dances was commissioned by Bromsgrove Concerts with funds from West Midland Arts. I was happy to take up an early suggestion from Ian Mitchell (Director of the ensemble Gemini) to write “something like a suite of pieces for different combinations, from which movements can be extracted if desired”.

© Howard Skempton
reproduced by permission of Oxford University Press

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© Howard Skempton
reproduced by permission of Oxford University Press

He wishes for the cloths of heaven (1999)

© 2004 Howard Skempton
reproduced by permission of Oxford University Press

Hot Noon in Malabar (1997)

Hot Noon in Malabar was composed in July 1997 for Patrizia Rosario and Chamber Music Company.

The words are by Kamala Das who was born in southern Malabar in 1934 and is one of India’s most distinguished poets. She has written, “From every city I have lived I have remembered the noons in Malabar with an ache growing inside me, a homesickness”.

This setting, for soprano and piano trio, employs additive rhythm and instrumental doubling to capture something of the suppleness and richness of Indian music. It was first performed by Patrizia Rosario and Chamber Music Company at the Norfolk and Norwich Festival on 14 October 1997.

This is a noon for beggars with whining
Voices, a noon for men who come from hills
With parrots in a cage and fortune cards,
All stained with time, for brown kurava girls
With old eyes, who read palms in light singsong
Voices, for bangle-sellers who spread
On the cool black floor those red and green and blue
Bangles, all covered with the dust of roads,
For all of them, whose feet, devouring rough
Miles, grow cracks on the heels, so that when they
Clambered up our porch, the noise was grating,
Strange....This is a noon for strangers who part
The window-drapes and peer in, their hot eyes
Brimming with the sun, not seeing a thing in
Shadowy rooms, and turn away and look
So yearningly at the brick-ledged well. This
is a noon for strangers with mistrust in
Their eyes, dark, silent ones who rarely speak
At all, so that when they speak, their voices
Run wild, like jungle-voices. Yes, this is
A noon for wild men, wild thoughts, wild love. To
Be here, far away, is torture. Wild feet
Stirring up the dust, this hot noon, at my
Home in Malabar, and I so far away....

Kamala Das

© Howard Skempton
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These piano pieces were commissioned by HTV West for a six-part television series entitled "Images". It was shown on Channel 4 to mark the 150th anniversary of the invention of photography. Each programme viewed the history of the medium from a different standpoint. For example, the second ("Domestic Memories") examined the amateur documentary tradition, and the fourth ("The Eye of the Empire") revealed disturbing evidence of the use of photography as a tool of imperial science and exploration.

Music was required as a compliment of the many sequences of evocative photographs. Barrie Gavin, whose musical judgement matches his brilliance as a producer, had something in mind akin to Satie's Gymnopedies, like a sculpture viewed from different angles in a changing light, hence the remarkably similar character of the eight preludes. Unlike most of the interludes, they were composed without a specific sequence in mind.

The pianist for the television series was Michael Finnissy and he was the first to play the music (initially, The Preludes) in public. Ben Morrison and John Tilbury have each recorded the entire set of twenty pieces, each devising his own sequence based on the alternation of Preludes and Interludes. The performer of Images is free to play any selection of pieces in any order.

© Howard Skempton
reproduced by permission of Oxford University Press

Into my heart an air that kills (1996)

Into my heart an air that kills was commissioned by The Housman Society to celebrate the centenary of The Shropshire Lad. We were offered the instrumentation of the Vaughan Williams cycle, On Wenlock Edge, and I decided to take the bull by the horns and use the whole ensemble. Essentially the vocal setting is lyrical and straightforward. The role of the instrumentalists is primarily accompanimental.

© Howard Skempton
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