Young Composers / 2007 Winners

Matthew says:
"Reflections is a very free piece, that is loosely based around a number of musical fragments. The title comes from the idea of reverb/echo (ie, reflected sounds) that is exploited in the electric violin and percussion (mainly vibraphone) parts, and also from the generally calm and reflective atmosphere of the piece. The piece does sometimes seem to create an impression of reflections in water."

Tom says:
Kerfuffle is a Scots' word which quite literally means a series of events which are disorganised and have little to no sense in their actions, and this is conveyed in the piece through the rhythmic and conversational writing between the parts (mostly and saxophone and bass clarinet) , and in addition to this,there are very few static moments, adding to the idea of disorganisation.

To add a sense of disorientation and an almost ominous feel, ostinatos of odd and off-putting rhythmic patterns are used, mostly in the cello, and the idea behind these is to create an idea of insecurity, like nothing is as it seems, despite the piece's mostly major tonality.

Carson says:
To me, Keats' poem 'On Death' is one of his most touching and meaningful short poems. My intention in this setting for Male voice, Violin, Cello, and Clarinet was to frame the text with instruments, without distorting or changing the incredible questions which is poses.

For this reason, I wrote the voice as a speaking part. In this particular text, I found that the speaking voice was far more appropriate and expressive than a singing one could have been.

Jonathan says:
The piece is constructed from the idea of having one chord sounding simultaneously at different pitches, or to put it another way, from chords which can be broken down into two (or sometimes more) identical constituents.

These identical 'mini-chords' which make up the harmony are at first kept in separate instruments. Gradually, the relationship between them becomes more tense. The material is forced back together in the end, rhythmically and harmonically reigned in.

Joel says:
The text for this piece is from a fragmentary Sumerian poem mourning the death of King Gilgamesh, a legendary hero of ancient Mesopotamia. For most of the piece, the ensemble creates one layer of music whilst the soprano chants arcane syllables above it.

However, towards the end of the piece, the whole group sounds together for a short time, before the unity is broken and the soprano is on her own again.