Note new works will be posted both here and on guitarcompositions.weebly.com)
Sonata 9 : America
I love America. I love the place. I love the people. This sonata is inspired by my love.
1. America. Homage to Dvorák.
Here I’ve tried to invoke the mood of pioneer America. If you listen hard you’ll hear various pioneer sounds: bugle calls echoing over the forest, the gentle wind on a summer prairie, the contented mood of a pioneer wedding – the bells ringing out the happiness of the newly married couple. Behind these human features is the ever present wild untamed wilderness, sinister in its darkness.
I’ve sung tenor in a concert devoted to Dvorák music. Just before the final rehearsal, Alistair Auld, the conductor, pointed out to me how the slow movement of his famous “New World Symphony” starts with and is constructed around a magic repeated chord progression. I haven’t stolen Dvorák’s chords direct but I have stolen the idea of opening with a magic chord progression to repeat it later in the work. I tried also to learn something from Dvorák’s masterly handling of rhythm – you’ll hear if I am a good student. Dvorák, of course, had a strong connection with America and wrote his “New World Symphony” there. But he couldn’t settle there and his home sickness exiled him again, this time back to his native Czech land. A brief quotation from the New World has leaked into my second movement.
2. The Peace River (Held for orders).
Frank H Spearman’s heartbreaking short story: “The Roadmaster’s Story––the Spider Water” (from the story collection entitled: Held for Orders) narrates the life, betrayal, and death of Hailey, the West End Railway’s talented but unqualified bridge engineer. The West End crosses two most treacherous rivers, the Spider and the Peace. Hailey designs and finishes an expensive Spider bridge but before a similar Peace bridge is completed a remote board of directors deems that Hailey is to be demoted, a new academically qualified engineer appointed, and a cheaper and much inferior Peace bridge substituted. One terrible night the telegraph calls Hailey to tell him his Spider bridge is washed out. Immediately Hailey commandeers a special engineering train and races through the night towards his Spider bridge; but it is the compromised Peace bridge (built by his successor) that has failed. Hailey has one chance to save himself but doesn’t take it; and in saving others he dies in the raging flood. In cruel irony Hailey goes to his death still believing his own bridge had failed.
3. Legendary Mountain Men.
Spearman’s speciality was the romantic, heroic, life of the the men of iron that ran the late nineteenth railroads. In his books he refers intermittently to the “Legendary mountain men:” the early track men and linesmen on the rails crossing the Rockies. While passengers and others rode on heated trains these guys were simply out there in it: clearing blizzard drifts, climbing mountainsides, working night after night in order to keep the track bed clear and the all important telegraph working. In wind and cold that would have killed hardened cowboys these guys were expected to fix everything or die in the attempt. In my music I’ve tried to convey the disorienting uncertain world in which they lived and sadly so often died – you can hear the appalling effect of snow as it blots out everything familiar. Spearman’s stories are an epitaph for now forgotten men.
Sonata 4 Italia
‘Italia All’aperto’ was originally written as a short composition entry for the Michelle Pittaluga competition. For the 2016 Pittaluga there were (unusually) two categories in the composing competition. I had no chance in the ‘real’ competition, but there was a smaller competition for a new ‘motif’ or ‘theme tune’ for the Pittaluga event itself (limited to 4 minutes). ‘Italia All’aperto’ was my attempt at that category (– hence the pseudo-name).
But despite the pseudo-name my miniature did not win; too many ideas burst out of its four minute slot. So at the end of 2019 I re-visited it catchy themes, this time to create this three movement Sonatina. Little did I imagine as I started work that 2019 and 2020 in Italy would be marked by fruitless cruel lockdowns and that, even for Italians, Italy would become a vast prison.
But my Sonata is for the Real Italy of sunlight, happiness, and open air.
A recording will be available shortly.
Time’s Lost Canyons (Sonata 8 Guitar Duet)
Sonata 8 is in 3 movements:
A Dream of Reality
Time’s Lost Canyons
An Accidentally Fall
Programme Notes
A Dream of Reality
What frightens us most? dreams, or reality? Reality can be terrifying – or even beautiful but dreams, unhindered by plausibility or logical coherence, can be much worse. So what would a “dream of reality” be like – even more terrifying, or even more beautiful? The work begins with great tension – one is perhaps reminded of Goya’s “Dream of Reason,” but the tension is periodically relieved by gentler very sonorous “musette-like” sections which fully exploit the considerable resonance of the lower registers of the two instruments.
Time’s Lost Canyons
Time. Despite our grandiose science we know so little about time. Sure, physicists can measure nano
seconds, or speak pretentiously of billions of years – but neither of those measures impinge on our experience of life. So: where science fails can art help? Surely, of all art forms music is the monarch of time, the only art form which of necessity interacts constantly with time. Maybe musicians should know more about time than anyone else? Perhaps time is crystalline, hard, and static and there are vast deserts of frozen time, criss-crossed by those unknowable canyons of our lives. Or perhaps time does flow, caressing, soft warm and liquid, smoothly carrying us through life.
An Accidentally Fall (Ten Bottles Downing)
Yes: all my music is essentially abstract – but there are sufficient clues in the title, and in the music itself, to guess an initial inspiration from the world of UK politics. Those knowing their folks songs and “10 Green bottles” in particular are at an advantage. As in the other two movements there are extensive “musette-like” sections – here the “musette” section has a certain foolish drunken character. There are also some tremendous rhythmic challenges for the two players Unlike our political leaders I’m not sure alcohol consumption (locked-down or not) would help!
NOTE For Printing PDFs posted here are generated by the Microsoft PDF generator which introduces minor rendering errors. The PDFs on my alternative site https://guitarcompositions.weebly.com are generated by the “Cute PDF” system and are more accurate. MusicXML format is also available.
Performance Notes.
The mechanical performance is useful for understanding some of the complex rhythmic patterns (e.g. movement 240 et seq.) – but as a general guide it will mislead. In particular all three movements contains sections where I expect some liberty to be taken with the tempo – none of the movements drive relentlessly on from beginning to end.
First movement. There should be a clear division between the tense rhythmical sections and the far more relaxed lyrical sections (where tempos will vary). In particular the D major ‘musette’ sections should be an expression of pure lyrical and tonal joy – as players please enjoy the deep resonant sonority of two guitars both tuned down to “D”. Such sections occur in all three movements and are a unifying feature across the Sonata. Individual parts of the fugal sections can seem a little strange – but when combined they are effective (as you can hear on the mechanical performance).
Second movement. This should be played with considerable passion and expression throughout. The static sections (e.g. the opening) must be played with conviction; try and imagine your chords echoing across the “vast deserts of frozen time”. It might be good to play the initial chords non-arpeggiated (and use the same technique when the idea reoccurs.) Then, as a contrast, to slightly arpeggiate the chords which accompany the lyrical melody from bar 6 onward. In those lyrical passages it is important that the “accompanying” guitar doesn’t push the tempo but gives time for the “melodic” guitar to play the decorative melismas at the end of phrases. In a solo guitar work this would be automatic – but here will require some planning and forethought.
The very rapid figurations (e.g. bar 4, end – bar 164, end etc.) should sound like flashes of cold lightning striking across a slowly flowing texture – the marking “ponticello” is only a suggestion, but might help.
Third movement. To be effective this is going to need considerable planning as regards volume and tonal changes. Only some occurrences of the main theme should be at the same dynamic and tone. Bar 132 should take the listener utterly by surprise – it’s the last thing they were expecting. Subsequent phrases (e.g. bar 134-35) should feel as if taken in one breath. This is particularly true for the phrase at 165 – 173 – in an ideal world the listener would be holding their breath to the end of that phrase. If this were piano music all these sections would be marked with pedal held down throughout.
In the section 237-286 the intention is to create a feeling of absolute spontaneity – as though each player is making it up as they go along – and yet in some magical way combining at the critical moments. The glances you give each other when playing this section will help your audience understand what’s happening.
The passage leading up to bar 344 is a deliberate cacophony – I would have liked to have flung in yet more notes!
Variations on Cadair Idris for Two Guitars
Eight Fantasy Arrangements of Old Welsh Children’s Songs (2022) for Guitar Duet
- Deryn y Bwn o’r Banna (E major)
- Robin Diog (A minor)
- Dacw Mam y Dwad (D major)
- Marwnad yr Ehedydd (D minor)
- Can y Melinydd (E minor)
- B’le wyt Ti’n Myned (E minor)
- Bu Farw’r Cathod (C minor)
- Dacw Dadi’n Mynd i’r Fair (A major) (A Major)
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