Programme Notes

Into the Forest
The brief for composition at AS Level was to compose a piece of music titled
Into the Forest. As a child one of my favourite books was named Beyond the
Deepwoods, written by Paul Stewart, about a peculiar forest which was the
inspiration for this composition. In this forest time would stop, and men would
walk around forever, never finding an escape, eventually being plunged into
insanity from the twilight glow of the forest.
I tried to capture the essence of this insanity throughout my piece, with the
motivic development and creepy dorian modality. The unusual chord
progressions nearer the end of the piece helped me to achieve a sense of
urgency (as if to demonstrate the frantic urge to find escape before insanity
strikes), particularly as coupled with the speedy runs in the triplet semiquavers
and the extreme dynamics. My inspiration for this explosive section was from a
variety of sources, particularly Russian music of the late romantic era (such as
Scriabin and Shostakovich).
I wanted to create contrast with the more subdued sections of my piece, and so
explored music from Finland (such as Sibelius) and from Jewish folksongs. This
helped me to achieve an exotic feel to the piece, as it contained a dream-like
quality from the unusual mix of sources.
Circus Overture
The brief for composition at A2 Level was to compose a piece of music to
accompany the opening procession of a circus. Being an actor, I decided to take
this and create a theatrical performance as the circus ringmaster introduces
each act individually, culminating in a final burst of all the acts onto the stage
one last time.
My inspiration for this piece musically was very much based in musical theatre.
From the jazz style of A Chorus Line, to the grand style of Wicked, even to the
percussion-based music in Stomp, I attempted to combine as many styles to
create a large masterpiece showcasing each acts individual talent. I wanted to
explore the musicians in a theatrical manner too, and so there are unusual
moments in the piece, such as the lions roar and the triangle who seems
immune to the silence; these were an attempt at comedy, as the orchestra would
be as much a part of the performance as the acts themselves.
The use of the full orchestra helped me to add to this very large production, and
achieve the sense of grandeur I wished to associate with the circus.
Variations on an Original Theme
As a fan of the solo piano music which was composed by Rachmaninoff

(particularly his tude-Tableaux and his Variations on a Theme of Chopin) I
decided to try my hand at imitating his style. Beginning with a simple theme as
Rachmaninoff always does, I began to explore the potentials of spinning this
theme out into new and exciting ideas. The eventual structure was accidental; I
had never intended to create a set of variations, but soon I had so many
potential ideas to incorporate into one piece that I decided a set of combined
miniature variations would give me the opportunity to showcase as many of
them as possible.
During the creation of this piece I had incidentally begun listening to
contemporaries of Rachmaninoff, and so the music explores different composers
as it progresses; from the Rimsky-Korsakoff-style demisemiquaver runs, to the
Scriabin-inspired chromatic harmony, through the somewhat unrelated
harmonies of the likes of Faur. This piece demonstrates my passion for Music
from the Russian Romantic era.
A Clockwork Mind
Heavily inspired by Charles Ives The Unanswered Question, this piece explores
the themes of depression and brainwash, themes which I became interested in
through Anthony Burgess A Clockwork Orange. In an attempt to demonstrate
how the thoughts of a person in depression are regurgitated over and over, the
percussions main music is deeply thematic, focussing on the development
particularly of the theme from the first bar. The trumpet in this piece represents
those loved ones who do not understand depression, and hence are entirely
separate from the theme.
Ideally, this piece would be played without a conductor. The relationship between
the trumpet and the percussion is not a healthy relationship, and they are
perhaps almost entirely separate, both musically and, in performance, spatially. I
could almost prefer if the trumpet was deaf to the music of the percussion
instruments this would demonstrate how loved ones of those in depression
seem deaf to their thoughts.
The harmony and texture in this piece were inspired by the work of composers
from the Impressionist era; the use of the whole-tone scale, consecutive octaves,
quartal harmony, and extremes of register are just a few of the ways in which I
have taken from these composers.

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Into the Forest

Variations on an Original Theme

As a fan of the solo piano music which was composed by Rachmaninoff

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