dc.description.abstract |
The notion of ‘a sense of place’ and associated personal identity, has long been important to me, both in my work as a composer and performer, and in my work as a Child Psychiatrist. This portfolio of compositions reflects a period of research in which I have consciously explored my relationship to place during the process of creating music. I have actively drawn on my own perceptions of, experiences in, and connections to the places in which I have lived, and the sound-worlds that I have inhabited. Accordingly, my commentary is an examination of the complex, relational, and intensely personal factors that give rise to musical ideas and creative processes in my own compositions, referencing those influences that have been the most powerful. I have tried to avoid too narrow a focus on the physical landscape of ‘place’ in the three compositions, remaining attentive to the broader associations and experiences that also shape my music. I have also explored the role that titles and lyrics play as ‘co-creators’ of a sense of place in my compositions. As will be apparent, the ways in which I have chosen to use words, and the relationships between text and music differ in each of the three works. In Cries of Kathmandu for vocal sextet and string quartet, the text is but one of many independent elements of the soundscape captured in the work. Where moons circle and burn for soprano and orchestra has lyrics that drive the shape and impetus of the work; the music creates a sound-world suggested by the words, focusing and intensifying the images, emotions, and relationships as they are experienced. The concerto for violin and orchestra, In hollowed bone I hear the seas roar, uses the words of the title as a starting point only; they have evoked for me an affective response and associated memories, but the relationship between words and music is looser and less apparent. It is the music alone that creates the structure, momentum, and a sense of place. |
en |