Large Ensemble

Cold Earth

Cold Earth

For Sinfonietta (11′)

Programme Note

‘Cold Earth’ is, at first, inspired by the novel of the same name by Sarah Moss. This book tells the story of a group of archaeologists who become trapped on an isolated dig in Greenland as a global pandemic takes hold. With only limited access to information about the outside world, a growing sense of remoteness and fear grips the group as many of them begin to hallucinate ghostly visitations, as past and present collide in this hostile environment.

The piece really centres on this idea of social fragility, both in terms of a pandemic-driven societal collapse, but also in terms of the current unstable political climate, and growing fears about the climate crisis. Grief is also a major theme of the work; as fears about the state of the pandemic grow, the characters begin to grieve their losses in isolation. This kind of social anxiety, growing hysteria and a collective sense of grief about the way our world is heading, became the emotional basis for this piece of music.

The piece opens with a sense of haunting desolation through slowly moving, eerie chords in the strings, punctuated by a more melancholic lyricism from the piano. The texture builds in density, with ominous syncopated undercurrents as the harmonic language widens, and the cold and desolate landscape opens up. The central part of the piece is more fragmentary in nature, with hints of the opening chords through solo woodwind lines, and an atmospheric piano solo, with strange string glissandi permeating the texture. A more plaintive theme emerges, before the texture begins to build in a more dramatic way, with a continuous foreboding pedal. Following an eruption into the most rhythmic and pulsating part of the piece, there is a sudden drop back into the denser chords of the opening, before all dissipates into glassy and fragile textures which surround the final, mournful melodic lines from the piano.

 

*World premiere given by the Philharmonia as part of their 2025-26 Composer Academy on Thursday 8th May 2026 at the Royal Festival Hall, London.

The Green Chapel

The Green Chapel

For Trombone Quartet and Brass Band (c.15’40)

Programme Note

For Bones Apart and Foden’s Brass Band

Located in Back Wood, part of the Dark Peak towards the Southwest of the peak district, Lud’s Church is a deep chasm penetrating the Millstone Grit bedrock, created by a massive landslip on the hill above Gradbach in Staffordshire. This mysterious cave-like hide-out is mossy and overgrown, and wet and cool even on very hot days; it is even thought to have its own micro-climate due to its depth and moisture.

It is also a place of fascinating history, mythology and supposedly paranormal activity. Lud’s Church is widely believed to be the setting for the climax in the medieval poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, referred to as ‘The Green Chapel.’ Some myths also suggest that Robin Hood and Friar Tuck are reputed to have stayed there whilst hiding from the authorities.

However, it is the fascinating connection between this hidden place and the 14th century Lollards, which has perhaps provided a most lasting and distinctive story behind this enigmatic place. The Lollards, a pre-protestant Christian group who rejected Catholicism, and because of their beliefs were persecuted and hunted down as heretics, supposedly used this cool cavern as a place to worship in peace. The name ‘Lud’ is supposed to have either derived from Llud, a Celtic god, or, more likely, from Lollard worshiper Walter de Lud Auk, who was captured during a raid of Lud’s Church.

According to Hugh Williams, ‘The congregation that met secretly at Lud’s Church was reputedly led by a priest named Walter de Lud-Auk and they say he looked after his orphaned granddaughter Alice, a beautiful young woman with “an unearthly voice” who would sing a verse of each hymn solo and entrance the assembled Lollards.’ It is said that during the same raid, Alice was accidentally killed during the arrest, and that her ghost haunts the chasm to this day, clad in white and singing loudly in her ‘unearthly voice’. This legend has been passed down through the centuries, and was commemorated in 1862, when a small figurine was placed above Lud’s Church by then-landowner, Phillip Broklehurst, in remembrance of Alice, or ‘Lady Lud’ as she came to be known. 

Over time, Lud’s Church has been referenced extensively in local folklore, the earliest reference of which involves a story in which the Devil scraped his finger along the earth’s surface, thus creating Lud’s Church.’

 

Movement I – ‘Tranquil, Hidden, Cool’ (6’40)

Ambient, cold and eerie percussion permeates the opening, producing a dark and cave-like atmosphere, with whispering wind through the cornets. The trombones enter with unnerving, dissonant glissandi, underpinned by strange, muted harmonies elsewhere. Alongside a ghostly upward arpeggio motif, gradually more tranquil melodic ideas imbue the score, rising towards more triumphant fanfare chords in the whole ensemble. Soon, more calm and serene pedal, suspended harmonies infuse the movement, with cascading melodicism in the cornets and trombones, and softly ringing percussion, evoking a sense of this serene and peaceful place.

 

Movement 2 – ‘The Girl with the Unearthly Voice’ (4’)

The quartet begins the movement with a plaintive chorale, that soon opens into a livelier dance, full of counterpoint and imitation. There is a more energetic development of the opening chorale within the whole band, before the quartet introduce a more percussive, syncopated section. The band develop once again the contrapuntal dance, before a calmer and more reflective iteration upon a drone of the movement’s main melodic theme. The movement ends with a darker, more sombre repetition of the opening chorale from the quartet.

 

Movement 3 – ‘The Shot’ (5’) 

This movement unfolds as a dramatic ‘hunt’ for the Lollards and the fatal wounding of Alice. There is an intense opening, with repeated and overlapping stabbing semiquavers becoming the major theme of the movement. The quartet soon take over with some virtuosity, as their lines interweave and interject with this accented motif. An ominous and more syncopated bass line motif takes hold at certain points below varied rhythmic interjections and decorations within the band, and in the centre of the movement a drone-like feeling of suspension occurs, signalling the fatal shot. The movement ends with some reminiscence of the serene atmosphere of the first movement, before ghostly chromatic lines interweave in muted cornets and then the trombones, suggestive of the supposed continued haunting of Alice’s ghost at Lud’s Church. 

 

* Commissioned by the RNCM International Brass Festival. World premiere performance given by Bones Apart Trombone Quartet and Foden’s Band on Friday 23rd January 2026, at RNCM International Brass Band Festival, Manchester.

 

Meprex

Meprex

For a Mixed Ensemble of 9 performers (7′)
2fl. 2sax(sop+alt). 1tpt. 1tbn. 1tb. 1vla. 1vlc.

Programme Notes

In Mongolian, ‘мөргөх’ means ‘to pray’, and this piece is a meditative exploration of what the concept of prayer may mean to different people. The majority of the piece is formed around the idea of ‘stillness’, constructed through close, dissonant harmony and a sustained, blended sound. There are brief moments of intensity and impact within this stillness.

The central section has a greater sense of movement, and here is where individual voices come more to the fore through a denser and more contrapuntal texture, perhaps in prayer, perhaps just in hope. Inspired by the gently moving chord sequence of ‘Mother and Father’ by Mongolian musician Bukhchuluun Ganburged, this section becomes increasingly re-harmonised as the lines become more intricate. In the final section, the opening melodic idea is played once more by muted trumpet, above intense harmonies. Gradually, this becomes more distant, until all sound fades.

Through the Spiral

Through the Spiral

For Brass Band and 3 percussionists (4′)

Programme Note

This piece is about a short but exciting journey through our great Milky Way galaxy! At first, a gradually building texture increases in density as more and more stars begin to shine in the blackness. This gives way to large-scale chords, rising and falling in great height like giant nebula and cloud dust. A more majestic and expressive chorale takes over, as we move past great planets and moons. As the opening star-like texture returns, building in intensity and with added percussion, we near a black hole, at the centre of the galaxy. The final rhythmic section is a race back through the galaxy, as stars, nebula, planets and asteroids whizz by, concluding with a triumphant fanfare as we take a look back at the great ‘Spiral’.

*World premiere performance given by the Fairey Brass Band at the Royal Northern College of Music Young Explorers Concert on Sunday 16th March 2025

 

Published with Astute Music

 

Agita

Agita

for Symphony Orchestra (c.4′)
3(III=picc).3.3(III=bcl).3(III=dbn) – 4.3.3.1 – timp.perc (3) – harp – strings

Programme Note

The word ‘agita’ is thought to have arrived in New York via Italian immigrants around the turn of the century. Derived from possible sources in Italian such as ‘agitare’ (to ‘trouble’), or from the Latin ‘agitare’ meaning ‘to stir up’, it has clear connotations with restless and turbulent energy. There is also a darkness to it, that indicates being in an anxious and troubled state of mind.

This piece is a frenzied dance that drives forward with relentless energy for almost its entirety. Aside from one very brief moment of uneasy calm, the uneven rhythmic motif of the opening builds in intensity until all bubbles over into a slight loss of control, before dissolving into a more melancholic moment of reflection.

 

* World premiere performance given by the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Christopher Rountree, as part of the Edward T. Cone Institute at Princeton University on Saturday 19th July 2025.

 

When the World Awakes

When the World Awakens

For Large String Orchestra and Percussion (9′)
perc(3)-strings.10.8.6.6.4

Programme note:

The complexity and diversity of the natural world is overwhelming. The simplicity of what it takes for nature to heal and show its resilience however, is equally startling.

When the global pandemic hit our world in 2020, humanity was forced to change its damaging behavioural patterns for the first time in a long time. The way the natural world reacted has been documented by many. In cities, we heard birdsong instead of airplanes, saw wildlife venturing more confidently into our urban world, and ultimately appreciated the very existence of nature and the ‘outside’ more than ever. Try as we might, and love our world as much as we think we do, we remain a constant threat to our great planet, and to ourselves.

Our desperation to get back to ‘normal’ and to live as we did before exists in all of us. The threat we pose to the future of our planet remains until we accept that we need to move forward differently.

Inspired by the idea of a pastoral lament, which becomes at times unhinged by something more unsettling, this piece is about the innocent fragility of the natural world; the dominant threat of humans and the city, and the need for us to respect and work together with our planet, instead of against it.