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Back Inside...
I - Poem: Round and Round II - Poem: Locking III - Epilogue: Syringes Plunge into Valiant Arms |
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Commissioned by the Philharmonia Orchestra as part of their Music of Today series, Back Inside is a 10-minute piece for chamber orchestra responding to poetry by Tim Key.
Programme Note:
Back Inside responds to an anthology of poems and stories written by Tim Key during lockdown. These poems depict the mood of his lockdown experience with wit, irreverence and absurdist, off-beat imagery. They resonate with my own feelings during lockdown and provide fantastic material for a musical response.
The first movement ‘Round and Round’ features a prominent line for solo cello which veers from rhythmic, impassioned declamations to softer, freer lines moving within ensemble textures. The harmonic world circles, unchanging, sometimes very slowly, sometimes extremely fast.
The second movement ‘Locking’ is a song without words. The poem is ‘set’ in a musical line that moves through the ensemble in a delicate, dream-like haze.
The final movement contrasts anxious atmospheres with moments of surreal, cautiously hopeful, serenity.
My thanks go to the Philharmonia Orchestra for the commission and Robin O’Neill, Christian Mason and Anna Clyne for their support and thought-provoking advice throughout this process.