Author Archives: barnaby.priest@gmail.com

A Folding Screen

A Folding Screen is a collection of songs for Soprano, Clarinet and Pianoforte based on ancient Chinese poems. The structure of the piece is such that each performer has a solo, a duo with each of the others and three pieces for the whole ensemble. There are nine movements:

1. A Morning Time (Soprano, Clarinet, Pianoforte) – Liu K’o Chuang
2. Night Thoughts (Soprano, Pianoforte) – Li Bai
3. Kuan Ch’u (Clarinet)
4. Folding Screen I (Pianoforte)
5. Winter Nights (Soprano, Clarinet, Pianoforte) – Chien Wen-Ti
6. A Flower (Soprano) – Po Chu I
7. Folding Screen II (Clarinet, Pianoforte)
8. Dank Mist, Desolation (Soprano, Clarinet)
9. In the Empty Mountains (Soprano, Clarinet, Pianoforte)

In the performance recorded here, the soprano is Joanne Brown, the clarinettist, Andrea Gould, and the pianist, Naila Maharramova. It was recorded live at The Fridge, Al Quoz, Dubai 17/03/2014

So ito a Sperana

So ito a Sperana was written as a memorial to my father-in-law who passed away in 2002 after a long illness. Asperano (in dialect “Sperana” is the area where he had an olive grove that he owned. After his retirement, he would visit and tend his land daily for as long as he had his sight.

Structured in three slow sections the music is slow and contemplative. The opening section quotes a passage from a piano piece Bela Bartok, while central section uses a traditional song from the Monti Lepini, “Tira vento”.

 

Response

Written in conjunction with the choreographer Vivian Rojas Response uses two pieces Above the Canopy (from my CD Rainforest) and Six-Four-Two, written for this performance.

In this recording, the dancers are Vivian Rojas and Anne Cabanel, the Violinists, Emma Stansfield and Rachel Barton.

The recording was made at The Fridge, Dubai, November 2010

Of the dance, Vivian writes: Response is a contemporary dance piece that works with words such as giving, receiving, suggesting and reacting. When sharing that experience, the relationship between two dancing bodies inspired by two energetic violins, gives as a result a symphonic variety of possibilities on the stage.

Small Ensemble

String Quartet No. 3

String Quartet

The Infusion of Impossible Things

Flute, violin, viola, pianoforte

Worldes Blis (String Quartet No. 2)
Click here to listen
String Quartet

Canzona (Vidimus Stellam)
String Quintet
2 Violins, Viola, 2 Violoncellos

Canzona (Vidimus Stellam)
Brass Quartet

On Time
Click here to listen
String Quartet

Quartet for Saxophones
Saxophone Quartet

Overflow
Clarinet, 2 Harps, Pianoforte, 2 Violins, 2 Violas, Violoncello

’tis like the distance

Written for violoncello and pianoforte, ‘tis like the distance employs a very limited diatonic palette to explore a rich emotional field.

Recorded by Aaron DH Kim (violoncello) and Mariola Sokolowska (pianoforte) at The Fridge, Dubai, 15 Feb 2010.

 

Score and parts

🎼 View & Download Score and Parts from IMSLP
🄯 Licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0
Contact for commercial use: barnaby.priest@gmail.com

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Westron Wynde (2015)

At the moment, I am working on a piece for orchestra based on a 16th century song called Westron Wynde. This secular melody was used by a number of English composers as the basis for settings of the mass, most notably John Tavener, Christopher Tye and  John Sheppard. These composers use modified versions of the Westron Wynde tune as the basis for each of the movements of the mass.

In the extract uploaded here, I use the opening phrase of the tune as the basis for the music and to create the melodic arc and shape.

The orchestration is as follows: 3 clarinets, bass clarinet, organ, harp and strings

I would very much like to receive feedback on your thoughts about the music. Please use the comment box below to let me know what you think.

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