RIVER (2017)
For chamber orchestra
Duration: 3'
co-commissioned by BBC Radio 4's 'Front Row' programme and the BBC Proms.
First performed by the London Early Opera and conducted by Bridget Cunningham, broadcast live on BBC Radio 4 (17/07/17).
Subsequently performed at the 2017 BBC Proms Stage@TheDock, Hull, by Royal Northern Sinfonia, conducted by Nicholas McGegan, broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 (22/07/17).
'RIVER is a short work for chamber orchestra, which was written to celebrate the 300th anniversary of Handel’s Water Music. The piece seeks to reflect the flowing of water through the use of fleeting, melodic fragments that encircle each other to imitate the small waves on the surface of a river. Instances of stability are juxtaposed with moments of turbulence to suggest the ever-changing movement of the still, yet restless, river.'
©G.E.M.2017
©Cover Image: 'RIVER' Painting by Grace-Evangeline Mason 2017
““River, given its first concert performance at the water-themed dockside Prom in Hull, is a lushly scored work, in which liquid washes of string sound contrast with icy stabs of woodwind and brass.””
““Short, but highly charged, pungent harmonies rippling downwards, fierce accents, and the odd detuned chord””