Limb

(2019) for solo viola & orchestra

Description
In Limb the soloist is set apart from the main body of the orchestra (as is the norm) and could be perceived to be an ‘extra limb’ – separate but still connected, or as being ‘out on a limb’ – isolated and exposed. In the performance, rather than enjoying this separation and the focus of attention (as we anticipate a soloist would do), the violist, instead, strives to be fully integrated back into the orchestra (this idea hints at the stereotypical notion of the viola player lacking ego).

At the start of the piece the character of the solo part is strong and unrelenting, exhibiting determination and vigour, as well as anguish and despair at the (involuntary?) role of soloist but, as the piece progresses, the part becomes more and more absorbed into the orchestral texture until, at the climax (marked, ‘Monstrous, triumphant’), it is impossible to separate them, physically or au- rally. The assimilation is misleading, however, as once the massive tutti section subsides a fragile soloist is once again exposed, defeated and resigned, in a final section which is weary, dark and gloomy: an unsuccessful attempt at permanent integration.

Purge

(2018) for solo c flute or alto flute

Description
This short piece for solo flute is robust and blatantly aggressive in a way that captures attention, using the voice extensively to augment and compound a breathless and relentless outpouring. It is guttural, gestural and almost animalistic: a dramatic display which expels and purifies as it flits skittishly between music that is resolute or warm, flighty or driven.

Purge is the first movement in a suite for flute, clarinet, horn and bassoon – Melodrama – commissioned by Music in the Round and performed by Ensemble 360 during the Sheffield Chamber Music Festival 2018. The suite was composed collaboratively by the four members of Platform 4.

If you are interested in performing the complete suite please email platform4@live.co.uk

Focus Pull

(2017) for string quartet 

Composed as a companion piece for Haydn’s string quartet Op. 33 No 1 in B minor (one of the six ‘Russian’ quartets). The relationship between the two pieces relies heavily on three bars taken from the first violin melody in the 3rd movement, which is used as a kind of tone row for the entire piece. Apart from sharing the same DNA, however, the piece is rather like the exuberant distant relative and, although the quartet strives hard to pull focus and reveal its identity, an erratic display makes the family resemblance hard to perceive.

Premiere: Crucible Studio Theatre, Sheffield (Ensemble 360) 8th May 2017.
Commissioned by Music in the Round for performance as part of the May Festival (Russia in the Round 2017)

You can read two blogs about the process of composing this piece:

Listen to a Podcast of Jenny in conversation with Ensemble 360’s clarinetist Matt Hunt discussing the Music in the Round commission, and her working practice.

Cloudscape

(2017) for flute choir

Commissioned by Sheffield Flute Choir for the Classical Sheffield Weekend 2017. I am fascinated by the sound of the flute choir which can be equally sweet and brash, and is reminiscent of the flute sound on a fairground organ. In composing the piece, I chose to celebrate the sameness rather than trying to find differences between the instruments, and to treat the choir as one big instrument.

To achieve the effect of masking and clearing clouds, the flute choir is divided into three groups with four different parts in each. Each group has its own unique set of pitches which are often combined to create blocks of sustained chords that fade in and out. I wanted to capture the feeling of a drifting and evolving cloudscape.

Torque

(2010) for string quartet

Torque n. Necklace of twisted metal; the twisting or rotary force in a piece of mechanism. In this piece the conventional grouping of the string of quartet is driven through a number of different moods in a single movement. Performance directions include ‘glassy’, ‘as if remembering’, ‘irritable’, ‘aggressively’ and other indications of an underlying tension.

The homogeneous nature of the strings is both acknowledged and challenged as the piece moves between light and dark shades while retaining a sense of unease and instability.

Kraal

(2017) for massed voices

Kraal was commissioned by Classical Sheffield for the Classical Weekend 2017. It was first performed by members from five choirs:

Sheffield Chorale
Sterndale Singers
Sheffield Chamber Choir
Viva Voce
Abbeydale Singers

on Sunday 19th March 2017 at the Cathedral Church of St Marie, Sheffield.

‘Kraal’ is an Afrikaans and Dutch word for an enclosure for cattle or other livestock, located within an African settlement or village surrounded by a fence of thorn-bush branches, a palisade, mud wall, or other fencing, roughly circular in form.

In this piece, the audience experiences the feeling of being enclosed both physically (by the performers), and aurally (by experiencing the slowly evolving and changing sung harmonies as pitches travel around the circle).

[S]pan

(2015) for flexible ensemble

In this piece, performers are placed apart so that the listener experiences a live panning effect as the sound spans the entire performing space.

Premiere: Winter Gardens, Sheffield October 2015 (Platform 4)

Teeter

(2016) for low strings

Teeter was originally conceived as a solo cello piece but has been revised, developed and augmented in order to expand the possibilities in creating greater density and textural complexity. Written for low strings (requiring three or more players in any combination of viola, cello and double bass), the ensemble is treated as one slightly cumbersome, lumbering instrument, rather than a collation of complimentary lines or parts.

The piece is loosely based on a short poem by Lisa Verdon; ‘Do You Feel Me’, and follows the poem’s structure marked by the words Teetering, Groping, Clinging and Drowning.

Premiere: Firth Hall, Sheffield March 2016 (Platform 4)

[S]urge

(2011) for horns (2) & flexible string ensemble

Hooting, not Drinking

(revised 2017) for solo flute (doubling Alto) with blown bottles & flutes ensemble

This piece was originally written in 2016 as a response to John White’s bottle-blowing piece Drinking & Hooting Machine (1968) which concerns itself with the gradual evolution of a continuum of sound from high to low. I wanted to write a piece that uses blown bottles in a more ‘musical’ way, by controlling combinations of high to low sounding bottles to provide a distant, harmonic backdrop for the flute solo. In this revised version, I have expanded the breathy bottle ensemble to include flutes, enabling a more colourful exploration of the sound world, and a heightened spatial experience.

Premiere: 18.03.17 Channing Hall, Sheffield (Rachel Shirley – solo flute & Platform 4) Classical Weekend 2017

Desire Lines

for piano, six hands

Desire Lines I
Desire Lines II
Desire Lines III
Desire Lines IV

These four contrasting miniatures are an exploration into the drama and textures of having six hands playing at one piano. The close proximity of the three players gives rise to a theatricality of performance, the concept of which informed the compositional process.

The number of hands allows for a density, complexity of texture and greater coverage of the keyboard than when played by a single pianist, while the limitations of physical space and access mean that the players have sometimes to negotiate and sometimes fight for their pathways through the pieces.

These routes though the terrain of the pieces are like ‘desire lines’ – paths chosen to achieve a particular goal; and in the same way the composer must force a creative pathway through the composition and the practicalities of the performance.

Self Portrait

(2009) fl, ob, cl, perc, pno, hp, mand, gui, vln, vla, vc, db.

I. II. III. IV.

Inspired by a long-term interest in portraiture in the visual arts and, more recently, the work of David Hockney – in particular his self portraits – this collection of four short pieces reflects the paradoxes of expressing the ‘self’ in any art form. The self that is expressed is a product not only of the intentions of the artist, but also of contingent elements such as time, place and context. The music, then, explores the tension between the composer’s vision of self and its realisation.

Premiere: Musiekgebouw aan’t IJ , Amsterdam 19.11.09 (Nieuw Ensemble): broadcast live on Dutch National Radio
Second performance: Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival 23.11.09 (Nieuw Ensemble)

Madam Adam

(2017) Sop., Ten., Bass & Pno.

A mini opera based on palindromic word-play (commissioned by Opera on Location for Classical Sheffield festival 2017)

The libretto is a concoction of single-word palindromes and palindromic sentences which have been forged to create a single scene. The scene is set in Dr Awkward’s consulting room – a tired old shrink. He and his secretary – Madam – prove themselves to be less than professional in the care of a slightly mad young man calling himself Adam – “’Tis Ivan on a visit; drab as a fool, as aloof as a bard!”.

Premiere: Upper Chapel, Sheffield (Opera on Location)

Folies

(2016) solo dancer, sop, fl, cl, B. Cl, hn (2), sop. rec, vln, vc

Choreography – Hannah Wadsworth
Performed by Hannah Wadsworth, Andrea Tweedale (sop) & Platform 4, University Drama Studio, Sheffield

The selected text is taken from a poem by the Italian Futurist poet Aldo Palazzeschi; E Lasciatemi Divertire! (Let Me Amuse You!) which explores the nature of what it is to be a ‘creator’, and the conflict between artistic freedom on the one hand, and the oppression of (perceived) criticism and judgement on the other. The original poem contains many nonsensical words which implies the collapse of sense but the words begin to suggest their own meaning as we try to interpret the inflections and phonetic sounds (“it’s like when someone gets to singing without really knowing the words”). The piece demonstrates how fine the line is between artistic freedom and madness: one is fun, and acceptable to society, and the other is worrying, perplexing and traumatic for others to observe.

Premiere: Saturday 24th September 2016 University Drama Studio, Sheffield as part of ‘Embodiments’ presented by Platform 4.

Five Dances

(2012) cl., hn., pno. & three dancers

– a collaboration with choreographer Sue Lewis and Ffin Dance – a professional dance company based in Abertillery, Wales.

The five short pieces are intentionally contrasting in character, texture and tempo and the choreography imitates this and, at times, relates directly to the relationships between the instrumental parts.

Five Dances was included in the Connections Tour 2012 by Ffin Dance with the music performed live by Platform 4.

Leading Lines

(2016) for viola ensemble

Premiere: Workshop performance 17.4.16 Huddersfield (BVS)
Commissioned by the British Viola Society

Moot

(2014) for orchestra & piano, six hands

Commissioned by the Endcliffe Orchestra, Sheffield, and was first performed by them on 28th June 2014 at the Victoria Hall, Sheffield.

The pianists were Tom Owen, Chris Noble and Tom James

Conducted by Martin Lightowler