solo piano, 3 minutes – 2005.

(Clive Williamson)
Composed to be played with thumbs only, a baroque suite in miniature based on Dylan’s ‘Mr Tambourine Man’.

Download score 

Programme notes (to be read at performance):

a one-minute true story…(remembering to inhale)…so me and linda cadge a lift to bob dylan’s gig in ‘78 from our stoned english teacher and very pregnant wife who realise they forgot their tickets when we reach guildford so me and linda get out and stick up our thumbs to hitch – festooned in beads and indian print – hoping for hunky hippies in a vw camper van but getting a nice clean st john ambulance man in a mini who took us all the way to where we sat down with 250,000 people and were just preparing to ‘inhale deeply’ when we saw my little sister sitting 10 feet away – it sometimes seems like life is mostly thumbs.

Composed for Clive Williamson to play at the 2005 Guildford International Music Festival—(sorry, Clive!). Full-quality recording released on Cadenza, as is a score of the whole collection.

Solo piano, 1996.

(Philip Mead, piano)
Score

Transparent things, through which the past shines!
Man-made objects, or natural ones, inert in themselves but much used by careless life (you are thinking, and quite rightly so, of a hillside stone over which a multitude of small animals have scurried in the course of incalculable seasons) are particularly difficult to keep in surface focus: novices fall through the surface, humming happily to themselves, and are soon reveling with childish abandon in the story of this stone, of that heath
Vladimir Nabokov

The pieces can be performed as a set (keeping the order below) or individually/in pairs, as the pianist prefers.

• Cold Light, 6.a.m.
• Still, Clear (for VRM)
• Frozen Edge
• Long Causeway
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Commissioned for Stephen Gutman, with funds provided by a Holst Award.

Duration approx. 16 minutes (whole set).

The four pieces which make up Transparent things each explore notions of transparency: the idea of looking through a surface in search of something less tangible, and more resonant. They were inspired by both the above quotation and my long walks on and around Stanage Edge, in the Peak District, Derbyshire (UK). Although the individual pieces came from memories of specific times and places, they are not overtly programmatic. Perhaps I was seeking a musical analogy for that growing clarity of mind than can arise during a solitary walk, when there is time to reflect, to remember and to get thoughts and dreams into focus.

This piece is recorded by Philip Mead on CD (Transparent things)

Piano, 2010.

Fuga Interna (begin) is the fifth piece in a series for piano, Fuga Interna, and was first performed by Philip Mead.

All the works in the Fuga Interna series are inspired by my experience of playing Bach’s Fugue in B minor, from Book 1 of the Well-Tempered Clavier. Like all the pieces in the series, this Fuga Interna (begin includes brief references to any that came before, though it is not necessary to know this to appreciate the work, nor to perform the works in order. This Bach fugue is a constant companion in all my compositional endeavours, and has been for some thirty years.

for piano solo, 1988.

Score (scan of hard copy – 24 MB download)

The piece was originally written for pianist (and physicist) Steven Neugarten, who said ‘why not write a piece about turbulence?’ and got my particular interpretation of the idea, a virtuoso piece that proceeds from bottom to top of the piano, becoming more and more complex, with a structure based on a quite rigorous use of Fibonacci principles. The piece was first performed by Steven as a finalist in the British Contemporary Piano Competition. This recording is from Philip Mead, who set up the same competition.

High Force is a waterfall in County Durham, surrounded by impressive pine trees and dark rock walls that have an almost cathedral-like presence. The water falls headlong for about 70 feet, landing in a surging pool, coloured by the surrounding peat and granite. Watching it, I was mesmerised by the great mass of water which seems at once changeless and constantly changing. After staring for a while the granite and the water seem to merge as one. In this piece I sought to capture that feeling of relentlessness and turbulent motion, and the erosion of one, apparently unyielding, element by another, more fluid idea.

Recorded by Philip Mead on Transparent things.

Thescore was computer set by Barnes Music Engraving, to use as an example of their work. I remain extremely grateful to this day that they were so kind as to do this for one penniless young-ish composer. But the amazing quality of their work is its own recommendation.

Solo piano, 2000.

Fuga Interna (ascent), composed in 2000 for performance by Philip Mead at the British Music Information Centre, London as part of a concert of my solo piano work.

This is one in a continuing series of relatively short works for piano, , started in 1997 (and very much still in progress). Each contains brief ‘quotes’ from those that preceded it, but the pieces can be performed in any order and combination, as the performer prefers. All are inspired by the pianist for whom I wrote the particular piece, and also from my experience of playing Bach’s Fugue in B minor, Book 1 of the Well-Tempered Clavier, a work that’s a constant companion in many of my compositional endeavours. As I play it at the piano, it offers a place to meditate on performing and listening. The way in which the pieces refer to the Bach are often quite rigorous and defined, although deliberately not audibly apparent.

This is one in a continuing series of relatively short works for piano, Fuga Interna, started in 1997 (and very much still in progress). Each contains brief ‘quotes’ from those that preceded it, but the pieces can be performed in any order and combination, as the performer prefers. All are inspired by the pianist for whom I wrote the particular piece, and also from my experience of playing Bach’s Fugue in B minor, Book 1 of the Well-Tempered Clavier, a work that’s a constant companion in many of my compositional endeavours. As I play it at the piano, it offers a place to meditate on performing and listening. The way in which the pieces refer to the Bach are often quite rigorous and defined, although deliberately not audibly apparent

Solo piano, 2003.

No recording just yet for this one yet, sorry.

This is one of a continuing series of relatively short works for piano, started in 1997 (and very much still in progress). Each contains brief ‘quotes’ from those that preceded it, but the pieces can be performed in any order and combination, as the performer prefers. All are inspired by the pianist for whom I wrote the particular piece, and from my experience of playing Bach’s Fugue in B minor, from Book 1 of the Well-Tempered Clavier, a work that’s a constant companion in many of my compositional endeavours. As I play it at the piano, it offers a place to meditate on performing and listening listening.

The way in which the Bach piece is referred to is often inaudible, or not clear, but the methods are often quite rigorous, even if the connections are rarely overtly discernible. Fuga Interna (turn and run) was originally composed for Andrew Zolinsky, and obsesses on a particular figure that is characterized by a final ‘turn’.

Solo piano, 2000.

Fuga Interna (thirds), composed in 2000 for performance by Clive Williamson at The Warehouse, London, as part of the Cutting Edge series.

This is one of a continuing series of relatively short works for piano, started in 1997 (and very much still in progress). Each contains brief ‘quotes’ from those that preceded it, but the pieces can be performed in any order and combination, as the performer prefers. All are inspired by the pianist for whom I wrote the particular piece, and also from my experience of playing Bach’s Fugue in B minor, Book 1 of the Well-Tempered Clavier, a work that’s a constant companion in many of my compositional endeavours. As I play it at the piano, it offers a place to meditate on performing and listening. The way in which the pieces refer to the Bach are often quite rigorous and defined, although deliberately not audibly apparent

Solo piano, 1997.

Fuga Interna (opposed sonorities), composed for performance by Stephen Gutman at the Purcell Room, London as part of The Debussy Studies Project, which I helped to organise.

This is the first of a continuing series of relatively short works for piano. Each contains brief ‘quotes’ from those that preceded it, but the pieces can be performed in any order and combination, as the performer prefers. All are inspired by the pianist for whom I wrote the particular piece, and also from my experience of playing Bach’s Fugue in B minor, Book 1 of the Well-Tempered Clavier, a work that’s a constant companion in many of my compositional endeavours. As I play it at the piano, it offers a place to meditate on performing and listening. The ways in which the pieces refer to the Bach are often quite rigorous and defined, although not necessarily audibly apparent.