Monthly Archives: January 2015

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 are available directly from the composer: barnaby.priest@gmail.com

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.

On Time

On Time was written originally for a small four part choir using a text by John Milton. This arrangement, for string quartet, was written for inclusion in the SIKKA 2014 Art Week. The music closely follows the rhythmic structure of the original text.

Live performance at the XVA Gallery in Dubai (8th February 2014).

Anne Mouslmani & Natalie Oughourlian, violins,
Imogen Lillywhite, viola,
Helene Charleaux, violoncello

 

Text: John Milton

Fly envious Time, till thou run out thy race,
Call on the lazy leaden-stepping hours,
Whose speed is but the heavy Plummets pace;
And glut thy self with what thy womb devours,
Which is no more than what is false and vain,
And meerly mortal dross;
So little is our loss,
So little is thy gain.
For when as each thing bad thou hast entomb’d,
And last of all, thy greedy self consum’d,
Then long Eternity shall greet our bliss
With an individual kiss;
And Joy shall overtake us as a flood,
When every thing that is sincerely good
And perfectly divine,
With Truth, and Peace, and Love shall ever shine
About the supreme Throne
Of him, t’whose happy-making sight alone,
When once our heav’nly-guided soul shall clime,
Then all this Earthy grosnes quit,
Attir’d with Stars, we shall for ever sit,
Triumphing over Death, and Chance, and thee O Time.