About my compositions

..................... work on this page to be continued (last up-dated 8.12.05)

In brief (a programme note):

Although most of my writing is atonal (keyless)1, I believe the result to be “listener-friendly”. The pianoforte music of Debussy2 and works from Schoenberg’s 1908 to 1912 period have had a particular influence on my harmonic language, which is not based on and has not evolved into a text-book schema. Only comparatively rarely does my music find itself in a key, creation and release of tension in harmony and melody holding a greater interest for me than the use of keys and their relationships. This gives rise to compositions often starting in one area of harmony and ending in another3. Justification for a language neither tonal nor serial was strengthened on the discovery of Liszt’s 1885 Bagatelle without Tonality.

The tritone, whole tones and the bitter-sweet intervals of minor and major sevenths figure prominently. Practical knowledge of contrapuntal organ works has been significant, but I have not been drawn to overtly mathematical processes4, though frequently changing and unusual time signatures are often employed.

Planning a structure5, or letting one evolve, gives me much pleasure, as does finding that a passage of my music has an evocative quality. The expression of moods and human temperaments fascinates me.

1 The term "impressionist atonality" sometimes used to describe the harmony of certain works by Alexander Skryabin may well be applied to some of mine.
2 Especially its impressionistic character and use of whole tones.
3 Similar to Carl Nielsen's use of "progressive tonality".
4 Although Watershed and Affirmation (see "Ensembles of more than eight performers") use the Golden Section and the structure of The Labyrinth (see "Harpsichord solos") is derived from measurements of the labyrinth in Chartres Cathedral.
4 For me, a new composition usually means a newly invented form.

A fuller description:

Raison d'être
A considerable part of my life has been and is spent composing. The reasons for this are first, to fulfil an urge and secondly, to enjoy the satisfaction of developing musical ideas and solving problems created by them. In addition, the ability to compose engenders a sense of responsibility to do so and "nurture" the results (i.e. arrange performances) as if such were human offspring, or plants and trees in a garden.

Motivation
Other people, available resources and the possibility of performance certainly generate motivation, but most of my oeuvre has been unhindered by an absolute necessity to please others and this has allowed composition to be principally a means of self-expression. As a result, an autobiographical thread runs through my catalogue of works.

Modus operandi
Most compositions undergo a period of gestation, sometimes including research. A musical germ with which work is readily found by opening a metaphorical door to a treasury of ideas. The act of continuing and writing down the first few bars happens so quickly and is so absorbing that I cannot analyse the process, although there is a strong element of "hearing" what I feel. Thereafter, as if already existing somewhere in completed form, the composition endeavours to make known how it should continue and it is for me to divine the correct course of procedure. When a difficulty is encountered, the pace of composition slows until the correct solution is verified aurally and with a "right" feeling in the heart area.

Influences

I owe much to Professors David Harold Cox and George Nicholson (both composers), for their tutelage in composition technique and encouragement during my years as a mature student. Also to Jeffrey Bossin (the American Carillonneur Berlin) for guiding my composing for the carillon.

It is only selected pieces by and/or compositional traits of the composers listed below which have especially drawn my attention. Except for the music of Crumb, Foss and Harvey (for me, only comparatively recently discovered composers), I believe that influences have now been absorbed into my language so that for the most part, origins are undetectable, but this is for others to judge. In none of my pieces has it been my intention to create an overt potpourri of influences.

Principal composer influences

J.S.Bach (counterpoint); C.P.E.Bach (surprise elements); Samuel Barber and Aaron Copland ("New World" freshness and evocatve power); George Crumb (instrumentation, imagination and evocative power); Claude Debussy (impressionism and evocative power); Antonin Dvorák (melody); Lukas Foss (technique); Jonathan Harvey (electro-acoustic music); Paul Hindemith (harmony and counterpoint); Ennio Morricone (evocative power); Sergey Prokofiev (poignancy in harmony); Maurice Ravel (beauty and evocative power); Arnold Schoenberg (the keylessness and exquisite beauty of the 1908-1912 period, and the Klangfarbenmelodie technique); Richard Strauss ("large canvas" work) and John Williams (symphonic film scores and evocative power). I have also found affinity and empathy with the music of Arnold Bax, John Ireland, Cyril Scott and their ilk - English composers who lived around the turn of the 20th century.

It will be noticed that, apart from the Bachs, no organist-composers are listed (although since 1992, the French Baroque Organ School in general has been an influence). This perhaps accounts for my inclination (as an organist) to involve the organ with other instruments. (See "Organ with other instruments")

Inspirations

Moods and evocation

The human temperaments

Future possible developments

Miscellaneous thoughts