Viscid
Instrumentation: flute (doubling piccolo
&
alto flute), oboe (doubling cor anglais), A clarinet (doubling E flat
& bass clarinets), bassoon (doubling contra bassoon), horn,
trumpet, trombone, percussion (2), piano (doubling celesta), 2 violins,
viola, 'cello & bass
Duration: 10'
Date of Composition:
1996, rev. 1997
Commissioning Details:
Commissioned by the Brunel Ensemble and the Park Lane Group
Premiere:
Original version: Brunel Ensemble, Christopher Austin (cond.), 5 January
1997, Purcell Room, London (PLG Young Artists Series)
First Broadcast:
Revised version: Brunel Ensemble, Christopher Austin (cond), 8 January 1999, BBC Radio
3
Availability:
Score and parts available for rental, ref. HL318
Programme Note
The
title, which evokes the texture of certain portions of the piece, means
‘thick, transparent, liquid’. The often stark juxtapositions of
unwinding webs of melodic lines and chords of varying lengths occurred
to me while admiring the empty gasometers by Kings Cross Station. I
think of this performance of Viscid, the first in its revised version,
as an elegy for that derelict landscape, now consumed in a massive
redevelopment of the area which in turn will yield its own poetry of
space and atmosphere.
Reviews
And I was just as pleased by Viscid,
a brand new score by a young composer called Morgan Hayes. What it had
to do with the King’s Cross gasometers that supposedly inspired it I’m
not sure, and it needed some fine-tuning in the interests of clarity
and sense; but the music had been powerfully imagined, with glamorous
sounds, big gestures, and a suggestion of Birtwistle reheard through a
glass darkly. For me this was the evening’s real discovery, not so much
for what it was as for what it promised.
Hayes is still just 23, but in his Viscid he already exhibits a remarkably accomplished grasp of technique and an original ear for content. Played with full commitment by the Brunel players, this sinuous work created a fascinating musical representation of its title, full of note-bending and microtones of youthful vitality.
Matthew Rye, The Daily Telegraph 11 January 1997
The singly movement, Viscid,
by 23-year-old Morgan Hayes, is a poetic flow of often quarter-tonal
melodic ideas, thickening and thinning, underpinned by more solid
harmony, inflected by prepared piano and tuned percussion, and coming
to a sudden, but satisfying, halt.
The new work was Viscid,
by the 23-year-old Morgan Hayes - a great title and a promising piece,
unfolding tangled skeins of melody over dark block chords…
For further information about Morgan
Hayes and his works,
please e-mail Richard Bullen richard@stainer.co.uk
