Original Version
Instrumentation: Two ensembles and
violin duo
Ensemble 1: oboe, bass clarinet, trumpet in C, viola
Ensemble 2: flute, alto flute, bass trombone, percussion, piano, cello
Duration: 12'
Date of Composition:
2007
Commissioning Details:
Commissioned by the Spitalfields Festival
Premiere:
Endymion Ensemble, Richard Baker (cond.), 18 June 2007, Christ Church, Spitalfields,
London
Availability:
Score and parts available for hire, ref HL383
Programme Note
Three spatially separated ensembles appear in the following
order:
1)
Tempo indication is Parlante ('as if speaking') which in this case
describes the jerky dialogue between oboe/trumpet and bass clarinet (in
its highest register, like a falsetto voice) The viola acts as a
compass, always in normal tuning, unlike the microtonally distorted
oboe and trumpet.
2) Lower (in pitch) than the first
ensemble, a duo of piano and vibraphone is embedded in sustained lines
of flutes, trombone and cello. These intermittent wisps of melody
become more mechanical.
3) A more florid take on the
preceding groups, this violin duo is, in both pitch and spatial
placement the highest layer, slithering around within a narrow band of
pitches.
In the exposition these three layers are
presented in a fairly clear-cut manner, with some overlap where all
three are playing at the same time; but as the work progresses they
start to congeal and diversify in different ways.
The title
occurred to me for various reasons; firstly a particular preoccupation
with the original versions of Bruckner's Third and Sibelius's Fifth
Symphonies; but also an interest in the brisk developments which have
taken place in the Spitalfields area: I am thinking of the demolition
of the Bishopsgate Goods Yard (an adjunct to Brick Lane Market: murky
archways of which I have cherished memories) and the exciting
juxtapositions of modern (ensemble 1) and old architecture (ensemble 2).
Reviews
But
it was very enjoyable to return to Christ Church. Poshed-up or
otherwise, the place is magical. The Gabrieli Consort made its usual
appearance here, and Endymion, conducted by Richard Baker, premiered
the first piece to result from the festival's New Music Commission
Fund, Morgan Hayes's Original
Version.
Brief but dense - a counterpoint, indeed, of three metrically distinct
and spatially separated layers, one of them a chirruping violin duo in
the reconstructed gallery - though not too dense, and toughly,
microtonally elegant in style, it was an interesting excursion.
Then came the première of the first work commissioned by
Spitalfields New Music Commission Fund. Original Version
is an ambitious piece by the young British composer Morgan Hayes which
sets up complicated interactions between three ensembles.
Two
violins high up in the gallery seemed like a pair of invisible
chirruping birds; four melody instruments, stage left, tried to
unsettle each other with obstreperous micro-tonal inflections; and a
sextet, stage right, hurled in low-pitched, murky interjections.
For further information about Morgan
Hayes and his works,
please e-mail Richard Bullen richard@stainer.co.uk
