For 9 players
Commissioned by Orchestra of the Swan for their Night Owl series, The Infernal Machine.
The piece was composed between February and April of 2022. This was at a time when the world was still rocked by a pandemic that had been with us for two years, and by a new European war rooted in injustice and horror not seen since World War 2.
Written for the Infernal Machine concerts of Orchestra of the Swan. The Infernal Machine is the title of the 1934 play by the French dramatist Jean Cocteau. It is a that play evokes a desolate view of the world (Cocteau was an ambulance driver in the First World War) and the play is a retelling of the Oedipus myth; the play’s bleak outlook on the world resonates closely with our own times.
As Soon as Dawn Appears, refers to the endless cycle of life and our intense experience of the moment, the moment of now; we never know what the morning light of each day may reveal – what dawn may bring. In January and February of 2022 there was a build-up of the machines of war on the borders of Ukraine, and yet, few really believed in a full-scale invasion. In late February everything changed.
My work, As Soon as Dawn Appears, is episodic in structure. There are changes of tempo and shifts of mood, from the expressive to sections that are more mechanistic and processional. These musical shifts are led, largely, by the first violin – acting, in effect, as the conductor. The piece opens with an expressive musical phrase in the cello. It’s a motive that is refrained and developed throughout the work by either the violin or cello and, ultimately it builds to a final cello declamation that is, dramatically, cut short.
Performances
Drapers Hall, Coventry, 25/05/2022
Play House, Stratford upon Avon, 21/06/2022
