Sinfonietta for Strings, Percussion and Celeste
In D Major
While my second symphony had hardly been Mahlerian in scope, once completed I wanted to write the next one on a slightly smaller scale. Redhill Sinfonia, the orchestra in which I am a violinist, played the Poulenc Sinfonietta back in 2015 and this could well have lodged the initial idea in the back of my mind. It didn’t take much reading in to gain the reassurance that a huge number of great modern composers have dabbled in the form alongside Poulenc. So, my third symphonic outing targeted something in between my Second Symphony (2019) , and my very concise Symphony No 1 (2017) which, by design, is exactly ten minutes long.
I find it really useful to assert some constraints early on in the creative process, as these almost immediately spark more ideas than a truly blank piece of paper. I knew from the offset there were going to be three traditional movements, that the scoring would be light, and that I wanted the music to be readily approachable for both players and audience. In other words, it had to have simple but effective form and tunes. I started out with just strings and percussion in the palette, and then as it developed, the music justified the addition of the celeste as being no more than a hybrid of strings and percussion anyway. I also half had in my mind that would be a piece that I wanted to write in a way that I could record without too much pain, which further served to emphasise that light scoring was essential.
The piece was written in performance order, and followed the fairly classic classical template of bright, slow, and closing with a romp. I was looking for something lyrical, and the opening tune flowed out the pen almost immediately; the accompaniments came both jolly and almost chamber in style. Indeed, the tune deliberately jumps between the sections like a cricket on a set of kettledrums. As the writing evolved, what was initially an Allegro chilled back a few notches on the metronome and became a Moderato, and this facilitated a climatic development primarily through orchestration rather than exploration of new material. Recapitulation back in the home key is brief, allowing room for a second comfortable climax in the coda
The Sinfonietta is most definitely 20th Century, especially with its nods to minimalism, but even these hark back to the harmonic simplicity of Pachelbel’s Cannon. Overall, it lays its cards on the table as neo-classical, gentle but energetic, simple but chock-full of notes. It was fun writing, and fun to play, although like Mozart, requires a fair amount of precision to pull off.
String Quartet No 6 – A Concerto Grosso
In A Minor
Written in 2019, my idea behind the Sixth String Quartet was formed as a concerto for four soloists, accompanied and bolstered by a modest string orchestra. This is not a new idea; it’s been around since the baroque, and so there are many elements of baroque in the way in which this quartet and its orchestra are put together and sound.
The very restrained introduction belies the Allegro that soon kicks off in the quartet. Grounded in a relatively modest pulsing beat held by lower strings, there are soon acrobatic semiquavers in the first violin. But they have to hold their nerve as there are sudden double speed hemi-semiquaver runs just around the corner to up the ante. Fast arpeggi run up and down the quartet, and pairs of soloists take turns to play together in intervals, before the introduction and development of the slower and more lyrical second theme played in a rich harmony across the four soloists. The return of the first theme in the first violin allows its shared exploration by the quartet and orchestra, before making room for a mad cadenza in which all the soloists play as one like they are battling the devil in the backroom of a very old pub, fighting against the rising tempo until the huge tutti completes the movement and they can all breathe again.
The Adagio was the first component of this quartet to be written. There are elements of Shostakovich and Copland in this, particularly in respect of experimenting with harmonic suspension to heighten the emotion and stress. I was really very happy with how this turned out, especially the strength of feeling given to it by the professional quartet from Oleh MStudio in Ukraine in their recordings.
Again, the final movement brings a contrast to lighten the mood. In a chirpy and simple Rondo form, the arpeggi motif of the Allegro are re-employed to nudge the tunes between players like a beachball full of helium. This movement is the clouds clearing from the powerful sadness of the Adagio, and the quartet now bursting with joyful colour in all the registers like flowers opening at every storey of a sunny garden.
Viola Lament
In A Minor
Having just completed several concerti, for piano, violin and cello, I appeared to be in the mood for another one. The Viola Lament is in effect a single movement concerto off the back of that wave of solo writing. It flew out of the pen in a matter of days, but then categorically said that one movement was all there was going to be.
The smaller scale of writing seemed somehow more appropriate to orchestrate with chamber support of quintet rather than four full sections. The end result being soulful but succinct. I short sob into a glass of (red) wine over a nice view of the Loire Valley at dusk, perhaps. Nothing too sloppy. Maybe a bowl of tapenade and some fresh crusty bread?
Players
Sinfonietta performed by members of Redhill Sinfonia Steve Chowne, Jo Anderson, Keith Anderson, David Rawlins and Helen Greaves.
String Quartet 6 – Concerto Grosso, performed by
Kateryna Mytrofanova, Oleksiy Zavgorodniy, Anastasia Boyko and
Jana Malentzova, Oleh Mytrofanov and members of Redhill Sinfonia: Steve Chowne, Jo Anderson, Rebecca Coomber and Helen Greaves
Viola Lament performed by Steve Chowne on an instrument kindly loaned by Jo Anderson.
Mixing by Luca Zara.
Sheet Music
My String Quartets 1-9 are available to purchase as a single volume containing all separate parts; please enquire through Bandlab. A copy is also available to hire from NewSPAL – New Surrey Performing Arts Library,
Steve Chowne Music 