Faber Music

This tiny fragment of Aeschylus’ Prometheus Bound, sung in Greek, was written for the Holst Singers in January 1989, and is intended to be the first of a short sequence of choruses.

Instrumentation: 0000 - (2)100 - perc(1): chime/tam-t - strings (trumpet may be replaced by an oboe)

Djilile was commissioned by the South Bank Centre for the Purcell Tercentenary. As a schoolboy, I was so excited when I first heard the “Lament” from Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, that I wrote several wo...

Instrumentation: 2(II=picc).2.2.2 - 4200 - timp (4 drums) - strings (min. 65432) I wrote the original version of Sinfonia in 1995 for the English Chamber Orchestra, who commissioned it to mark their 3...

A Leap in the Dark is a mosaic of short pieces, most of which are long unison lines, or short chorales. A Leap in the Dark was commissioned by the Guildhall String Ensemble with funds provided by the...

I wrote this piece for the BBC’s celebration of Henry Purcell, ‘Music for a While’. Purcell wrote A Staircase Overture so I decided to write Another Staircase Overture, starting, like Purcell’s, with...

Instrumentation: fl.picc(=fl).2 ob.2 cl(I=Ebcl.II=bcl).2 bsn – 2 hn Serenade was commissioned by Glyndebourne Festival Opera. Written to preface performances of The Magic Flute, my Serenade ends with...

Instrumentation: Ebcl.3(III=basset horn).2 bcl.cbcl(or cbsn)

Instrumentation: Ebcl.3(III=basset horn).2 bcl.cbcl(or cbsn)

'Quicksteps' is a short, rhythmic presto for pairs of oboes, clarinets (one the small, edgy Eb), bassoons and horns. The Swiss painter Paul Klee started with 'an active line on a walk, moving freely,...

"… moodily evocative … featuring solo viola and stunning effects from the rest of the strings." The Citizen, 19 July 1993

I originally planned this piece as a companion to Quick Steps, a wind octet I wrote in 1990, but as I composed it the music turned in a different, more sombre direction. There are twelve short panels:...

Djilile was commissioned by the South Bank Centre for the Purcell Tercentenary. As a schoolboy, I was so excited when I first heard the “Lament” from Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, that I wrote several wo...

Instrumentation: 2(=picc).2.2.2 - 2200 - perc(2): timp/BD/tam-t/t.bells /glsp - strings Handel called Britain ‘the ringing isle’ because when he came to live here, he heard bells ringing everywhere: g...

Instrumentation: 0.2.ca(or cl, or vlc).0.0.(cbsn) - 4000, or 3010, or 2020, or 0220 - perc(1): tam-t/susp.cym/BD - strings Djilile for chamber orchestra This is one of a number of landscape-inspired w...

Siegfried Interlude No. 2 was commissioned by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra for first performance at the launch of their 2000 Season. It uses some of the themes from Act II of Wagner's Siegfried, incl...

Siegfried Interlude No. 2 was commissioned by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra for first performance at the launch of their 2000 Season. It uses some of the themes from Act II of Wagner's Siegfried, incl...

Siegfried Interlude No. 4 was commissioned by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra for first performance at the launch of their 1999 Season. At the time, the SSO viola section was made up exclusively by wome...

Siegfried Interlude No. 4 was commissioned by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra for first performance at the launch of their 1999 Season. At the time, the SSO viola section was made up exclusively by wome...