Letting the inner voices sing through

Now working on movement 3 of Flint, a new work for the Corelli Ensemble, based in Sussex. I am delighted that Sian Edwards will conduct this in the Lewes Festival of Song on 7 July.

It was great to workshop the first two movements with the Corelli Ensemble on 12 February. Then, we talked about the relationship between the soloistic lines and ensemble playing. It made me realise I want to articulate that better. I have also been thinking about how an acute sense of pitch centricity and harmonic clarity are exciting and central to my aesthetic. These are actually interesting ideas and a stimulating aspect of craft. Realising this enables me to clarify the textures which in turn releases the inner voices to sing through, which is really my ideal. In movement 2, I found that the harmonic lucidity of the folk song at its core would sustain multiple threads and versions to sing through simultaneously.

Now, working on movement 3, it feels like the main violin line is the flint with its sharp and jagged cutting and sparkling energy. The other strings are the earth - dark, rich and mysterious.