CHAMBER

String Quartet (1984)
Duration: 21 minutes
Commissioned by
New MacNaghten Concerts
for the Arditti Quartet
First performance:
October 1984, Wigmore Hall, London
Arditti Quartet

'...seemed vastly more fresh, passionate and exciting than when the Arditti first played it seven years ago, a real discovery of glistening microtonal harmonies and, in the big final movement, melodies of urgent reach and intensity'.
Paul Griffiths, The Times, 12 March 1992

Barong (1985)
for two pianos and two percussion
Duration: 18 minutes
Commissioned by Southern Arts Association for the Regional Contemporary Music Network
First performance: February 1985, Bedford
Andrew Ball, Julian Jacobson, Simon Limbrick, James Wood

Marsyapollonomachia (1987)
for oboe and percussion
Duration: 15 minutes
Commissioned by Robin Canter
First performance: June 1987, Union Chapel, Almeida Festival, London
Robin Canter, James Wood

Cart-wheels (1993)
for bass clarinet and percussion
Duration: 13 minutes
Commissioned by Duo Contemporain
First performance: January 1994, De Ysbreker, Amsterdam
Duo Contemporain (Henri Bok, Miguel Bernat)

Mountain Language
(1996-98, revised 2000)
for alphorn, MIDI-cowbells
and live electronics
Duration: 25 minutes
Commissioned by IRCAM
First performance: June 1998, IRCAM, Paris
Soloists of the Ensemble InterContemporain, James Wood

The pièce de résistence was James Wood's Mountain Language - an evocation of Alpine spaces, with the magnificent sight and sound of live alphorn and cowbells joined by awesome winds and joyous birdsong in an electro-acoustic hymn to nature.
Laurence Hughes - The Independent, 31.5.00

programme note

John Kenny at St John's Smith Square, May 2000

more pictures

Jôdo (1998-99)
for solo percussion, high soprano and electronics
Duration: 40 minutes
Commissioned by Graeme Hall
First performance: November 13, 1999, Oxford Contemporary Music
Kuniko Kato, Sarah Leonard, James Wood

Sarah Leonard in Jodo, Oxford, November 1999

more pictures

programme note

Audio Excerpt available

Déploration (2000)
sur la mort de Gérard Grisey
for solo marimba and string quartet
Duration: 17 - 18 minutes
Commissioned by Robert Van Sice

Autumn Voices (2001)
for violin and electronics
Duration: 15 minutes
Commissioned by the BBC for Mieko Kanno
programme note
Audio Excerpt available

see under Instrumental

Crying bird, echoing star (2002)
for five instruments
Duration: 15 minutes
Commissioned by the The New Music Players
Instrumentation: flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano
First performance: 8 May 2002, Jack Lyons Concert Hall, York
New Music Players, Roger Montgomery

CD available (see CD-Store)programme note
Audio Excerpt available

Sufirafire (2015)
for soprano doubling recorders, mezzo-soprano doubling medieval fiddle, alto doubling recorders
Duration: 8 minutes
Written for Sufira
First performance: 12 March 2016, Helsinki Cathedral, Helsinki
Sufira: Sofia Lindroos, Eira Karlson, Susanna Tollet

Sei Canti (2016)
for four (or two) soprano saxophones
Duration: 22 minutes
Commissioned by Flanders Festival Mechelen/Kempen
Dedicated to Veerle Declerck
Written for Bl!ndman Sax
First performance: 24 September 2016
MUSICA DIVINA FESTIVAL
Mechelen Cathedral
Bl!ndman Sax
directed by James Wood

programme note