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


Danza de los voladores (2017)
for solo flute, violin, mandolin, guitar, piano

Duration: 7 minutes
Complete reworking of "Recitative" for flute and harp (1978)

programme note

Panabuka (2022)
for panflute and darbuka

Duration: 8 minutes
Commissioned by the Concerts du Hameau Fleuri, Pays d'Auge, Normandie
Written for Matthijs Koene and Rafaël Simon

introductory pages in the score

Elegeia (2023)
for viola and marimba

Duration: 12 minutes
Written for Dominica Eyckmans and Gerben Grooten


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Percussion Ensemble | Solo Percussion

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