VOICE AND PERCUSSION


Choroi kai Thaliai
(Revels and Dances) (1982)

for solo percussion,
solo soprano and tape

Texts: Ancient Greek

Duration: 24 minutes
First performance: June 1982,
St, Bartholomew's Festival, London
James Wood, Sara Stowe, John Whiting

'...a declamatory tour de force for soprano soloist, percussion and taped voices, describing yet another night of pagan festivities but with an exhilarating rhythmic vitality that is utterly compelling and, almost literally, heart-stopping. Choroi kai Thaliai proved to be an enthralling work...'

Michael John White
The Guardian, 26.6.82

programme note


Ho shang Yao
(Songs by the River) (1983)

for solo soprano and solo percussion

Text: Shi Jing (Ancient Chinese)

Duration: 23 minutes
Commissioned by the Worfield Charity Concerts Trust
First performance: October 1983, Oxford
Sara Stowe, James Wood

'...appeared the more perfect achievement. Again the appeal is to an ancient culture, but now Chinese: Ho shang Yao is a setting of pre-Confucian poems in the original... The music is based on a quartertone-flavoured pentatonic scale... a totally successful means of achieving a genuinely new simplicity, a transparent clarity detached from any western tradition.'

Paul Griffiths, The Times, 1.7.86

programme note

pictures

Audio Excerpts available


T'ien chung Yao (Songs from the Fields) (1985)
for solo soprano, cimbalom and percussion instruments (2 players)

Text: Shi Jing (Ancient Chinese)

Duration: 19 minutes
First performance: February 1986, Munich
Sara Stowe, Robyn Shulkowsky, James Wood


Jôdo (1998-9)
for solo percussion, high soprano and computer (triggered by a MIDI keyboard)

Duration: 40 minutes
First performance: September 19, Antwerp
Sarah Leonard, Kuniko Kato, James Wood

Audio Excerpt available

see under Chamber


Séance (1996)
for soprano solo, MIDI vibraphone, chorus and live electronics

Audio Excerpt available

see under Voices and Electronics


Opera

Orchestra | Large Ensemble | Chorus and Ensemble

Chamber | Instrumental | Unaccompanied Voices

Voices and Electronics | Voice and Ensemble

Percussion Ensemble | Solo Percussion

Chronological List of Works

Music Store

Availability

News

Programme notes [pdf]


JWE-Index

Homepage