Clarity

SOUNZ Virtual Concert

Michael Norris’s Claro (meaning ‘light’ or ‘clear’) begins with a transparent texture of percussion, piano and harp. The orchestra catches resonances from this pointillistic texture which begin to interact and play off one another as the music builds.

Inspired by the sonorist music of Giacinto Scelsi, Rachael Morgan explores subtle decorations of the note D in her work Interiors II. Our awareness becomes focused on subtle changes of pitch and texture, and on slowly shifting colours.

We finish with a classic of electroacoustic music, Denis Smalley’s Pentes. The title, French for slopes or inclines, was suggested by the outlines of broad, spacious stretches of the work. Most of the material is derived from manipulations of acoustic instruments, all unrecognisable except for the Northumbrian smallpipes, which appear towards the end of the work and play a haunting traditional melody.