This pieces passes sounds between the brass and the strings from left to right and back again. The wind inject and at one point take over causing everyone, just briefly, to play together.
The string chorale could be bars chosen at random from the ten most played pieces on Classic FM, but it isn’t exactly that. The brass could be playing chords taken from the most played songs on 6 Music, but in this case don’t. A piece like this, that is absolutely split down the middle and only momentarily comes together, might be a reflection on referendums, Europe, Brexit, American politics, rich and poor; an increasingly visible political divide. This one isn’t though.
Passing sounds around like this I might have been thinking about two people who never quite come together, except once, and when they do it just aches. But I wasn’t.
When I work out how a thought finds its way into a new piece I’ll write about it with more precision. For now this is a piece written in the autumn about patterns and movement, tainted by sadness.
Thank you to Matthew Welton for letting me pinch three words from The Number Poems for the title.
First performed 14 November 2017 – BBC Philharmonic, Mark Heron (cond.), BBC Studios Salford, part of New Music North West.
