Located in the UK
Located in the USA
Located in Europe
- Craig Armstrong
Northern Sound ... Islands (2002)
- Chester Music Ltd (World)
Commissioned by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra
- 2(2pic)22(bcl)2/4.2.2+btbn.0/timp.2perc/hp.pf/str(min.8.7.6.5.4)
- 20 min
Programme Note
Northern Sound…...Islands, is an extension of my recent orchestral work which takes landscape as the initial stimulus for musical composition. However Islands, like my previous works, are not overtly programmatic in the romantic tradition. Instead I interpret the landscape as an abstract and symbolic starting point for each work. Islands became architectural as the architect John Pawsan describes architecture as about space, movement, compression, release, proportion, scale and light.
I also took inspiration for Islands from the work of Mark Rothko. His preoccupation with inner light, which initially became common place in the criticism of Venetian painting in the 16th Century, gave Rothko's work a luminescence, which alongside with work of Jon Schueler the American painter, who worked directly on Scottish islands, interpreting the constant change of light, weather and sky; a personal response to the endlessness of space.
I revisited the orchestral works of Ravel and Debussy whose use of orchestral colour and instrumental ensembles have always been a inspiration. The lineage of Ravel in particular can be traced to several modern music traditions both electronic and acoustic. Also the manipulation of sound in the electronic studio i.e. looping, deconstructing, and filtering etc, has influenced several of the techniques in Islands, although these have been applied acoustically.
Islands is composed in five short movements. However there is no break between movements four and five.
Craig Armstrong.
I also took inspiration for Islands from the work of Mark Rothko. His preoccupation with inner light, which initially became common place in the criticism of Venetian painting in the 16th Century, gave Rothko's work a luminescence, which alongside with work of Jon Schueler the American painter, who worked directly on Scottish islands, interpreting the constant change of light, weather and sky; a personal response to the endlessness of space.
I revisited the orchestral works of Ravel and Debussy whose use of orchestral colour and instrumental ensembles have always been a inspiration. The lineage of Ravel in particular can be traced to several modern music traditions both electronic and acoustic. Also the manipulation of sound in the electronic studio i.e. looping, deconstructing, and filtering etc, has influenced several of the techniques in Islands, although these have been applied acoustically.
Islands is composed in five short movements. However there is no break between movements four and five.
Craig Armstrong.
Scores
Reviews
Islands uses a normal symphony orchestra with a slightly extended range of percussion instruments. Although there are passages of rapidly moving figuration for some instruments, the work's five movements all flow gently along at roughly the same basically moderate tempo.
The score is reminiscent of orchestral textures of Debussy and Ravel - particularly the latter. But it reaches beyond Impressionism of a century ago, exploring and developing sounds and techniques of more recent origin. Armstrong notates his music mostly in full, but the concluding section of the fourth movement includes aleatory (chance) music, in which players are allocated groups of notes to be played in any way they may choose against the backing of a long, sustained note cluster.
Armstrong's fascination with aspects of light in both nature and art led him to an interest in the work of an American painter called John Schueler who has tried to interpret the changing colour patterns presented by the Scottish islands. Against a peaceful backdrop of slow-moving harmonies for strings, woodwind and percussion, the chiming piano chords that open and close the first movement can readily be thought of as highlights.
The score is reminiscent of orchestral textures of Debussy and Ravel - particularly the latter. But it reaches beyond Impressionism of a century ago, exploring and developing sounds and techniques of more recent origin. Armstrong notates his music mostly in full, but the concluding section of the fourth movement includes aleatory (chance) music, in which players are allocated groups of notes to be played in any way they may choose against the backing of a long, sustained note cluster.
Armstrong's fascination with aspects of light in both nature and art led him to an interest in the work of an American painter called John Schueler who has tried to interpret the changing colour patterns presented by the Scottish islands. Against a peaceful backdrop of slow-moving harmonies for strings, woodwind and percussion, the chiming piano chords that open and close the first movement can readily be thought of as highlights.
21st February 2003