Located in the UK
Located in the USA
Located in Europe
- Cheryl Frances-Hoad
Medea (2013)
- Chester Music Ltd (World)
Programme Note
Commissioned by the Presteigne Festival as Bouleumata in 2008 and premiered by Catriona Scott during the festival. Arranged for solo flute as Medea.
Shortly before writing this piece I reached the final of a competition to compose the music for the Cambridge Greek Play, which happened to be Medea that year. Although I didn’t end up winning, Euripides’ play stunned me with its depiction of Medea, a woman who kills her two children to spite her husband Jason (who has just left her for a Corinthian princess). This piece was inspired by the wildly contrasting emotions that Medea experiences during a monologue immediately preceding the double-murder: that she can’t possibly go through with it, but that she must in order to punish her enemies. In one passage she says “I understand that what I am about to do is wrong, but my thumos (emotion) has vanquished my bouleumata (ability to deliberate).
© Cheryl Frances-Hoad, 2008
Shortly before writing this piece I reached the final of a competition to compose the music for the Cambridge Greek Play, which happened to be Medea that year. Although I didn’t end up winning, Euripides’ play stunned me with its depiction of Medea, a woman who kills her two children to spite her husband Jason (who has just left her for a Corinthian princess). This piece was inspired by the wildly contrasting emotions that Medea experiences during a monologue immediately preceding the double-murder: that she can’t possibly go through with it, but that she must in order to punish her enemies. In one passage she says “I understand that what I am about to do is wrong, but my thumos (emotion) has vanquished my bouleumata (ability to deliberate).
© Cheryl Frances-Hoad, 2008
Media
Reviews
There is a sense of natural flow and drama, and moments brought to mind the clarinet writing in Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time, in their sense of scope and expression. This is a piece which deserves to become a staple part of the solo clarinet repertoire.'
Discography
The Whole Earth Dances
- LabelChamps Hill Records
- Catalogue NumberCHRCD152
- SoloistThe Schubert Ensemble / Rozenn Le Trionnaire, clarinet / Francesca Barritt, violin / Sholto Kynoch, piano / David Cohen, cello / Daniel Grimwood, piano / Rebecca Gilliver, cello / Sophia Rahman, piano / Yshani Perinpanayagam, piano / Christopher Jones, violin / Kay Stephen, viola / Anna Menzies, cello / Fenella Humphreys, violin / Sholto Kynoch, piano / Sara Minelli, flute / Gildas Quartet
- Released18th September 2020