Frumious (2013)
(for orchestra)

Harrison is especially inspired by the literature and imagery of Lewis Carroll, author of Alice in Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking Glass. The word ‘frumious’ is a portmanteau coined by Carroll, to mean both furious and fuming. This dual meaning led Harrison to think “how [she] might be able to create a musical equivalent of Carroll’s portmanteaus, by bringing different styles of music together at the same time as juxtapositions”.

Over the course of eighth minutes, Frumious takes the listener on an energetic and sometimes frenzied journey through many musical genres. The piece does not follow a traditional movement based structure but rather resembles a mosaic of musical moments. Harrison describes how her varied background as a performer helped to shape Frumious: “I was also figuring out ways to embrace my persona as a rock drummer and incorporate this into my scored compositions. [Frumious was] inspired by a collection of funk, jazz, pop, metal, and rock, and you can hear those threads throughout, even if briefly.” It makes sense that Harrison began writing the piece at the drum kit, devising interlocking rhythms and later assigning these to different sections of the orchestra. While there is no specific narrative driving the piece, a piccolo solo which appears five minutes into the piece is meant to represent Alice, navigating her way through Wonderland.

Frumious featues many abrupt shifts in tempo and dynamics, with the full might of the orchestra used to dramatic and disorienting effect. The structure of the Alice books influence this approach, as Carroll created a “fragmented dreamworld in which characters continuously slip in and out of dreaming and waking states”.

by Stella Joseph-Jarecki