Author: Tom Armstrong

February 2025: my long-running collaboration with Trifarious finally saw the light of day before a paying audience at St Nicholas’ Church, Longparish in Hampshire’s Test Valley.

Retroperspective is a project that Trifarious and I have been developing since 2020! The aim is to present arrangements of (broadly defined) ‘classical’ music by composers both familiar (Bach, Beethoven) and unfamiliar (Louis Couperin, Joseph Bologne Chevalier de Saint-Georges, Lillian Elkington, Chiquinha Gonzaga) in a way that suits a broad audience including seasoned concert-goers and those new to, or wary of, classical recitals. As Retroperspective has evolved it has taken on a more multi-media aspect and now incorporates lighting, video, found audio and electronics all controlled with an Ableton push MIDI controller.

The driver of the technology has been Trifarious’ saxophonist/clarinettist, Tim Redpath. I’ve been constantly amazed at how Tim has been able to match the ambition of his ideas as they emerged: green screen – no problem, drone footage – done, multitrack recording synced to the live parts via click track – easy! This hasn’t meant a completely smooth process nor, indeed, a glitch free first performance but the technology we have used has allowed us to expand Trifarious’ resources beyond their wind/string duo line-up and to place the arrangements in vivid audiovisual contexts.

If the audience reaction in Longparish was anything to go by, we are on the right track. I am used to polite applause and one or two warm words after first performances but Tim, Rachel and I all sensed a genuine enthusiasm for what we had presented, perhaps helped by the standing ovation! Despite this success there is a process of refinement to undertake: we need to work on making the transitions between pieces completely seamless with no break in either sound nor image and we need to give the Gonzaga arrangement a nip and tuck (probably adding in a reworking of Dvorak’s American quartet); the arrangement of Beethoven’s symphony no. 5 first movement could also be more radical with more attention to sound design, integration of Beethoven’s many sketches and/or Schenker’s famous analytical graph of the piece. Finally there is the small matter of interesting a diverse selection of venues up and down the country in our project, then applying for funding to allow us to tour! More news as and when I have it.

Late January – February 2025: A Book of Song, a collaboration with composer/pianist Nathan Williamson and three singers, received its first try-out performance at Sophie’s Barn, Chacombe.

A Book of Song is a reimagining of the classical song recital for the 21st century. This entails two things: broadening recital repertoire to encompass vernacular musics alongside art song, and inviting the singers to bring to the process songs that they want to sing irrespective of whether they are regarded as ‘right’ for their voice types or conforming to promoters’ and audiences’ expectations for song recital repertoire. The result was a recital that ranged through Schubert, Fauré and Handel, contemporary music by myself and Hannah Conway, French pop (Ceux qui revant by Pomme) and Sudanese folk song.

But Nathan and I aimed to go much further than simply questioning repertoire; we wanted to create a seamless, composed, programme in which songs were re-arranged, re-composed, segued, superimposed and generally treated as compositional material rather than revered works. We also wanted to work with the singers from the ground up, being led by them and their particular skills, using improvisation and taking an approach closer to theatrical devising than the conventional, paper-based, composition we both normally practice.

A Book of Song would be nothing without our singers: soprano Clara Barbier, countertenor Magid El-Bushra and baritone Rob Gildon have embraced the concept of a recital-as-composition and a more improvisatory way of working with gusto. During the two days of development we had in Sophie’s Barn prior to our performance on the evening of the third day we ran the gamut of collaboration – excitement, boredom, frustration, moments of sudden illumination, long periods of trial and error, capped off with the adrenaline rush of performance. For me the experience was immensely inspiring; it is a long time since I have been in such an intense and communal creative incubator and it took me a while to come down from the high of being one part of a successful artistic endeavour.

As I write we are awaiting the outcome of an application for a Britten Pears Arts residency at Snape Maltings. If successful we aim to use this to develop a longer programme approaching an hour in length and to refine our improvisatory approach, in particular to allow for greater fluidity and risk-taking in performance.

October 2024: to Trinity Laban Conservatoire for preliminary work with Head of Keyboard Ji Liu on my recent Bach reworking.

Partita Weaving uses materials from the first five Bach keyboard Partitas: the Prelude and Allemande from No. 1 in Bb; the Sinfonia from No. 2 in C minor; the Sarabande from No. 3 in A minor; the Overture from No. 4 in D; and the Praeambulum and Gigue from No. 5 in G. These materials are very extensive – significant portions of, or even whole, movements rather than brief quotations – and the result is a combination of medley and mashup with movements flowing into and out of each other (hence ‘weaving’) and frequent superimpositions. Musical ‘re-engineering’ aside, my aim in this piece has been to create only gentle disturbances in Bach’s originals; even when the right hand of one dance is superimposed on the left hand of another (as in the Prelude and Allemande from No. 1) my ear was guided by combinations that were almost plausible or plausible for just long enough before clearly departing from Bach’s harmonic world. I am not interested in modernist shock tactics nor postmodern irony and Partita Weaving joins a number of reworkings of mine – such as JPR, Distant Beauties and Tanzë – that stand as homages to their original creators.

It was exciting working with Ji on this music. He is the kind of pianist who regularly throws off Rachmaninov concertos or programmes of all Chopin’s Études and the range of colours he can bring to the keyboard through his formidable technique is vast. Even on a preliminary play/read-through the potential was there for a really special premiere. But Ji is a lot more than a virtuoso performer; I first encountered him as external examiner for his PhD on programming Schubert’s unfinished piano sonatas and Ji continues to investigate, though his pianism, ways of reinvigorating the contemporary piano recital. He is also a composer – for the piano, of course, but of orchestral music too. I look forward to working with Ji further before the new piece is unveiled.

September 2024: myself, Ian Gardiner and Imogen Burman organised a conference at Goldsmiths dedicated to music by British composers who forged their musical language from US minimalism and English experimental music.

Organising a conference is a nerve-wracking experience; not only are there a myriad arrangements to take care of, beforehand and on the day, but there is always the nagging worry that no-one will be interested in the research niche being presented. This was particularly the case for Ian and I because the impetus for the conference had arisen from a very personal source; in July 2021 the composer Jeremy Peyton Jones passed away – a mutual friend and colleague, both of us were deeply shocked when we heard the news and, following a chance meeting whilst on external examining duties, we decided that something needed to be done to commemorate Jeremy’s life and work.

Ian had already organised a memorial concert for Jeremy in 2022, before he and I had become acquainted. Both of us were involved in what might be termed the alternative British contemporary music scene within which Jeremy was so important: Ian was a more central figure – a member of George W. Welch – whilst my activity centred around Icebreaker who arrived later, in 1989. We decided that this period warranted greater investigation, documentation and academic representation so a conference, one-day initially to ‘test the water’, was the way to go.

What transpired was a day that exceeded our expectations by some distance. The conference attracted a large audience many of whom (but not all – younger delegates and presenters featured too) were active in the period concerned and there was a definite ‘buzz’ and feeling of importance, of something valuable and relevant being shared.

A more or less complete set of conference materials are available at the above link but some of the themes I noted down for my summing up presentation give a flavour of the range of topics discussed: institutions; venues; process vs system; the impact of experimental music and John Cage; politics; multimedia/interdisciplinary/cross-arts practices; pulse-driven music and performance skills in undergraduate music education; instruments and technology; looking forward to further work may involve: oral history, mapping networks, archiving, lived experience and interleaving of artists’ lives into their work, preserving a legacy, focus on ensemble music-making.

Suffice to say that Ian and I are not going to leave it there – ideas are percolating and plans gradually forming for ways of taking this work forwards. Watch this space…!

July 2024: time to lay down some harpsichord! Jane, Simon and I were at Vestry Hall in Ealing recording Divertissements, the notes written in the score as well as some we improvised together on the day.

We recorded over three days with a view not only to getting the piece as written ‘in the can’ but gathering as much recorded material as we could to use creatively: takes in different tempi, ornamental passages, multiple harpsichord registrations. It is unclear at this stage quite how all this material will be used – perhaps a ‘straight’ version followed by some kind of extended mix, we’ll see. What is certain at the moment is that there is a long editing job ahead!

April 2024: yet another version of Divertissements is in the offing, this time for harpsichord and vintage synthesisers courtesy of the University of West London’s Townshend Studio.

This iteration of the piece involves a three-way collaboration between myself, Jane Chapman and Simon Zagorski-Thomas, indeed Divertissements has, to some extent, now evolved into a trio – not only the synths but the recording studio itself is set to play a major role in shaping the sound of the music. The studio is, of course, very audible in most pop recordings but far less so in the production of classical music. Simon’s research, as articulated in his book The Musicology of Record Production and his AHRC project in Classical Music Hyper-Production, pays considerable attention to ways in which classical music might profitably interact with a creative approach to the recording studio.

At this stage, though, we are simply trying to get our ears round the vast resources of the Townshend synths. It looks likely we will only focus on a fraction of the collection but, even with this restriction, the possibilities are vast – and exciting!

April 2024: at St Nicholas Church, Longparish, with Tim Redpath and Rachel Calaminus (2/3 of Trifarious) to try out our arrangements of Beethoven, St Georges, Gonzaga and Elkington.

One of the benefits of having six weeks ‘on the sick’ (see previous news item) was having time to complete the arrangements for this long-standing project. Chief amongst these were a condensation of the first movement of Beethoven’s fifth symphony (including finding ways of moving out of and back into the arrangement in order to use it as a ‘container’ for the other pieces on the programme) and a transcription (for clarinet, bass clarinet, violin and viola) of Lilian Elkington’s Out of the Mist. Elkington’s piece was composed to mark the repatriation of the Unknown Warrior in 1920; reminiscent, perhaps, of Delius, Out of the Mist is a sombre, deeply lyrical lament that, like all of Elkington’s music, disappeared from public view until a chance rediscovery (some fifty years after its premiere) in a Worthing bookshop. It has been a great pleasure to help bring Out of the Mist back to life.

St Nicholas Church proved a wonderful venue and we are looking forward to playing the programme here early in 2025.

January 2024: the new year did not get off to the best of starts – a cycle ride one Sunday ended with me being taken to hospital in an ambulance after skidding on a roundabout and landing heavily on my right hip. I’ve come off my bike before and bounced (sort of) but not this time unfortunately. Still, there have been some compositional upsides!

A hip replacement operation is pretty major surgery with the result that I find myself on six weeks sick leave. It has not been easy coming to terms with suddenly being an invalid – there is lots to get used to, lots of physio to fit in, lots of pain/discomfort to manage, lots of rest and recuperation. But I have also been suddenly handed just a little more composing time and this has helped me push certain projects forward and begin to disentangle the threads of overlapping, long term pieces of work. Chief amongst these has been the project with Trifarious that involves exploring the intersection between composing and arranging whilst constructing a seamless programme of familiar and less familiar classics capable of being easily toured around village venues. I’ve completed an arrangement of the first movement of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 for clarinet and violin that contains ‘openings’ into other works on the programme. I have also arranged Lilian Elkington’s orchestral memorial Out of the Mist, a piece depicting the arrival of the body of the ‘unknown soldier’ in 1920; here, live instruments are complemented with recorded tracks. The Elkington is an austere lament for the victims of war and, I hope, will form a kind of ‘still centre’ to the programme.

December 2023: the latest release by the Delta Saxophone Quartet – Late Music – contains cut-down versions of my Arabic lute transcription, Damascene Redux, alongside pieces by composers associated with Late Music York as well as music by Joe Duddell, Steve Martland, Hayley Jenkins and others.

The digital release of the album includes an EP on which an extended version of Damascene Redux can be heard (the versions on the physical CD are blink-and-a-miss length and function as connective tissue between other pieces).

It was way back in 2014 that the Deltas premiered this piece which is actually a reworking of an earlier brass quartet, Damascene Portrait, so it is very gratifying to hear them revisit it almost a decade later. They have been busy with the piece, performing it in workshops with school children and students up and down the UK. Damascene Redux was always conceived as being open to improvisatory exploration so I am delighted it is being used as a vehicle for music education.

July and September 2023: in central London working with pianist and fellow composer Nathan Williamson and a trio of singers. Our aim is a modest one – nothing less than to reconfigure the traditional classical vocal recital!

With singers Clara Barbier (soprano), Magid El-Bushra (countertenor) and Rob Gildon (baritone) Nathan and myself are attempting to establish a five-way collaboration in which we all work from the ground up to create a seamless programme of song. I am leaving details deliberately vague at this point but we aim to challenge convention through choice of song, use of translation, contrafact, arrangement and improvisation. We need to perform a delicate balancing act in which we maintain enough connection with the tradition of Western classical vocal performance to be able to attract seasoned as well as new audience members.

What has been most gratifying about the two sessions we have held so far is the way in which we have quickly adopted an improvisatory mode of working. As Nathan puts it we are ‘working to tape’ – trying things out, recording and listening back to the results rather than relying on notation with its imperative for the singers to ‘learn’ and practice things. The resulting spontaneity has been refreshing for us all and, more importantly, resulted in an exploratory and risk-embracing working method that has already yielded some surprising and beautiful results. Watch this space!