Author: Tom Armstrong

May 2020: for the last month I’ve been working with a new ukulele ensemble on Shadow Variations. As most of the world remains in lockdown players are working in isolation and sending in audio files to Samantha Muir whose idea the ensemble was. We’ve just completed editing together Theme in the Form of a Chorale and A Simple Quartet and plan to complete the full set of ten pieces, then do an online performance with video of the kind that have become so familiar (and often moving) during the coronavirus pandemic. The ensemble comprises players in the United States, Europe and Australia and includes teachers, workshop leaders, ukulele specialists, composers and retirees. For around a decade now I’ve been composing scores in which performers have broader creative agency but this is one of the few occasions on which the potential of these kinds of scores has been realised. I must thank Sam for her leadership and enthusiasm that is giving people the confidence to experiment with the music. Watch (or listen to) this space for the results!

April 2020: just completed the second of two pieces for York Late Music. It is a piece for the Elysian Singers setting Emily Brontë’s ‘No coward soul is mine’ to form a pairing with David Power‘s setting of the same poem. It has been a rewarding project that has allowed me to draw on the knowledge of medieval music I developed whilst teaching a new module at the University of Surrey last semester. I noticed that David had avoided setting the three verses of the poem containing specifically religious references and this allowed me to draw on plainchant (from the 2nd Vespers service on Whit Sunday) as the material for my piece. I also use David’s striking setting of the opening line of the poem (that has a very biting quality), contrasting it with a parallel setting to the antiphon ‘Hodie compléti sunt’ (The days are complete). Quite when this piece is going to see the light of day is another matter – at the time of writing coronavirus has laid waste to the UK’s classical music calendar for the foreseeable future. And my first piece for this year’s festival, Berceuse 1917, has met the same fate I’m afraid. I’m hoping I’ll be able to post news about both performances before too long.

Shadow Variations for ukulele(s) was commissioned by Sam and received its world premiere in Australia in August 2019. It is an ensemble piece but very flexible in format; Sam is taking advantage of this and playing it as a solo interspersed with movements from her own piece, Theme and Variations on the Dowie Dens of Yarrow, upon which my music is based. There will be some re-arrangement necessary involving collapsing two parts into one – I look forward to hearing how this turns out!

The song (as yet untitled) is part of the ‘100 Second Song Project’ devised by composer David Power. It premieres at York Late Music on 4th April 2020. I draw on materials from Chopin’s Berceuse and Robert Macfarlane’s book The Old Ways, in particular the final section that is a recreation of the last months in the life of the English poet, Edward Thomas. Both singer and pianist are presented with the music in grid form (10 x 10 with each cell a second long), allowing it to be realised in multiple directions.

December 2019: myself and my colleague Chris Wiley have been awarded a Research Fellowship from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Surrey. This buys us out of a considerable amount of teaching and administration from February to June during which time we will be developing a grant bid to support our research in musical creative partnerships. Among other things the money will enable us to work with the ensemble Counterpoise with whom we will be curating a concert programme to disseminate the results of our research.

December 2019: I am off to the Royal Northern College of Music this month to talk about musical ruination as part of the 19-20 Research Forum. I will be talking about my pieces JPR, Distant Beauties and Tänze as well as taking part in a performance of the latter with RNCM piano students and staff member Gavin Wayte. I will be reflecting on the three pieces’ relationship with the past and offering some thoughts on the aesthetic potency of the musical ruin. If you happen to be in the area on 4th December the talk is in the Forman Lecture Theatre, Royal Northern College of Music, starting at 4.15.

Jane Chapman is joined by guitarist Sam Cave (tbc) at Amsterdam’s Orgelpark on April 1st 2020 as part of a series of concerts associated with the Prix Annelie de Man harpsichord competition celebrating 20th century and contemporary music for the instrument. I’ve been asked to edit the piece down to 10 minutes and am currently thinking about how to turn this challenge to interesting creative ends.

Trifarious perform Two Tributes and a Dance at Notting Hill Concerts on Monday 21 October (1.00) whilst Samantha Muir takes Shadow Variations to Benslow Courses and Concerts Friday 25 – Sunday 27 October.