LCO

London Chamber Orchestra

Music Director & Principal Conductor:
Christopher Warren-Green

Patron:
Her Royal Highness The Duchess of
Cornwall

President:
Vladimir Ashkenazy

London Chamber Orchestra

LCO New: Explore Workshop

20th May 2008

Trinity College of Music – Peacock Room

2.30pm – 5.30pm
BREAK
6.30pm – 9.30pm

LCO Composer in Residence Graham Fitkin

Conductor Gregory Rose
LCO Musicians

Nikolaos-Laonikos Psmikakis-Chalkokondylis was born in

1989 in Athens, Greece. He is studying at Guildhall School of
Music and Drama with composer Paul Newland. Superfluidity is
Nikolaos’s first ensemble piece and the first of his compositions to
be professionally workshopped outside of Guildhall.

Superfluidity
In physics, superfluidity is a term that describes the phase of
matter in which unusual effects are observed, when liquids, after
going below a certain temperature, overcome friction.

Superfluidity is expressed in this piece by the way the harmony is

spread among the instruments, as there are some very
fundamental chords that guide the piece which are layered up the
instruments much like a superfluid would layer up the sides of any
container in which it is placed. The section with the sustained
notes and the phrases that move from one instrument to another
is like having a liquid at a very low temperature and then lighting
parts of that liquid which then start to move, and return to a more
stable, warmer state than before (i.e. not returning to silence),
while other parts of the liquid are being lit in turn.
Jim Barne began his musical career at the age of 9, when he became
a chorister at the Chapel Royal, Windsor. Subsequently he gained a
Music scholarship to Clifton College in Bristol where he developed a
keen interest in composition. During his time in Bristol he studied
singing under James Ottaway. He is currently working towards a BMus
in Music at King’s College London, where George Benjamin is
Composer in Residence, and taking lessons in voice at the Royal
Academy of Music under Professor Alex Ashworth.
This is the first time that one of his works will be performed by a
professional group.

Puck’s Chorus
The piece is inspired by the tale of the mischievous Puck in ‘A
Midsummer night’s dream’, on a mission that his master Oberon has
set him. He must take the juice of a flower, struck by Cupid’s arrow,
and administer the elixir to Titania the fairy queen, in order that
Oberon might steal a small orphaned boy that Titania has fallen in love
with. Unfortunately not all goes to plan and Puck is forced to send all
those involved to sleep, by casting a dark magical fog. Everybody
wakes up, and Puck pretends that the preceding events were simply a
dream.

“…That you have but slumber'd here, while these visions did appear.”

Stuart Younghusband began studying at Leeds College of Music in

October 2006, specialising in piano performance. However, with
overwhelming results in the first year of his degree, he decided to
switch to first study composition. Stuart is currently in the process of
having his first set of compositions performed and recorded, most
notably by the Goldberg Ensemble for his work Neutral Hatred for 11
solo strings and soprano which was directed by Malcolm Layfield.
Stuart is currently under the guiding hand of Dr. Carl Vincent, and was
taught by Prof. Barry Russell last year.

Reclining Figure
This is a piece in block form and is based on the sculpture by Henry
Moore. Moore chose not to give definitions of his work; which gave the
moral and artistic licence to interpret the sculpture in his own musical
medium. The four blocks have different harmonic language: atonal,
modal, Octatonic, and whole-tone. With respect to Moore’s wishes,
Younghusband decided that anyone who hears this piece should decide
for themselves what these blocks represent, and how they fit in with
what the sculpture means to the individual. Younghusband makes
extensive use of Fibonacci sequencing in an effort to dehumanise the
music, and create an atmosphere of natural, unaffected thought about
the original art form.
Kevin Plattner is a third-year student at Grinnell College in Iowa and
is currently engaged in a semester abroad program at the Sonic Arts
Research Centre in Belfast. He has studied with a variety of composers
of both acoustic and electroacoustic music at both universities,
including Eric McIntyre, Todd Coleman, Paul Stapleton and Paul
Wilson. Kevin's primary interests currently include electroacoustic
music, multimedia art installation and sonic performance, and a
variety popular and folk music. All previous performances of his work
have been informal.

Anemone Waltz
The piece is the result of an introductory composition class at Grinnell
College during the fall of his second year of study. It is primarily an
exploration of metrical variations, and disregards melody in favor of
rhythmic and harmonic texture to build and release tension. After its
completion, Kevin has become interested in exploring a less
conventional use of sound, leading to his interests in electroacoustic
music and multimedia installation. As a result, this is currently the only
piece of instrumental art music he has completed.

George Eveleigh (b.1989) started is musical studies at the age of

nine by playing Piano and Clarinet. On his arrival at Wallingford School
in 2000, he took up the Saxophone and swiftly became an important
member of the music department, working on in house composition
projects and music technology projects in both live sound and
recording projects for the school.

Through his GCSE and A-level courses, George Eveleigh’s compositions

slowly became more experimental and this eventually pushed him into
applying to the Conservatoires to study contemporary composition and
media composition at the Birmingham Conservatoire in 2007, where
he is due to graduate in 2011.

Rhythmic Unity
The piece uses a concept of tonal colours, which I have always been
interested in exploring. This concept being the difference in tone of a
similar note on different ranges of different instruments, for example,
the sound of a middle C on a Violin will sound different than a middle C
on a Cello. This piece set out to explore this contrast in the woodwind
and string sections. Rhythmically, I also wanted to find some sense of
spatial awareness in the sound too, so by having the same note
passed around the parts rapidly up and down the line I hope to bring a
spatial element into the music.
Philip Ashworth was born in Lancashire in 1983. He studied first with
John Pickard and Geoff Poole at Bristol University, and then with David
Sawer at the Royal College of music where he is now completing his
doctoral studies. Recent performances include ‘Pearl’ a piece for
soprano saxophone, played by Amy Dickson and ‘Play’ workshopped by
the Composers Ensemble and Richard Baker. Philip has also written
music for theatre, most recently for a London Fringe production of
Medea. Future collaborations include a project with War Horse Theatre
Works, and a symphony setting texts by Edward Lear.

Big G
The piece is framed with tutti material based on a five note fragment
from a nursery rhyme. Sandwiched between these events are two
linked sections. The first explores an antiphonal relationship between
the strings and wind, and introduces the main motivic element of the
piece: a four note motif (a quaver and three semiquavers). The title
Big G comes directly from the rhythmic stress associated with this four
note tune; a group of 2 beats (one quaver) ‘Big’, and the three
remaining beats (three semiquavers) occupying the longer sound G.
.
The timpani takes the main role in the second section, developing and
expanding this rhythmic cell, and playing with the position of the
stresses. The wind and strings now predominantly play together,
echoing and punctuating the timpani’s material.

Charles Kwong is a Hong Kong composer who now studies in London.

After finishing his BA (Music) with first class honours in the Chinese
University of Hong Kong in 2007, he is now undertaking the Master of
Music programme at King’s College London, with obtaining
scholarships from the Composers and Authors Society of Hong Kong,
the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and King’s College London
respectively. He is now under the supervision of Rob Keeley. Kwong
has recently been selected into the final round of the New Generation
2008 competition in Hong Kong, and is going to be premiered in Hong
Kong in June and be broadcasted in radio.

Helix Diversion
The 9 instruments are taken as 3 distinctive forces – a quartet of
winds instruments, a quartet of string instruments, and the Marimba.
The piece is the dialogues and plays between these 3 forces which
constitute into an overall continuous flow of music making use of the
maximal orchestral effect produced by this minimal instrumentation.
The word “Helix” in the title refers to the transformation method of a
hexachord that tightly bonds the melodic and harmonic aspects
throughout the piece, whereas “Diversion” has a double meaning that
refers to the grouping treatment of the 9 instruments and also implies
the genre “Divertimento”.
Jieun Park was born in 1982 Seoul, Korea. She studied with Shinuh
Lee at Seoul National University (BA, 2003~2007). She is currently
studying with Silvina Milstein at the King's College London (MMus,
2007~).
She has won the second prize in STUDIO 2021 Summer Academy
Festival(KOREA,2006), and participated in the 'Master class of Seoul
City Orchestra' with Unsuk Chin and 'STUDIO 2021 Master class' with
Hornbach.

Hit
The main idea of this piece is the hitting sound of the instruments.
Every instrument is expressed like percussion, so chords and repeated
notes are used much more than melodies.
Percussion leads the ensemble, and other instruments strengthen the
sounds of percussion with special effects. The relationship between
percussion and the other instruments is action and reaction, therefore
the whole ensemble is expressed like 'A huge instrument'.

Stewart Holmes is currently in the 2nd year of his studies towards a

BMus in Music & Sound Recording (Tonmeister) at the University of
Surrey in Guildford. Upon completion of the current academic year he
intends to take a year-long work placement in Denmark, working in
the acoustics department at Bang & Olufsen in Struer, before returning
for the final year of his degree.

The London Chamber Orchestra Trust Registered Charity No 297852

Trustees: Rev. John Wates (Chairman), The Earl of Chichester, Lady Bro wne-Wilkinson,
The Lady Runcie, Hubert Best, Simon Elliot, John Hancock.