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Sparrow (2020)

Details
​Description:
 Solo double bass

Duration: 9'

Instrumentation: Db. (scordatura) 

​Commission: Written for Marianne Schofield, as part of the Riot Ensemble's 2020 Zeitgeist Commissions, in collaboration with Zeitgeist, the PRS Foundation and BBC Radio 3.

First performance: Yet to be performed live. 

First broadcast: Radio 3, New Music Show, 15th August 2020

Score link

Recording: ​Recorded by Marianne Schofield

Programme Note
​
I wrote this piece during the 2020 COVID-19 Crisis. Isolating with my partner and three friends in a small flat, we often convened on a roof. It overlooks a busy train line, from which a sprawling buddleia grows, and a row of gardens. Between the high-backed Victorian houses and the railway line, these form a canyon ruled by small birds. It was funny to me to depict these tiny birds on such a large instrument. Of course, a sparrow is, to itself, perfectly large, and its flitting filled with drama.

​
This piece is dedicated to those friends, in thanks for my time at Maygrove Road.​

Score
Recording
Recorded Programme Notes
All photographs by Ilme Vysniauskaite
  • News
  • Music
    • Full List
    • Large Ensemble >
      • Muted The Night
      • London's Other Bones
    • Small Ensemble >
      • Us Alone
      • A Noise So Loud
    • Solo >
      • Sparrow
      • Street Through A Window
      • Two Animals
      • Flim Flam
      • Slow Hills
    • Vocal >
      • The Hazelnut
      • Some Parts of Us
      • Now Is A Long Time
      • Cataracts
      • Ceasing
      • Hildegard
  • Recordings
  • About
  • Teaching
  • Filthy Lucre