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THE AUSTERITY MEASURES

2011

flute (dblng picc & alto flute), cor anglais, clarinet, bass clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet, trombone, tuba, 2 percussion, harp, piano, celesta, 2 violin, viola, cello, contrabass.

first performed by red note & musiclab, 2011, Glasgow.

About the Piece

The Austerity Measures, for large ensemble, came out of a desire to write music which seems to have a "severity of purpose", by which I mean stripped of anything which might feel “extravagant” or unnecessary.  In essence, a work in which the core aesthetic is, by its very nature, ascetic.

 

It was my intention for the work to feel free of explicit romanticism and of overtly dramatic gesture; to be devoid of decoration, but not necessarily of intricacy. To be, in its own way, quietly austere.

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