Advices And Queries

here's a number from our 2012 opera Stefan and Lotte in Paradise, sung by the wonderful Jeremy Huw Williams, and played by Psappha, cond. Gavin Wayte

in this extract from my 2009 oratorio Wonder, the choir sings the names of the elements from Li to Fe (the elements produced in the heart of stars). The number of notes in each element name is the atomic number (clever clogs)

Wonder 10 Extract

A piano part with pitch and rhythm derived from a new piece of concrete poetry by Ian McMillan (MIDI)

IM Concrete Poetry 1

Zoe Milton Brown (soprano), Nick Sales (tenor) and John Wilson (piano) perform this duet from my and Ian McMillan's forthcoming opera The Arsonists. 

BOW TIE

Tricky, those
Dicky bows
To tie

I would stand by the bedroom door and watch him

Round your throat
A bow-tie
The tight lie

I would stand by the bedroom door and watch him
I would stand at the door and see him struggling

Fussy, those
Bow ties
To fasten

I would stand at the bedroom door and imagine
Posh folk in suits and frocks talking too loud


Over and across 
In a mirror
Wrong way round

I would stand at the bedroom door and imagine
Voices strangled in the clinking light of glasses

Face knitted
Concentrating
Veins like drainpipes

I would stand at the bedroom door and imagine
Arias of braying nobodies saying nothing loudly

 Neck wrapped
 In black
Punctuation


I would stand at the bedroom door and watch him
Neck wrapped in black punctuation


Bow Tie

Tom Eaglen (baritone)and John Wilson (piano) perform this aria from my and Ian McMillan's forthcoming opera 'The Arsonists'. Text below -

LIKE ME DAD 

Me mam said he had a lovely voice
‘like an angel in a cap’ she said once
‘like an angel in a cap’ she said twice

You could hear him singing in the bathroom
Voice rising to the steaming ceiling
An angel with a watery body

He opened his mouth as wide as a shout
And his voice flew right out of the window
Circled round the yard like a pigeon

When we liberated the pigeons
And the neighbours said ‘eeee
Tha can see it reyt, can’t tha?

Tha can just abart see it theer
In’t air, turning like a chucked cap
In’t air, voice like a wing flapping
In’t Northern air’ And I wish
I could sing like an angel
I wish I could sing like me dad

And I wish they could see my voice.


Like Me Dad

Nick Sales (tenor) and John Wilson (piano) perform this aria from my and Ian McMillan's forthcoming opera 'The Arsonists'. Text below:


TEARS LIKE A BUST PIPE
(A song for the Dad)
Am blutherin and blubberin
Me soul-case art.
As’ll nivver be a singer.
Ah’ll be silent as a stick in’t 
Bucket in’t coil oil.
As’ll nivver catch fire.
That’s why ah’m roooarin.

Tears like a bust pipe.
Tears like a bust pipe.

It’s all reyt singin’ in’t lav
Or singin on’t bus on’t way to’t pit.
Lads expect it:
‘Come on George, giz a tune.
Come on Caruso, giz a song.
Come on lad, mek them nooats fly
Like homing pigeons flappin’ back to’t loft!’
Till’t bus stops.
And we climb in’t cage.
And drop darn to ‘ell.


Tears like a bust pipe
Tears like a bust pipe

As’ll nivver be a singer 
And it breaks me chuffin ‘eart;
As’ll nivver be a singer.
As’ll nivver hold that nooat
Like a promise
Till’t clappin starts
And’t cheerin.

Tears like a bust pipe
Tears like a bust pipe

I should stay on’t bus
Gu back through Plevna
ride through Slosh,
Ovver’t Wesh
End up in Jump
Then when I get to Jump
Just Jump. Jump in’t air
And sing as ah’m Jumpin
Jump in’t air
And sing as ah’m jumpin
Jump in’t air
And sing as I’m jumpin…

Tears like a bust pipe
Tears like a bust pipe




Tears Like A Bust Pipe

Sarah Helsby Hughes (soprano) and John Wilson (piano) perform this aria from my and Ian McMillan's forthcoming opera 'The Arsonists'. Text below: 

SMOKE DRIFTS AT SHIFT CHANGE
(The Arsonist Sings)

Smoke drifts at shift change
No one can see it as they run for the bus
Or walk to their cars
Their old cars.

Flames lick the shit walls
That nobody built with love or skill
They just put them up
Chucked them up.

I like the spikes of yellow
Like arrows in the matt black sky
Or trees in the oven too long
Far too long.

I love that shuddering time
When the fire grips the room
And won’t let it go
Won’t let go.

Learn to burn you awful place
Nobody will help you when you’re crying
When the flames lick the shit walls
When the smoke drifts at shift change
When the fire lifts the heat high
When the striplights start dancing
When the whole place starts melting

And no one will see me 
when I get on the bus
and sit behind the paper
sit behind the news
that will soon be me
when the whole world
starts melting…


Smoke Drifts At Shift Change

04 12 Storeys High  4. In the first place

This is a live recording of the premiere of my string quartet commissioned by the Hungarian Unitarian Church to celebrate the 450th anniversary of the foundation of the church. It's performed by the Concordia String Quartet in Cluj/ Kolozsvar, Transylvania (Romania)

A Bridge Between Heaven And Earth

Cumulative virtual choir project during lockdown. Soprano 1 and sop 2 by the fantastic Laure Meloy, sop.2 now also with the awesome Katy Knight, alto by the wonderful Katy Boulton, tenor and bass by me. If you want to sing one of the parts and have your voice on the recording, I'd love to have you! e-mail me for score and instructions at a.e.williams"at"salford.ac.uk replacing the "at" with @. I wrote this setting of John Donne in the first week of the UK's quarantine.

AlanWilliams123/sets

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