'Oceania' is the second movement in my Literary Suite No. 1 (Singular Vision).

It is an atmospheric piece, making use of spoken dialogue from the speculative fiction novel '1984' (George Orwell, 1948), and was my attempt to evoke the bleak, grey miasma of life in Airstrip One, the province of Oceania which used to be known as the United Kingdom of Great Britain.

Instrumental parts were performed by students of the BA Music program at Bath Spa University, and the spoken dialogue was performed by myself and Rebecca Parr.

Recorded at Bath Spa University, Michael Tippet Center (2007)

Oceania

'Long-View' is the final movement in my Literary Suite No. 1 (Singular Vision).

SPOILER ALERT FOR THOSE WHO HAVE NOT READ 'FLASHFORWARD'

Inspired by a scene in the novel 'Flashforward' by Robert J. Sawyer, in which the main character, Lloyd, travels through time.

With ‘Long-View’ I wanted to give the impression of constant motion, but suggesting movement so fast that it seemed to an outside observer to be both graceful, powerful, beautiful and terrible all at the same time. The strings and percussion provide this motion, whilst the oboe cuts through to provide a single voice showing that something of humanity (and Lloyd) still exists and grows even as time marches on.

My aim was to write a piece which would trace Lloyd’s journey through time as described in the passage from the book, complete with the slowdown of movement after his consciousness finally reaches it’s destination. Once there, I tried to write in a way which would suggest the delicate beauty of the robot Lloyd sees, whilst also attempting to mirror Lloyd’s belief that it is, in reality, his former wife, Japanese scientist Michiko Komura. The piece cuts of as suddenly as Lloyd’s flash-forward.

n.b. About two years after this piece was recorded, upon my move to Canada, I was presented the opportunity to present Mr. Sawyer with a CD of the suite. I later received an e-mail letting me know how much he had enjoyed it. Very cool!

© Alexander T. Stobbs 2011

Long-View

Fourth movement from my Literary Suite No. 1 (Singular Vision)

name / place was inspired by the opening monologue of 'Red Mars' (Kim Stanley Robinson), and was intended to serve as an opening title, of sorts, to the book. As I didn't have access to a recording studio, instead relying on a handy-dandy M-Box and ProTools, I recorded the digeridoo separately, in order to ensure it's harmonics wouldn't interfere with the other instruments in the ensemble.

Looking back on it, this recording is the one I am the least happy with, from that portfolio, as the numerous percussion lines would have benefitted from a studio with individual mics and a technician who knew how to balance them. At some point, I hope to re-orchestrate this piece, to include some much needed brass underscoring, and a far more dynamic use of percussion.

n.b. The piano for this recording was performed by SoundCloud user aiyamazaki . Check her out: she's an incandescently talented pianist and composer!)

---

Taken from the original coursework notes on the piece:
The structure of ‘Name / Place’ was intended to echo the view from the ‘Red Mars’ opening that, until humans actually went to Mars, it was still a primal place, a thought more than a reality. To suggest this, I began the piece with an accented didgeridoo drone (images comparing Ayers rock to Olympus Mons were the main reason behind this decision) which remains a constant throughout the piece.Other instruments would then build up around this, beginning with the more ‘primitive’ percussion, suggesting humanity’s increasing involvement with the planet.However, the rhythms and melodies still remain simple and repetitive, suggesting that the planet still is a primal force of its own.This is emphasised by the fact that toward the end of the piece, even though the other instruments have dropped out, the didgeridoo (the ‘soul’ of Mars, one might interpret) is still there.

© Alexander T. Stobbs 2011

name / place

The first movement from 'Singular Vision'*, inspired by H. G. Wells' "The Time Machine"

(the following is taken from my Portfolio documentation)

"‘The Palace Of Green Porcelain’ was inspired by the same set-piece as in my original proposal (a long abandoned museum), and I chose to write an initially quirky waltz in order to give the impression of long-vanished grandeur. The piece gradually gets darker as the Traveller progresses through the museum (with the ever-present threat of the Morlocks growing), and the interplay between the flute and bassoon are intended to suggest the relationship between the Traveller and his Eloi friend Weena."

* I still think that "Singular Vision" is a terrible name for the suite.

© Alexander T. Stobbs 2011

The Palace Of Green Porcelain

The third movement from my Literary Suite No. 1 (Singular Vision)

Inspired by the Ray Bradbury short story 'The Pedestrian', I had attempted to write a mood piece evocative of 1950s detective noir scores.

The recording isn't the best (a little bit of confusion over part entires), but it still gives the good impression of the piece.

Just Walking

Written as part of a Film Music module during third year of university, to score the 'Space Plane' sequence in "2001: A Space Odyssey".
Cello trio.

I chose to score a scene from Stanley Kubrick’s ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ for two reasons. The first was my desire to score for a science fiction movie. In my opinion, sci-fi allows for a far greater imaginative scope than most other film genres. The second reason was the lack of dialogue or sound effects during the sections of the film which have music.I had no wish to cut out dialogue from this film, and Stanley Kubrick chose to place the music in the appropriate places.

The score to ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ is, in fact, the temp track used by Kubrick when editing the film. An original score was commissioned, but Kubrick liked the temp score so much that he decided to keep it in the final cut of the film (he neglected, however, to inform the composer of the original score, who did not discover the fact until the film’s premiere). In scoring the ‘Space Plane’ sequence, I was able to view the soundtrack as the temp track it once was, and so tried to take some elements of ‘The Blue Danube’ to heart when composing the track.

‘The Blue Danube’ give the sequence a graceful, balletic quality; the Orion Space Plane dancing an effortless waltz in tandem with the Space Station. I liked this idea of graceful movement, and the idea of illustrating the movement of the two objects, but I felt that the choice of music was too light-hearted. While it was likely part of Kubrick’s attempt to portray space travel as a normal, everyday occurrence, I felt that the music should remind the viewer that space-travel is still (even by the 2001 of the movie’s universe) a thoroughly inhospitable place to be (as demonstrated later in the film). I also wanted to suggest Earth and mankind’s insignificant and lonely place within the cosmos. I wanted to suggest this, in addition to suggesting the stark beauty of space, through my instrumentation, and as a result chose to write for cello trio. It is a very simple and pure ensemble, but at the same time the range of the instrument allows for a larger, more expansive sound.

I chose to begin the piece with simple layered chords in the 2nd and third cellos, with the 1st cello coming-in in the upper strings with a haunting figure as the image of the lonely Earth comes into view. The sombre feel of the first 22 bars is intended to reflect the nature of the many satellites Kubrick shows (these are, in fact, intended to be orbiting nuclear platforms – a sign that the year of 2001 isn’t as perfect as it may appear to be). A waltz-like figure can be heard in the 2nd cello (bars 10-23), echoing the director’s original choice of music, and still suggesting the dance of satellites.

At bar 23, a slow, pulsing trill-like figure in the 3rd cello begins, accompanying the perpetual and graceful spin of the Space Station. It is also intended to suggest the journey of the Space Plane to the station. A waltz-like figure can again be heard in the 2nd cello, with the 1st cello soaring above the lower parts as it plays long pedals in the upper register. This division is intended to suggest humanity’s place within the universe as something unique, insignificant and fragile, screaming into the darkness as it moves further into the cosmos. It also accompanies the image of the sleeping Dr. Floyd, as his arms float free in the zero-gravity environment of the Space Plane’s cabin.

At bar 66 the 1st and 2nd cello begin to echo each other, as the Space Plane begins to approach the station, slowly matching it’s rotation. As the two objects begin to move in tandem, the 2nd cello again takes up a waltz-like figure, whilst the slowly rising and falling pedal notes of the first cello become more regular, dancing in time with the other two instruments, before fading out as the camera zooms in towards one of the stations ‘spokes’. Throughout, the third cello’s trill-like semi-quaver figure continues, emphasising the station’s spin, and possibly reminding the viewer of the importance of that spin. Should the station’s movement stop all hell would break loose on-board.

When recording the cue, I chose to play all three cello parts, using proTools in order to layer the three separate recordings needed to build up the completed track. I recorded the 3rd cello part first, as it plays throughout the entire cue, while a regular rhythm. I then recorded the other two parts on top of this, using headphones as I played in order to hear the previous recordings. I feel confident that I managed to sync the parts, more or less, but I feel that I might have been able to create a better recording had I known how to create a click track.

The title of the piece, ‘Lagrange Point’ is a reference to Lagrange Points, positions between the Earth and Moon where both bodies’ gravity exerts an equal amount of force on an object. These points are suggested as possible locations for future space habitats.

© Alexander T. Stobbs 2011

Lagrange Point

Challenged by a friend, this was the result.

Dubstep? Entirely debatable... but, at least I got it to 140bpm...

Dub'd

Steambot 1.0

Nesting (Sketch)

With this track, my original intention had been to write a small ensemble piece that would not be out of place in a Raymond Chandler movie.  I felt that the fog and low contrast in the image would be aided by a 'film noir' approach, and had even been considering treating the recording to make it sound like it was part of an old record from the 1940s.

However, as I began to write, I realized that I, in fact, needed something much simpler, reflecting the simplicity of the image.  With that in mind, I instead wrote a slow lullaby for solo piano, the gentle chords sending the city to sleep.

Asphalt Bed-A-Bye

Alexander is a graduate of Bath Spa University's BA (Hons.) Music Program, currently residing in the quiet city of Ottawa where he is finally beginning the long task of building up his portfolio.
With the eventual goal of writing scores for the film, television and computer games industries, Alexander's composition style tends to lend itself to small orchestral ensembles, making use of elements of European folk music and the minimalist style.

He also plays the cello and is is no way biased towards the instrument when writing.

© Alexander T. Stobbs 2013