37 Otago Street - for A Fl. B. Cl. Vln. Vla. Vc. Db. (2021)
Commissioned by sound festival and Red Note Ensemble. Premiered by Red Note Ensemble, conducted by William Cole, at Queen’s Cross Church, Aberdeen (sound festival) on 22/10/2021.

37 Otago Street – E Hillier

37 Otago Street - for A Fl. B. Cl. Vln. Vla. Vc. Db. (2021) 9'
Commissioned by sound festival and Red Note Ensemble. Premiered by Red Note Ensemble, conducted by William Cole, at Queen’s Cross Church, Aberdeen (sound festival) on 22/10/2021.

Edwin Hillier – 37 Otago Street (2021, excerpt 1/2)

Edwin Hillier – 37 Otago Street (2021, excerpt 2/2)

Architect's Postlogue (excerpt from Serpentine, A Chamber Opera In One Act)

Architect - Nicholas Morton
Libretto by Edward Allen

Architect's Postlogue - excerpt from Serpentine, a Chamber Opera in One Act (2014)

Architect's Prologue (excerpt From Serpentine, A Chamber Opera In One Act)

Architect - Nicholas Morton
Libretto by Edward Allen

Architect's Prologue - excerpt from Serpentine, a Chamber Opera in One Act (2014)

For Flute, Accordion, Violin, Viola, Cello, Double Bass

Installation Music: Scarlatti Strand [excerpt] (2015)

INSTRUMENTATION:

Flute													
Accordion
Violin
Viola
Cello
Double Bass

Solo Soprano

Electronics

fili / strands / stränge was commissioned by Handel House Museum, London to mark 330 years since the birth of Handel, Bach and Domenico Scarlatti. The piece ran as an installation work, set to play continuously during museum opening hours between 19th and 29th November 2015.

BACKGROUND TO THE WORK:

Three distinct strands of material – one for each composer – interact in Handel’s bedroom. Each sound source is played through a different set of speakers, spread across the room, allowing visitors to move around, and focus in and out of different layers of material, adjusting their perspective accordingly. All strands consist of pre-recorded, and principally acoustic music. Despite the instrumental material within layers being strictly composed and notated, the live order of each of these events is fluid, and determined by chance upon playback. (Each set of loudspeakers is connected to a laptop, accessing a randomly generated playlist with tens of tracks – each consisting of different versions/forms of the material, and varying lengths of built-in silence/inactivity). This approach remains consistent across the three strata and so, when combined, gives rise to a constantly-shifting array of material, which regenerates throughout the day: prolonged periods of silence, singular activity, multiple and saturated densities, and everything in between.

The work is presented here in a full score transcription / concert format, and represents one possible organisation of materials (existing over a relatively short duration). 

INFORMATION ON EACH STRAND:

Scarlatti (Strand/Group One)

This material is composed for a chamber ensemble of Flute, Accordion, Violin, Viola, Cello and Double Bass. Music is multi-track recorded, and so can be heard in every combination and configuration of these instruments. 


Handel (Strand Two)

This music is sung by a solo soprano. Lines are recorded at multiple tempi, and fragmented upon playback, exisiting in every possible combination and interspersed with varying lengths of silence.


Bach (Strand Three)

The Bach strand of material is entirely electronic, conisting of sampled melodica overtones, subjected to various filters and transformative processes. Tens of versions of this material exisit. This strand additionally incorporates a base layer of high-pitched sine tone – combined with white noise – which plays continuously during the work and acts as a canvas for the composition as a whole.

Edwin Hillier - fili/ strands/ stränge (2015)

for Countertenor, Bass Clarinet, Baritone and Bass Flute

Premiered by members of EXAUDI and Talea Ensemble at Royaumont, 9/9/2016

Bríatharogaim, or “word oghams” are two-word kennings found in Early Irish and Scottish literature, and explain the meanings of the letter names of the Ogham alphabet. Bríatharogaim takes as its principal inspiration the ogham inscription found upon the Newton Stone at Culsalmond, Aberdeenshire. Rather than interpret one of the many attempted translations of this inscription, the work responds directly to the relevant ogham letters themselves, through use of kennings (pronounced according to Scottish Gaelic), and through derivation of numerical and proportional information from the ancient inscription. Whilst the stone’s individual characters remain largely intact, their collective meaning is now completely eroded, leaving behind only traces and fragments, whose meaning we can only seek to grasp.

Edwin Hillier - Bríatharogaim (2016)

Edwin Hillier - dhātu (2019, excerpt)

Work in progress for Organ and Electronics (2020)

Andrew Forbes, Organ
https://www.andrewforbes.org/

Edwin Hillier – Endogeny Sketch (work in progress), for organ and electronics

Hyphae – for organ and electronics (work in progress / excerpt)
Recorded 29.8.20

Andrew Forbes, Organ
https://www.andrewforbes.org/

Video Excerpt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fWN8g13q9U

Hyphae – for organ and electronics (work in progress / excerpt)

Dhātu - for two percussionists, three singers and electronics (2019)

Commissioned by Glasgow Cathedral Festival and Glasgow Experimental Music Series.

Premiered by Joe Richards, Jonathan Chapman (Percussion), Harim Oh, Alexandra Dinwiddie, Filipa Portela (Voice) 26/9/19

Edwin Hillier – Dhātu (2019)

astragalois - for soprano, bass clarinet and percussion (2013)

Edwin Hillier is a British composer of acoustic and electroacoustic music. Recent works have been broadcast on BBC Radio 3, France Musique and recorded on the NMC Record Label. He was a recipient of the Scottish Award for New Music in both 2021 (Dorico Award for Small/Medium Scale Work) and 2020 (Electroacoustic/Sound Artwork). A graduate of the University of Cambridge, Edwin was awarded a scholarship to the Royal College of Music to pursue his postgraduate studies, supported by the RVW Trust and the AHRC. In 2021 he attained his doctorate in composition. 

At the RCM, Edwin is now a Composition professor, Academic professor, and Module Leader in Musical Analysis.

edwinhillier

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