The Long Winter for solo guitar

recorded by Bruno Pancek

The Long Winter

Recorded at a workshop
Conducted by Simone Rebello

an galli cantu - 'or at the cockcrowing', is taken from a passage of the bible where Jesus tells his disciples to be vigilant for the Second Coming. I placed particular emphasis on the symbolism of the cockcrowing, alluding to the Denial of Peter, after which I modelled the structure.

Starting with the sound of the Tubular Bells, two Marimbas play from two sides. After three iterations of the same musical materials, each time more elaborate, the Suspended Cymbal signals a turning point in the music, after which metal instruments dominate. The Vibraphone then ends the piece with a slow and quiet lament.

JC

an galli cantu

NYCGB Fellows Octet (2016-17) conducted by Esther Jones

This piece is inspired by the Living Words Anthology which documents the words of people experiencing dementia, but instead of focusing on the experience of dementia, which I cannot relate to personally, I wanted the piece to be analogous to the way that the anthology gives people experiencing dementia a way to express themselves and turns their words into something beautiful. The piece starts with hazy whispering and fragments of words and sentences, like muddled thoughts but with something lurking behind. Gradually through the piece the textures and harmony clear up and fragments turn into flowing melodic lines and at the end of the piece there is maximum clarity and there is just repetition of the last words of the poem – ‘Think, wish, remember.’

JC

speaking

RNCM Brand New Orchestra and Jack Redman (Piano) conducted by Sergej Bolkhovets

'First a warning, musical; then the hour, irrevocable.' - Virginia Woolf

The piece takes its title from Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf, and it is how she described Big Ben striking - 'The leaden circles dissolved in the air.' The piece relates to this in many ways. In the novel, Big Ben serves as a symbol of the passage of time, and this is one of the focuses of the piece. I wanted explore the distinction of 'clock-time' and 'perceived-time' when listening to a piece of music, and delineate the perceived flow of time. This is often done by exaggerated proportions and playing with how different kinds of material affects the way time is perceived.

The piece also relates to the image of 'leaden circles' more specifically in that it is the impressions that the striking make, but not the striking itself. So the piece starts with rich texture and harmony but then this gives way to hazy material, almost like a shadow cast by the previous section. This also takes the form of almost like a stream of consciousness which also parallels the novel. Towards the end the two kinds of material starts to interact and we and in a middle ground between the two.

JC

leaden circles

concerto for cello and brass band

University of Manchester Brass Band and Malcolm Goodare (Cello) conducted by James Heathcote

This piece was a commission from the University of Manchester for a joint concert between the Brass Band and String Orchestra, hence the unorthodox combination of solo cello and brass band.

In order to solve the challenges presented by the instrumentation, mostly regarding balance and blend, I turned to the 2nd movement of Beethoven's 4th Piano Concerto, which has been likened to Orpheus taming the Furies, and this is where I took the inspiration for the piece.

Taking the Beethoven as model, I envisioned the soloist and the band as two diametrically opposed forces. The cello is relentlessly lyrical while the brass band is at first ferocious and aggressive, but towards the end of the piece this transforms into much gentler material with lush harmony and texture, tracing a trajectory from opposition to harmony.

JC

at the gates

Larisa Trio and Aurora Vocalis

Given a theme of the Freedom of Speech, I decided to take religious censorship and repression as the subject of my piece.

Andres Serrano iconic and controversial photograph 'Immersion (Piss Christ)' provided the initial impetus behind the ideology of the piece. Often misunderstood or misinterpreted, the photograph is not a critique of Christianity or religion, but our mistreatment or of misuse of it. Likewise is the ideology behind this piece.

The piece weaves together quotations of musical works and the Index Librorum Prohibitorum, the now abolished list of banned publications issued by the Roman Catholic Church, to create an interplay between different connotations and contexts, historical or otherwise, and form a commentary on censorship.

Philippe de Monte's setting of Vulgate Psalm 136, quoted in this piece, includes this poignant question: 'How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?' Written at a time when recusant Catholics were being persecuted, perhaps parallels could be drawn to the repression that we see in our time.

By drawing on historical examples that are distant to us, and thus can perhaps reflect on more clearly in retrospect, I wish to shed a light on and bring attention to similar things that are happening in our time.

Immersion: Index Librorum Prohibitorum

RNCM Brand New Orchestra conducted by Rebecca Tong

This piece took its creative impetus from To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf, and as such is perhaps a spiritual successor to my piece leaden circles for piano and orchestra, which was inspired by Mrs Dalloway. One of the themes of the novel that particularly resonated with me was that of human transience, and the many ways in which we try to defy it.

The title is taken from a passage in the first half of the novel, where Mrs Ramsay reflects on her dinner party. 'It partook, she felt, carefully helping Mr Bankes to a specially tender piece, of eternity...' I find the notion that a seemingly banal scene can take on a quality that resist that passage of time quite moving. In the form of Lily Briscoe's painting, Woolf also offers art as a way with which we can make a lasting impression. As a composer this certainly resonated with me.

Another passage I found particularly impactful is near the beginning of the novel, where Mrs Ramsay suddenly realize the sound of waves in the background. The sea essentially serves as a symbol for the passage of time against which human lives seems particularly ephemeral. The imagery of ebbing waves and the sudden shift of perspective both found their ways into the music.

Structurally the piece is in two distinct parts; the first half features a constant ebbing motion that occasionally swells into small climaxes, while the second is in a state of stasis, with ghostly shadows of the first half.

to partake of eternity...

for piano quintet

first performed by Tom Poster and the Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective on 10/7/2019 at the Pittville Pump Room as part of the Cheltenham Music Festival Composium

This piece was inspired by the work of the American painter Agnes Martin. Her paintings often feature bands of pastel colours that seem to capture pure emotions.

My piece starts with soft, delicate gestures, sometimes with almost trance-like repetition. Then an idea starts to blossom and build. This linear trajectory is broken twice by a fleeting, glistening motif, which returns at the climax as a resolution.

JC

Untitled #1: after Agnes Martin

James Chan (1997-) is a Hong Kong-born composer currently based in Manchester. Since 2011 he has been educated in the UK, and is now studying on the prestigious 'joint-course' at the Royal Northern College of Music and the University of Manchester.

James Chan - Composer

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