Premiered at the Cheltenham Festival 2015

Program Note:

Lullaby was written in 2015 as part of the Cheltenham Festival's Composers Academy and was given it's premier performance by the Genesis 16 Choir.  
 
When writing this piece I found inspiration from 'images' of sleep, the most crucial being that of a mother putting her child to rest. The words of the poem and music both begin with maternal warmth in mind. The voices hum and intone to beguile and soothe, a peaceful and enticing atmosphere pervades. This tenderness quickly turns to anguish; a resistance is felt. The music at times reaches points of ecstasy but concludes with a sense of enlightenment and peace.  

The most simplistic reading of the poem would be as if its from a parent's perspective, however themes of death and anxiety are also present. Underlying it all is the contemplation of humanity's fragile balance with nature.

Lullaby | For Choir

Paint The World | for Female voice and Pre - recorded Soundtrack

The Green Fuse 

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The inspiration for The Green Fuse came from a poem, written by Dylan Thomas. In ‘The force that through the green fuse drives the flower’ (1934), Thomas contemplates the nature of the force which drives all things. The poem evokes the strength of this force but also confronts its uneasy duality, which both moves a plant to flower and puts a man in his grave. What is this energy that makes creativity and joy possible and yet becomes life’s destroyer?
Thomas conjures many striking images to convey the majesty of nature and the bloom of youth; the incandescent power of our world. They are coloured, however, by a pervasive melancholy and inevitability. The poem leaves the question ‘why?’ unanswered, like a brooding cloud. However, I find a faint hint of consolation, a feeling not of hope but of comfort through discourse: a warmth. ‘Love drips and gathers, but the fallen blood/Shall calm her sores.’
The music opens with a burst of colour. The green fuse is lit.
 
James Wilson

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The Green Fuse

Remnants for Poet and Orchestra

James B. Wilson is an award-winning composer of contemporary classical music based in Bedfordshire, England. He studied, with a scholarship, at Royal Academy of Music under Gary Carpenter and David Sawer, and also took frequent lessons with Sir Peter Maxwell Davies.

James’ music explores the rich textural, timbral and harmonic possibilities of acoustic instruments and the voice. His output is influenced by stories of our time and the work and ideas of many composers and artists, ranging from Benjamin Britten to Sonic Youth, the poetry of Dylan Thomas to the films of David Lynch. For instance a recent piece (Free-man) saw James explore the events of the Bristol Bus Boycott and is dedicated to activist Dr Paul Stevenson OBE.

His multifaceted compositions range from intimate music for soloists and duets, to immersive electronic pieces, ensemble music, and works for orchestra. His passion for working with the voice, as well as instrumentalists, is also apparent in his output, with numerous choral pieces alongside concert works with a theatrical influence or vocal quality.

He has won a number of awards including the Evan Senior Scholarship, Peter Lamborne Youth Bursary, Lena Pritchard Green Award, Charles Black Fellowship, and worked with many leading musicians including Benjamin Grosvenor, members of the London Symphony Orchestra, Genesis 16 and Note Inegales. James is an NMC Recording Artist and his music is broadcast internationally, recently with a performance given by the BBC Singers, later broadcast on Radio 3. He was the first ever composer commissioned by the Chineke! Orchestra; the resulting piece, The Green Fuse, premiered at The Cheltenham Festival.

James B. Wilson

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