Three songs for two and three treble voices with piano. Performed by Archie White Ivan Chetverikov, Freddy Rowntree and Maki Sekiya (Piano)

These songs are settings of poems from the Exeter Book, which is a collection of many different writings, and is generally acknowledged to be one of the great works of the English Benedictine revival of the tenth century. The Exeter Book's heritage becomes traceable from 1072, when Leofric, Bishop of Exeter bestowed in his will upon the then-impoverished monastery, "a large English book of poetic works about all sorts of things" Among the other texts in the Exeter Book, there are over ninety riddles or kennings.. The difference between a riddle and a kenning, I discovered, is that the answer to a riddle is in itself meaningless - a means to an end, a guessing game. The Kennings of the Exeter Book, on the other hand, are part of an ancient tradition of learning through memorable metaphor, much valued in the Anglo-Saxon world. They are written in the style of Anglo-Saxon poetry and range in topics from the religious to the mundane, nature, God and sex.

Three Kennings

The start of the third movement is the climax of the composition. It is a breakthrough, an apotheosis, a wave of time-dilating reflections or as the great 6th century Chinese Buddhist scholar Tiantai described it, ‘three thousand realms in a single moment of life”
  
The hammer blows at the start and the pungent sound of open strings, evokes the rhythm of that resolutely determined 6 syllable chant of Nicherin Buddhism “Nam Myo Ho Renge Kyo.” 
From the outset the music is hot and fiery and quickly develops into multiple streams of musical discourse, held together under great tension. Maybe this is the approach to the threshold of life, in which the past is said to replay in an instant. In any case, there is a threshold and a resolution to this moment as the true self theme reemerges, this time stronger and with much greater warmth, now bathed in the balm of piano scales, the hammer blows now softened and transformed. The ending is feminine, pulsing and in balance. Listen out for the special ‘seagull’ sounds made by the cello.

True Self 3rd movement

The second movement is a groove, a dance and a blast. It is a celebration of the material, the sensual, the earth. The players use their instruments sometimes as percussion and other times in their full melodic sonority. The music rolls and rushes between dances and circus acts, but despite the contrast in mood and rhythm the second movement is literally another manifestation of the true self theme. The same body, as it were, but in different clothes.

True self 2nd movement

True Self is a piano trio performed by Natasha Sachsenmeier (violin), Timothée Botbol  (cello) and Ilya Chetverikov (piano).
The title are the words of the historical Bhuddha, who proclaimed true self as one of the four noble qualities.
The first movement begins with a violin solo, - a playful pre-echo of the true self theme, which begins when the piano enters. The mood is joyful, illuminated and moving with the quality of water. As each instrument enters, the theme is continuously reiterated in a series of meditative waves of flowing counterpoint.

True Self 1st movement

Songs From Hell was a reaction to the violence and intolerance that has erupted around the world in recent years. I have freely adapted texts from the holocaust poet Dan Pagis, Buddhist writings Paul Celan and Charles Bukowsky, which describe perfectly aspects of the hell that humans create when they hate.

Azuras-Hungry Spirits

Humanbeings

Reparations

Thegeniusofthecrowd

Blackmilkofmorning

IAmEve

Gongyo is a series of prayers and recitations from the Lotus Sutra, the Buddha's last teaching. In this symphony a chorus of about 12 men and women recite excerpts from "the expedient means' chapter and the "life span"  chapter of the sutra. I have used the Japanese traslation, the liturgy of Nicherin Buddhism, (13 century Japan) based on texts which came originally from India and date from the 5th century B.C. 
Movement I Expedient means. Movement II instrumental. Movement III Life span. 
Composed by Jeremy Arden, conducted by James Longstaffe. Orchestra: Vanessa McNaught: viola, Ghislane McMullin: cello, Pete McMullin: piano, Kieth Farbairn: percussion, Lisa walker: clarinet, Robyn Elton: violin Octavia Bovey: flute. Ben Winters: Violin, Nicole Durdin: horn. The chorus: Jeremy Arden, Tony Morris, Jo Lane , Neha Dutt and Rohan Ghose, Clifford Marcus, Dai Griffthis , Rory Mcinroy

Lotus symphony

This was composed in 1997 as part of a ballet  Out of Here, commissioned by  CANDOCO dance company. The title Hat Dance came from the choreographer who devised a scene in which the performer danced and juggled multiple hats. This was one of my compositions that made use of the wonderful Schillinger method of 'distributive powers' in which a single bar of rhythm is made to yield multiple bars and voices, as if by magic!

Hat dance

Inventions in Solitude is the title of a group of 3 short piano pieces I completed in 2021 when thanks to lockdown, there was almost nothing else to do. 

Ahava is a Hebrew word which means abounding love. This piece is the most recent product of my exploration of the Freygish mode, the scale that connects a whole universe of music from the ancient song of the cantor to klezmer and jazz.

This scale, which some say has come to us from the time of King David, has a beautiful sonority: a kaleidoscope of minor and major with semitic colourings and a gypsy resonance. Its special qualities are partly due to it having nine notes, rather than the seven found in standard western music. This throws a shot of dissonance into the mix.



Ahava

The second piece in the trilogy Inventions In Solitude is entitled Pavane In Honour Of The Boddhisatva Wondersound. Wonder Sound is the name of the character who appears in the Lotus sutra, the Buddha’s final and most important  teaching. The lotus sutra contains wonderful poetry in which the mystic law is revealed through awesome visions of cosmic scale. It tells us, that a Buhdda’s mission is to make all humans realise their individual Buddha nature. 

My Pavanne is a celebration of theis marvellously named Boddhisatva, who would, if Buhddists had patron saints, be the equivalent of St Cecilia.

The sutra says:
“Flower Virtue! This Bodhisattva Wonder Sound is one who is able to save and protect all the living in the saha world. ….Even in the inner courts of a king, transforming himself into a woman, he preaches this sutra”


Pavanne

Inventions in Solitude is the title of this concert and also a group of short piano pieces I completed 2021, when thanks to lockdown, there was almost nothing else to do. 
Farewell  was composed on hearing the news of the death from Covid 19 of my old friend and brilliant composer Dimitri Smirnov. 
I dedicate this composition to all those whose lives have been cut short during this terrible pandemic.



farwell

Bayo's Way, for Tuba with live electronics and brass ensemble was composed in 1993 as a commission for the London Brass ensemble.  In writing for the extraordinary Oren Marshall, I had the possibility of writing for totally extended electric tuba. Over the last few years Oren Marshall, has extended the range of his instrument by developing a style involving the use of live electronic effects. Bayo's Way, was partly designed to be a vehicle to present the full potential of the tuba as a solo instrument and in particular Oren Marshall's extended techniques.
The title is a dedication to Bayo Oshunbiyi, a Nigerian born poet and photographer who's personality and life-style inspired this work. Oshunbiyi, lives with an intensity that is sometimes frightening and as he would say, "on the edge". The time between dusk and dawn is often spent in the serious appreciation of music. Oshunbiyi, frequents all the best Jazz venues and knows many of the musicians who play there. At six in the morning, when the band has gone, elevated by the power of the music, he is still sparkling with enthusiasm for life and art. My composition attempts to capture some of the atmosphere, energy and almost continuous musical accompaniment of this nocturnal existence.


Bayos way

Riddles still survive from ancient Greece and Persia and were known as kennings by the Anglo Saxons. Riddles were both entertaining and educative. The mental guess work and the surprise at the answer were considered to leave an impression of knowledge. 

The Exeter Book of Riddles, is part of an eleventh century manuscript bequeathed to the cathedral library by the first Bishop of Exeter, Leofric, who died in 1072. This bequest contained a great variety of poetry some on Christian themes some pagan. The Exeter riddles are beautiful naming riddles. For example the sea is described as the 'swan's riding-place' or 'the whale's path'. 

I proposed a song cycle setting of a selection of Riddles to the BBC and was duly commissioned by radio 3.

Riddles suggest an interaction between the listener and the teller. They are also complete pieces in themselves and need to occupy their own space. For this reason each riddle is separated by two short sections, the first a challenge "guess my name" followed by a few seconds of silence for the listener to think of an answer, the second the whispered answer.

Performed by Lore Lixenberg, Liz Cowdrey and Tom Hollander


Riddles 1

Riddles 2

Riddles 8

Riddles 10

Part of a suite first performed in Oxford 2010.
Performed by Jacqueline Johnson (cello) and Peter McMullin (piano)

Lumina 1

Lumina 4

The Schillinger Quartet giving the premiere of Im Freygish, at the Holywell music Room in Oxford 2019. My quartet is inspired by the idea that traditions and objects, and in the case of music, scales and melodic forms are passed between the generations and travel with the diaspora across the world.
Klezmer evolved from many sources, one of which is the ancient music of the synagogue, and the term ‘fregyish’ also refers to an ancient cantorial mode. It is also known under several other titles, including the Ahava Rabboh mode, the Mode of Supplication, and the Altered Phrygian mode. Ahava Rabboh, meaning, “abounding love” refers to the words of prayer in the Shabbat Shacharit, or morning, service. This scale, which some say has come to us from the time of King David, is the basis for klezmer all over the world. The Freygish mode has a beautiful sonority: a kaleidoscope of minor and major with semitic colourings and a gypsy resonance. Its special qualities are partly due to it having nine notes, rather than the normal seven, which throws a shot of dissonance into the mix.

Im Freygish

Ahava (abounding love) and is
my most recent exploration of the Freygish mode, the scale that connects a whole universe of music from the song of the cantor to klezmer and jazz. 
Thanks to Ilya Chetverikov for this wonderful performance at  the Holywell Music Room in Oxford 2019

Music composed for Theatre de Complicite's 1991 production of Durrenmatt's The Visit at the National Theatre in London.

The Visit Waltz

My tribute to to Frank Zappa from 1986. Recorded on analogue tape at the studios of City University and using the latest technology, long since obsolete, the Fairlight computer, which plays the baseline. Thanks to the fabulous David O'Higgins on Sax.

Zapasque

This music describes my feelings of loss at this time. Loss of old friends, such as the composer Dimitri Smirnov, and the global grief for those who have died and will die doing their jobs or before their time.

Farewell

This is a piece that’s full of dissonance and rhythmic complexity.  It began life in the rugged coastal landscape of Cornwall, and  I  have tried to convey in the music the density and mass of solid rock, the luminosity and delicacy of crystal. 

There are nine movements in all.  The first and the last embody the movement of water - quite literally, the movement of the sea, which I attempted to transcribe as I sat on the pier at Porth Leven in Cornwall.
 
As the movements proceed, it may help you to summon images such as the play of light on leaves; ice crystals melting; the earth cracking, but also the tranquility and tenderness of the environment and the possibility of happiness.

Infinite Sets And Double Binds HMR 2020 Performed by Matthew Schellhorn

I was very pleased to be asked to provide an electroacoustic soundscape , for the installation on Clapham Common in London, which specifically explores the interface between colour and music.

Jeremy Arden

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