UK Premiere recording, composed for the International Viola Congress, Porto 2014, and performed at Birmingham Conservatoire on 15th December, 2014.

Viola I: Elsabe Raath
Viola II: Rebecca Stubbs
Viola III: Matt Johnstone
Viola IV: Eileen Smith
Viola V: Alistair Rutherford​

In this piece I wanted to explore the limitations of a once popular form – Theme & Variations. I purposefully took a tune which I find extremely dull, and tried to turn it on its head.
The first variation takes fragments of the melody (heard in Vla. I), and is harmonically based around the home key Ab. The second variation treats the melody in a Waltz style, though the harmonies become less traditional throughout the Waltz and the second time through is interjected with violent fragments of the countermelody by Vla. II. Variation 3 uses the melody both for harmonic and melodic material, creating intense clusters. Variation 4 uses the accompaniment as the melody, putting it through various meters changing at a fast pace. The last Variation doesn’t alter the melody at all but completely changes the atmosphere through ethereal harmonies.
This piece is inspired by Alkan’s Le festin d'Ésope variations, where he takes a small, simple melody and slowly rips it to shreds.

www.leonhaxby.com

Variations on a Theme by Edward Elgar (for Viola Quintet)

Premiered at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam on 8th March by:
Violin I - Mayumi Núria Sargent Harada
Violin II - Ewa Żołyniak-Adamska
Viola - Georgina McKay Lodge
Cello - Anna Reisener

My String Quartet is based on Haydn’s String Quartet of the same name and uses the past material in a variety of melodic, harmonic and developmental ways.

The first movement takes the exposition up to the first repeat sign and repeats the passage four times, changing the passage a little each time until the fourth repetition is hardly recognisable.

The second movement uses Vln. I’s melody from the Trio, beginning with its range compressed to a single note, and then gradually straightening out to its full range.

The third movement copies the Haydn almost bar by bar in structure, but repeatedly creates intense discord between the two musical worlds.

The fourth movement is like a palindrome of the first movement, starting out quite free but gradually using more and more quotations from the Haydn until the end is almost entirely back to Haydn’s music.

String Quartet Op. 17, No. 4 In C Minor (World Premiere Recording) - III.

String Quartet Op. 17, No. 4 In C Minor (World Premiere Recording) - II.

String Quartet Op. 17, No. 4 In C Minor (World Premiere Recording) - I.

Premiered by The Woe & Leon Haxby on Saturday 12th May, 2018.

Anna voor de Wind - Clarinet
Laurens de Man - Organ
Paolo Gorini - Piano
Miriam Overlach - Harp
Jeroen Kimman - Electric Guitar
Leon Haxby - The Busy Drone

Programme notes:
Building on ideas from Charles Ives' 'Central Park in the Dark', 'Vondelpark in the Dark' begins with a thick night-like texture. Instead of building to a single outburst of marching-band music, this composition uses various sections of a forgotten Waltz (played by The Busy Drone) while the ensemble reacts to, accompanies or fights against these interruptions to the still night.

Vondelpark In The Dark (for The Busy Drone & Small Ensemble)

Premiered by Neon - Koor voor Nieuwste Muziek on Friday 18th May, 2018.

'Community' uses musical material from 7 different cultures/religions from around the world. The melodies are introduced one by one, and to begin with only two melodies are used at the same time. However, the material builds throughout the piece by stacking melodies on top of each other, and heads towards a climax where small pieces of all 7 combine together into a single musical phrase.

The musical material has been transposed in some cases to fit a SATB choir more comfortably, and some melodies have been simplified to avoid microtones.

Material Used (in order of appearance):
Buddhist Liturgical Chant Shômyô from the Japanese Shingon sect
Hindu Bhajan to Lord Shiva
Sanctus from traditional Gregorian Chant
Yeichibei Song of the Navajo Tribe
Traditional Jewish Babylonian composition
Traditional Arabic Druse ‘Song of Eulogy’
Traditional Bantu song from Uganda

Community (for SATB Choir)

Premiered in Bernard Haitinkzaal as part of Composers' Festival, Amsterdam on Friday 10th May, 2019.

Conductor: Aristide Moari
Violins: Sara Mazzaroto, Daniel Leenders, Louisa Rocha, Deniz Ispir
Violas: Lotte Grotholt, Alkistis Misouli
Celli: Sara Novoselic, Francisco Lopez
Contrabass: Raivis Misjuns
Percussion: Leonardo Carvalho, Bea Picard, Keith Ng

Programme notes:

Folie Grosso In Deux Minor, à COp.ncerto 3 - III.

Folie Grosso In Deux Minor, à COp.ncerto 3 - II.

Folie Grosso In Deux Minor, à COp.ncerto 3 - I.

Premiered in Blue Note as part of Composers' Festival, Amsterdam on Saturday 11th May, 2019.

(a) 0:00 (b) 5:08 (c) 7:59 (d) 11:17

Violoncello I: Cormac Ó Briain
Violoncello II: Jascha Bordon
Violoncello III (Ghost): Sara Novoselić

Programme notes:
‘Ghost’ consists of four movements which run attacca, each based on a movement from Bach’s Suites for Solo Cello. The first movement uses material from the opening of Bach’s Suite V in C minor, the second from the Sarabande of the same suite, the third from the Allemande of Suite II in D minor, and the final movement from the second Bourrée of Suite III in C major.

The title ‘Ghost’ served as inspiration for much of the composition. Passages of Bach are embellished with ethereal effects, and music from past movements come back to haunt the present.

Copyright © 2019

Ghost (for Cello Trio)

Leon Haxby (b. 1993) is a Composer, Producer, DJ and teacher based in Cambridge. He has always been fascinated with the effect of quotation and re-contextualisation in music, and is now pursuing this field of study both in composition and through his academic research on 'Music’s Uncanny Valley'.

Leon began composition lessons with Darren Bloom at Forest School in London and was awarded a scholarship to the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, followed by a place at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam where he completed his Masters in Composition in 2019. His compositions have been featured at world-famous festivals including the String Quartet Biennale Amsterdam and TROMP Percussion Festival, and at venues such as Kings Place and Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ, as well as others throughout Europe, North America and South Africa.

In 2020 Leon launched ‘Delian Sound’. Under this alias he DJ's and produces Garage and Jungle featuring samples from Delia Derbyshire and her contemporaries at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.

Leon Haxby - Composer

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