Mozart's "Dies Irae". This is a 2021 re-recording of a rough version that I did back in the 1990s, Originally inspired in part by a friend and fellow synthnerd Paddy, with his great rocked-up version of a piece by Handel, and the brilliant "Toccata" by Sky. This was my chance to go all out on a cut from Mozart's unfinished final work, the Requiem in d minor which contained this brief yet furious Dies Irae. This newer version adds real guitars, a MiniMoog, an intro stealing other snippets from the Mozart Requiem, and a coda featuring a less-than-subtle purloining of a track from the Sky 2 album (no, not the Toccata!).

Wolfy's Wrathful Day

Initially a test of the Korg Triton, but it turned into a fair bit more. I became interested in something descriptive of an immense depth, akin to an infinity.  A feeling that what was hitherto the lowest depth imaginable now became something high above.

The Depths Above

A tribute to the memory of a kind, gentle soul. A life cut horribly short at far too young an age.

Elegy for Kate

An electronic soundscape I composed dedicated to the memory of my most invaluable mentor, Tristram Cary - the unsung father of electronic music in Britain and Australia (among many other things!). The piece was created using only my EMS VCS 3, with the EMS Random Voltage Generator and Pitch-to-Voltage Converter (delays and phasing effects were through an Alesis Quadraverb Plus). The VCS 3 is the classic British synth that Tristram co-designed with the Electronic Music Studios in England back in the 1960s

A video of this piece can be seen on my YouTube channel:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mDFNdIil-k


The Ambassador

Dark, sort of ambient, moody.  I set the recorder in motion and improvised about 8 tracks, using only my faithful old friend, the Roland Juno 60. A nice reverb and some tape delay effects were added in post.

Well That Went Badly

When once again your future is summarily removed from you. But this time, it's at an age where you had always hoped that you would have your future relatively secure.

So, Is That It Then?

Improvised postlude at St John's Halifax St, 12/03/2023. 
Two days earlier, close and dear family friend Dr. Nick Hawkes lost his 7 year battle with cancer. This improvisation is built on my musical spelling of his name.

Elegy for Nick Hawkes

First movement from an early chamber work entitled "From Life". A commission(... well, more of a "request" since I wasn't paid for it!) from a then new trio of piano, clarinet, and violin. Written entirely in the Octotonic mode (Messiaen's 2nd "mode of limited transposition"), the dance rhythm in the second half popped into my head when I was out driving. I don't know if was because there was something wrong with my car, but it was a good exercise working out the rhythm that I heard in my head.

Cameo Trio

Introduction and Dance I

Superb UK organist John Scott died suddenly (and too young) on August 12, 2015. A few days later, for the Sunday postlude, I improvised this in his memory. Sound quality is fairly miserable because it was recorded on my phone, but I thought I'd get a record of it so I could transcribe it and work on it later.

Remembering John Scott

During the Sunday morning service on 15/11/2015, I wrote out a minor and major version of the Marseillaise.  At the end of the service, this happened when I improvised on them.  It's a bit rough, but it's most certainly in the moment, and I hope it's appreciated for the thought.

Pensées de Paris

From "Imaginary Library"
Again, the title suggests the ideas for the sort of scene this could accompany, anything from a protaganist trying to stay one step ahead of the villians, to someone not trying to get caught downloading sensitive files from a computer - that kind of stuff.


Tense Background

From "Imaginary Library"

Not sure what genre I had in mind, but given the combination of thriller / sci-fi / fantasy / drama shows that prompted these pieces, I was probably thinking of a little of each!

Title Theme/End Credits

One of my guilty pleasures is my affection for Bollywood and Hindi films. The sound of their dance music has rubbed off. I've done dance tracks before, but this is the most blatantly Hindi-influenced one I've tried so far.

Misc

Vidrohi Maya

This is some years old now (started around 2005). It was done using only a Roland Juno 60 synth (and an Alesis Quadraverb Plus for additional effects - reverbs, delays, phasing). It had remained unfinished (like FAR too much of my stuff) for some time. Some time in 2007, there was a bit of Juno bashing taking place on the VSE forum, so I took the chance to finish this and put it up.  It was not intended to shut up the naysayers because some synths just aren't for some people and everyone's entitled to their opinions (it's just the way they're expressed that I find objectionable!). This piece was simply to say "well, these are the sorts of things of which I have found the otherwise humble Juno capable of doing." I was quietly pleased that it managed to surprise a few people, it probably might not so much these days though, but I'm still quite satisfied with what I managed here even though there are some rough bits.

A Roman Goddess Speaks

A tribute to the late, great Dr. Robert Moog.
Over the past year however, I've become a little disenchanted with the original ending and it is my intention to change it.  So this version is incomplete but the bulk of what I was on about is here.  I was essentially attempting to provide a cross-section of so many of the wonderful sounds we've been able to create with Dr. Bob's superlative inventions.
This was recorded using only 1 Moog Micromoog synth and Alesis Quadraverb Plus for effects.

Where Would We Be

A cover of the best sci-fi TV theme ever! Originally composed by Ron Grainer and Delia Derbyshire, this version was done entirely on the iPod's Nanostudio during an idle couple of hours one evening (do I really need to say what I was watching at the time?)

Mach4

Popular tracks