World Premiere Studio Recording | Trombone / Bass drums: Dirk Amrein | Recording Engineer: Phill Phelps | Mix: Marc Yeats

'prorrhesis' has been composed from a particular composition and performance aesthetic. Some of the music contained in this score is intentionally impossible to play at speed.  

Large leaps across registers, rapid execution of quarter tones and very fast, precisely notated passage work all contribute to the many challenges faced by the performer.   
I do not anticipate a 'perfect' performance and realise that some aspects of this piece will need to be 'sketched-out', approximated and to a certain extent, improvised to realise the music I have written. Flexibility is key to production. Whilst every care should be taken to be true to the manuscript within areas where this is possible and practical, interpretation and 'best-attempt' are desirable outcomes at points of extreme virtuosity or impossibility.  

In pushing what is technically possible to the absolute limit and sometimes beyond,  a brave, risk-taking performer will exceed the usual confines of their own technique to capture something of the colour, energy, risk and dynamism of the music that 'safer' forms of notation and performance style would inhibit.   

What is notated is an ideal. What is performed is a flexible realisation of that ideal.   

prorrhesis: historical context 

prorrhesis was part of the ancient Greek Eleusinian Mysteries. prorrhesis was the official announcement of the start of the rites. This announcement occurred on the 15th day of Boedromion (September), and was given by the hierophantes.     Instrumentation:  Tenor trombone (player to be seated) 2 differently pitched bass drums both operated by foot-pedal.   

Duration: circa 12.5 minutes.

Prorrhesis

Marc Yeats is an internationally renowned composer and visual artist whose compositions have been performed by the most noted of orchestras and ensembles across the globe. These include UK companies such as The London Sinfonietta and The Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the BBC Philharmonic and the Halle Orchestra and Chorus. Further afield, Marc’s work has also been performed by the Tokyo City Philharmonic, the Atlanta based, Chamber Cartel, and many others. His compositions have gained great acclaim through many radio broadcasts for the BBC and also been broadcast in many other countries including the US, Germany and New Zealand.

Marc’s relationship with the BBC is both strong and enduring, starting with a BBC Scotland performance by the Edinburgh String Quartet more than 20 years ago. His first orchestral work – I See Blue – conducted by Martyn Brabbins, received much acclaim when first performed around the same time. This led to specific BBC commissions, including a piano concerto to open Piano 2000 in Manchester, with Kathryn Stott as soloist, and a solo harpsichord piece ‘Rhema’, performed by Mahan Esfahani and broadcast in 2010 by BBC Radio 3 from the Clothworkers’ Centenary Concert Hall in Leeds.

Selection as one of just 10 to attend the legendary Hoy Summer School in 1994 brought Marc into contact with the late Sir Peter Maxwell Davies. At the completion of the course, Max was keen to support and promote Marc’s work, and conducted his first commission with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra at the St. Magnus Festival in 1997. He and Marc continued to share ideas, and Max took a great interest in Marc’s visual art and compositional work with mobile technologies and a range of asynchronous structural approaches to composition.

Marc is excited to have recently been appointed composer-in-residence to Yeovil District and Dorchester County Hospitals, a position he has also held with other UK and US organisations. Work such as My Blood Is As Red As Yours’ (an orchestral and choral piece commissioned by the Halle to celebrate World Aids Day in 2008 and performed at the Bridgewater Hall) and recent work, such as ‘shapeshifter’ and ‘the observation quartets’ continues to enhance his reputation as a leading contemporary composer.