Dedicated to To Gráinne Mulvey

'pulviscular observations' is an intimate, compressed, elegiac and sometimes explosive 11-minute piece for double string quartet. 'pulviscular observation‘s' relationship to landscape, intuitively established through self-borrowed materials taken from 'observation 4', and 'observation 5' and before them, the original 'observation' quartets, 'observation 1', and 'observation 2' is frequently audible despite the sometimes simultaneous energetic polyphonic and polytemporal entanglement of all 8 independent instrumental voices.

Recordings were made with the Karski Quartet and the Viridis Quartet string at the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester (RNCM) on the 15th March 2019 with the support of Larry Goves, senior composition lecturer at the RNCM. ‘pulviscular observation’ is composed primarily of the material from two previously extant string quartets, 'observation 4', and 'observation 5', that were brought together as pulviscular observation for the RNCM event ‘The Future of the String Quartet’ with @RNCMvoice and Ensemble+, the RNCM’s new networking units. 'pulviscular observation' also constitutes a string module within a larger composition for chamber orchestra called ‘[…] which constantly generates a pulviscular cloud […]’ (2019) that has been built as part of my practice-based PhD research project at the University of Leeds that investigates ‘Control, Flexibility, Flux and Complexity: A timecode-Supported Approach to Polytemporal Orchestral Composition. If you’d like to find out more about my research at the University of Leeds, please click on this link: ahc.leeds.ac.uk/music/pgr/1675/marc-yeats

Pulviscular Observations

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.