Seal Song

Oak, Cedar And Teak

Windy Old Weather

Blue Glass Lantern

'Biscuits, Beer & Bulbs' is a work commissioned by the Aldworth Philharmonic Orchestra after I won their annual Young Composers' Competition.  The 3Bs, as they are known locally, were the three industries that dominated Reading during the 19th and 20th centuries.  The work utilises fragments of speech obtained from oral histories made by employees and promotional videos from the companies as the starting point for the musical material.  The pitch and the rhythm of the motifs are derived from the contours of the speaker's phrases, or, in the case of the 'Bulbs' section respond musically to the narrated description.

This recording was made at the premiere performance at Reading Town Hall by the Aldworth Philharmonic Orchestra in January 2014.  It was conducted by Andrew Taylor.

Biscuits, Beer & Bulbs

Composed with members of the public at Crewe Market Hall on Sun 24th 2022 as part of #ceplayspiano.

Trains and cars
And ice cream vans
And buses rattling through
An Industrial heart
Surrounded by farms and fields
The central hub that is Crewe

British rail
And Bently cars
And hidden creativity
Everything is right on your doorstep
This bustling community

Industrial
Industrious
Not just passing through
Opportunity
To thrive and rebuild
Everything changes in Crewe

Everything changes in Crewe

Everyone changes in Crewe

A song for Crewe demo

Composed with members of the public at Macclesfield Bus Station on Sat 23rd July 2022 as part of #ceplayspiano.

Twenty minutes from the airport
Gateway to the world
Less than two hours from London
Five minutes from the shops
Five minutes from the countryside
Gateway to the hills

Your roots are here
Your roots are here
You’ve come back and forth
So many times
Your roots are here
Your roots are here
In this bread and silk made town

A song for Macclesfield demo

'One Night Out' with a text by Derek Martin was commissioned by Catrin Woodruff.  The character describes, in detail, a typical Saturday night 'out' with the repercussions the following morning!  Piano by Robin Humphreys.

One Night Out

'Market Songs' is a 60 minute a cappella site specific work composed for the opening of the 2015 Ageas Salisbury Arts Festival for 300 singers.  It involved four choirs performing simultaneously around the city's market square before coming together to sing a massed finale.  Each choir sang on the subject of a particular trade important in Salisbury's history. 

Here a few fragments of the work which were captured by an audience member.  We first hear from wool traders, then the innkeepers/brewers of the city, followed by traders from the city's now demolished Cheese Cross, finishing with a short glimpse at the finale.  

Market Songs Fragments

Blow blow thou winter wind

This recording of 'Wind Quartet' was performed by the London New Wind Ensemble in a live performance at the 19th London New Wind Festival on 18th November 2016.

Flute: Simon Desorgher
Oboe: Catherine Pluygers
Clarinet: Phil Edwards
Bassoon: Anna Blake

Wind Quartet

'the body is a choir room' is a four movement work for male voices and piano with texts by Andrew McMillan.  Andrew's words were derived from workshops with member of 'The Sunday Boys' exploring choristers relationship to Manchester.  Each of the first three songs explore a particular theme: arrival, settling down and ageing, whilst the final movement 'the sunday boys' is an ode, and anthem, to the choir.

The Sunday Boys conducted by the composer
Piano: Josh Dawson

Recorded at The Stoller Hall on Sun 29th July 2018.

Shortlisted by the British jury for the ISCM World Music Days in 2019. https://www.soundandmusic.org/projects/iscm-world-music-days-shortlist-announcement

the body is a choir room

the sunday boys

'the body is a choir room' is a four movement work for male voices and piano with texts by Andrew McMillan.  Andrew's words were derived from workshops with member of 'The Sunday Boys' exploring choristers relationship to Manchester.  Each of the first three songs explore a particular theme: arrival, settling down and ageing, whilst the final movement 'the sunday boys' is an ode, and anthem, to the choir.

The Sunday Boys conducted by the composer
Piano: Josh Dawson

Recorded at The Stoller Hall on Sun 29th July 2018.

ageing

settling down

II was commissioned to write a song for as part of the RNCM’s Gold Medal weekend in June 2012 and spent a long time trying to find a suitable text.  The vocalist I was working with, Hanna-Liisa Kirchin, had prepared a wonderful, yet eclectic programme, and my new work was to finish off the first half of the concert.  We had several discussions about the endless possibilities of what would suit this part of the recital which left me in a massive predicament.  I decided instead of trying to construct a mood or feel before finding the poem, I’d find a poem first and then, hopefully, gain inspiration from it.  I was introduced to Elizabeth Browning’s poetry and in particular ‘Songs from the Portuguese’ – I was immediately struck by the beauty, but also the sensuality and directness of the text.  I consider the poems exceptionally brave considering the era, especially number 38 – ‘first time he kissed me...’ – almost erotic in its intensity.  

I decided to play on this intensity within the piece.  The vocal lined is ‘trapped’ within the chords in the piano, only briefly allowing to escape and/or mingle with the counter melody in the piano part mimicking the burning desire left unattended by the first two kisses.  When we reach the third kiss the range of the piano is explored in its extremities imitating the passion described by Browning.

This song was first performed by Hanna-Liisa Kirchin (mezzo-soprano) and David Jones (piano) in June 2012.  


First time he kissed me

Table for One

A very rough demo of one of my favourite poems (the first verse at least) for equal voices.

Hope is the thing with feathers

'Charity' is a poem by Marian Lines which I set to music for the Association of English Speakers and Singers 'Write an English Song' competition where it won first prize.

Charity

A cantata for young voices (Key Stage 2 or ages 7-11) written by myself, Derek Martin and the children at Middleton Parish Primary CE School.  Between May 2012 and Feb 2013 we devised, wrote and rehearsed this 20 minute work which became a minor creative project as part of my studies for my MMus at the RNCM.

It was performed and recorded Feb 2013 in the RNCM Concert Hall.

Narrator - Jenny Carson
Piano - Ewan Gilford
Choir - children from Middleton Parish Primary
Conductor - Michael Betteridge


A Cat Called Bat

Summer will come again (20th Dec. 2020)

A live recording taken from Lorna James' (soprano) and Tom Henderson's (piano) summer recital of 2013 of English and American song.  I worked with Lorna a few years back on an actor-musician (or 'singer-instrumentalist) version of 'Into the Woods' at the RNCM and since then her career has really taken off so was delighted when she commissioned me to do this set of songs.

We expanded a song I had written a year ago called 'First Time He Kissed Me' by Elizabeth Barrett Browning into a short cycle taking two more texts from her 'Sonnets from the Portuguese'.

Except For Love's Sake Only

A recording of a rehearsal of my piece 'Two Leopards' for clarinet in Bb and clarinet in A inspired by an exhibit in the British Museum of the same name.  It was first performed at the British Museum on 5th July 2013 as part of the RNCM's 'Sound Histories' concert to celebrate its Fortieth Anniversary.  It was also partially inspired by Poulenc's 'Sonata for Two Clarinets' with the same instrumentation.

Two Leopards

Composer, musical director and animateur based in Manchester, UK.  Writes musical theatre, for the theatre and for the concert hall, as well as other spaces.  My profile is rather eclectic and features work with young people, amateurs, arrangements as well as much of my own music.  Enjoy!

Michael Betteridge

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