'Storm Ending', composed by Ruth Lee, performed  by the Chimera Ensemble in November 2020, featuring Beth Roberts (Clarinet), Ruth Lee (Harp), Darcy Thorpe (Soprano), Hannah Gibbs (Double Bass).
	
Inspired by the homonymous poem by Jean Toomer, Storm Ending explores the textures and sounds of an intensifying storm: its chaotic power and innate beauty. Beginning with dripping rain, representations of thunder and lightning interject and concentrate as the storm moves closer. Immediately after the climax of the storm there is quiet: the calm in the eye of the storm.  

Fragmented whisperings, statements and vocalisations of the original poem by the soprano are in dialogue with rain-like and anticipatory motifs in the clarinet, whilst the double bass moves between persistent, shifting rhythmic staccatos and drumming. The piece uses prepared harp in order to exaggerate, alter or extend its natural resonances, mimicking the sounds of a storm: at times metallic and jarring; at other times soft and muted. This piece was workshopped by the Hermes Experiment as a shortlisted piece for The Night With… Call for Scores 2019. 

Thunder blossoms gorgeously above our heads, 
Great, hollow, bell-like flowers, 
Rumbling in the wind, 
Stretching clappers to strike our ears . . . 
Full-lipped flowers
Bitten by the sun
Bleeding rain
Dripping rain like golden honey—
And the sweet earth flying from the thunder.

Storm Ending | Ruth Lee | The Chimera Ensemble November 2020

Composed by Ruth Lee.
2020 will be the 250th anniversary of Captain Cook’s completed map of New Zealand; particularly significant as few countries were charted so well after their European discovery. This piece is inspired by Cook’s journey and the coastline of New Zealand. Studying cartography by Cook and modern sources, I coded the names of coastal towns into pitches and chords. Pace, voicing, duration and phrase shape were guided by the shape of the coastline, latitude and longitude of the towns and their relative scale. The piano and violin interact as shifting imagined roles in Cook’s crew: leading, following and stumbling.

HMS Endeavour 1769 - 1770 (for violin and piano)

Composed and performed by Ruth Lee | Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, York, 22nd May 2019.

Music of the Angels
I: Lucifer II: Gabriel III: Cassiel

The work is comprised of three movements which each tell the story of a theological or mythical angel. The first movement is a depiction of Lucifer, the morning star who fell from the heavens and became synonymous with the Devil. The movement charts the relationship and the expectation between these two beings, God and Lucifer, from the latter’s perspective. It progresses through a chronological narrative of Lucifer’s increasing jealousy. He schemes and manipulates with the hope of becoming greater than God, which ends with his downfall. 
The second movement is inspired by Gabriel, the bringer of good news to Mary; one of the most well-known angels in Christianity. The sound world explores both triumphant joyousness, as well as fragility in the telling of this newborn. Parallels between the relationships of Lucifer and Gabriel with God are suggested through melodies from the first movement reappearing, reworked in a major key. Gabriel is now what Lucifer could never be and the relationship with God is harmonious.
The third movement is a representation of the angel Cassiel, who appears in Jewish and Christian religion and mysticism, also drawing on the mythology surrounding the figure. One of his names is the angel of sadness or tears. His purpose is to shoulder pain – he cannot remove it, but he can soften the load. The opening is as heavy as those feelings can be, and the harmonics as fragile and tentative. The piece expresses recovery from deep loss: gradual but hopeful.

Music Of The Angels For Solo Harp

Composed by Ruth Lee.
Audio from The Chimera Ensemble performance on 17th November 2017 at the Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, York. Performed by Ruth Lee, Rebecca Burden and Lily Brown.

The Birth Of Athena

Two Hemispheres... moonlanding (for solo violin) | Composed by Ruth Lee | Played by Tilly Langford as part of The Arc Project at York Unitarian Chapel, 19th October 2019. Recorded by Lynette Quek. 
Written to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1969 moon landing, a solo violinist interacts with extracts from archival recordings. Exploring the voice famously heard by 600 million people, the piece explores the musicality of the human voice in relation to silence and space travel. Melodies and rhythms of familiar and unfamiliar words are passed between the voice and violin over a background of broadcasting static, chaos and silence.

Two Hemispheres...moonlanding (for solo violin and track)

Reimagined: Entry

The Winner of the Iain Macleòid Young Composer Award 2019 - recording of the performance for the 2020 Virtual Edinburgh Harp Festival. 
Dyr is inspired by the populations of red deer in the Scottish Highlands and the landscapes which they inhabit, particularly the Cairngorms National Park. Taking musical influences from folk and classical styles, the music explores the changing landscape and behaviour of the animals through the seasons; from the playful young calves to the proud stags and the soft breeze blowing through the grass and heather.
Red deer can be found in woodland, forests, open moor and hills. For most of the year males and females live separately but as Autumn comes and the landscape changes to a rich gold-bronze, and so comes the rutting season. Stags return, competing for hinds with elaborate dance-like displays of parallel walks, fighting and roaring. Watching these displays, the ferocity and strength are just as striking as the calm and stillnesses which follow them.

Tracks by Ruth Lee