Compositions

Sam Barker’s instrumental sonnets are an exploration of the Shakespearian sonnet form as described in Paul Fussel’s book “Poetic metre & Poetic Form”. The first quatrain presents a subject/theme which is then complicated. The second quatrain complicates this further and the third further still offering the reader/audience almost insurmountable problems. It is typical then of Shakespeare’s ending couplets to be ironic, witty or sarcastic or all three.


In Sonnet # III any sense or attempt at a rhyming scheme is discarded and the proportions are temporal rather than structural with each quatrain lasting approximately one minute and the last couplet lasting a fraction of a minute. Continuity is assured by use of an harmonic structure that repeats for each quatrain, this harmonic structure was derived from the theme again heard at the close of the piece as the couplet. Each harmonic shift is highlighted by change of character giving an effect comparable to a comic strip. 


Sonnet #III

2010/11

Programme Notes

Sam Barker’s Symphony No. I is an exploration of constructionist techniques when applied to guitaristic motifs, or ‘riffs’, that might normally be associated with rock music or fusion. The result is surprisingly playful, colourful and expressive. 

While each of the first three movements has their own theme they are linked through the similarity of the core material. The fourth movement is a coming together of these themes, sometimes warped beyond recognition.

Symphony Mvt IV

Programme Notes

In the first quatrain of Sam Barker’s Sonnet #IV the double bass plays material based on and quoting from the folk song Spencer the Rover. Together the instrument and its material represent the composer’s father while the violin represents the composer and provides a commentary.

In the second quatrain the composers daughter is represented by the vibraphone and the thematic material from the composer’s own Suite for Chamber Ensemble. Again the violin offers a commentary. The double bass and vibraphone are only heard together with the narrative of the violin. The double bass also remains separated through its harmonic leanings.

The third quatrain displays the escalation of complexity and tension typically associated with Shakespearean Sonnet form. The instruments grasp at their respective themes never quite finding agreement while the violin tries to make sense of the apparent discrepancies itself becoming embroiled in both lots of thematic material before the three instruments together approach coherence at the close of the quatrain. 

The closing couplet presents the thematic material, firstly the second part of ‘daughters theme’ played on the vibraphone for eight bars and then the second half of the melody from the strophic song Spencer the Rover, the first verse of which is printed below. It was this first verse, and in particular the third and fourth line, that the composer found to be particularly relevant.

This tune was composed by Spencer the Rover,
As valiant a man as ever left home,
His being much reduced, caused great confusion,
And that is the reason he started to roam.


Sonnet #IV

Suite for Chamber Ensemble

Short piece in Sonnet form composed by Sam Barker For the Cork New Music Ensemble.

Instrumentation: Violin, Vibraphone, and Double Bass

Compositions

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