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

Suite for Chamber Ensemble

Creep Tree

Padam Padam

Corcovado

Loca Loca

Saturn's Return String Orchestra

Shipwreck'd by Sam Barker - Performed by Cork Chamber Choir

Seamus Heaney reads Glanmore Sonnet vii (often referred to as The Shipping Forecast)

Sonnet #III

SamBarkerGuitar

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