So, I watched Mock the Week, and Never Mind the Buzzcocks, and Have I Got News for You... And there's very little else a man can do with his evening. So I improvised a little impromptu for you all. I very much hope you enjoy it.

Impromptu

At the Barbican there's a bridge over a waterfall - I recorded myself walking over said bridge, and added a flute and a computer. Because I can. Boom.

Dedicated to Toni Berg, who rather kindly performed the original flute track. What a babe.

Down That Yellow Line

'It's just a song and dance"

A short piece for Violin and 'Cello, inspired somewhat by the Ravel Sonata for the same instruments - thanks to Chris Brown and Katie Meyers for their splendid performances.

SW

Sonatina For Violin And 'Cello

A short invention for solo clarinet, based loosely on Stravinsky's 3 pieces for the same instrument. Thanks to Izzie Thompson for her cracking performance.

Invention For Clarinet

My final submission for my 1st year Electronic Music elective - the task was merely to present the skills that we'd learnt through the year, so I decided to work on the dichotomy between live audio recordings and synthesisers/instrument emulations/sampers, and in doing so point out the faults in each. 

The title comes from the chord used in the piece - they're all derived from a rootless II-V-I voicing, which gives rise to interesting harmonic patterns which all have some kind of tonal grounding.

My eternal thanks go out to Toni Berg, Ashley Garfitt and Ian Sankey for being my wonderful performers.

SW

This is a short song Lindsey and I wrote based on Friedrich Rückert's beautiful poem 'Liebst du um Schönheit'. 

Lindsey Preston: Voice
Samuel Wilson: Guitar

Love For Love

I just found this on an old computer, I wrote it 5 years ago and I am immensely proud of it.

Ridiculous Piece of Music

Right, I know I've changed the original up A LOT, but I wanted to work outside the box, and challenge the preconceptions about this piece. You'll also notice that down to my use of Rubato in the opening section, it's slightly longer than the original. I don't know what John Cage would've made of it, but I think it would've at least made him think.

I was definitely influenced by some of Bach's later Cantatas whilst writing this; the orchestration, I think, shows this off quite definitely, and the sudden harmonic shifts in the bridge certainly have the feel of Ligeti to them. Overall though, i've called it a Dubstep/Baroque remix because the two biggest influences were Handel and Skrillex; I think this is quite obvious halfway through the development section, at around 2:34. 

I hope you enjoy this; I know some won't especially appreciate it, and for some it might even be offensive, but I want to make you think how 20th Century Minimalism can really be enhanced through the additional influences of 17th Century counterpoint and 21st Century filth.

Enjoy.

4:33 Dubstep/Baroque Remix

Samuel is a composer, arranger, musical director and performer from Kent. His musical beginnings were with the piano and drum kit, and subsequently guitar and bass guitar. His performing is mostly within jazz, and he has played at many high-profile venues such as The Royal Albert Hall, Birmingham Symphony Hall, the Adrian Boult Hall, the Cheltenham Jazz Festival, The Leas Cliff Hall and the Maidstone Television Studios. He has played in orchestras, big bands, jazz combos, duos, rock bands and percussion ensembles, alongside singing in massed, church and chamber choirs and a barbershop quartet. 

He started to compose aged around 10, and his arrangements of several jazz tunes have been played by the award winning Ashford Youth Jazz Orchestra, including an inventive arrangement of 'Take the A Train', featured in a concert with the Aurora Orchestra in 2011. He was commissioned in 2011 to write a short ballet piece for the Kent School's Games Cultural Celebration, 'Not as Nature Intended', and continuing with dance music wrote an electronic work, 'One Man, One Dream', based on Martin Luther King's famous speech, for the Highworth School 2012 Dance Show.

In 2013 he was a founding member of the 8pB Theatre Company in "The Lost Gatsby" at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, for which he wrote the score, performed on stage and played live piano; the group returned in August 2014 with "The Hollywood 10".

2014 also marked the founding of the Purple Summer Theatre Company (and debut as MD) with director Sophie Sweetland; their first project was a 48hr youth production of Spring Awakening, and success continued with #RENT48 in early January 2015. They are currently planning shows for the next year.

In 2014 Samuel was chosen as Composer in Association for the City Chamber Choir, and his first work in collaboration, 'You Will Soar' was performed in London in early May. After the success of the piece, the choir re-commissioned Samuel for a second piece, 'Nunc Dimittis', which was performed to great acclaim at their Christmas Concert.

Samuel's work at Guildhall has led him to work with the Drama department on South Downs/The Browning Version (dir. Wyn Jones)and Twelfth Night  (dir. Mike Alfreds), found and conduct the new GSMDPops Orchestra, and work closely with Principal Study performers on commissioned works, including his 'Little Piece for Trumpets', premiered by trumpet quartet Tetra at the Dartington Festival 2014 and 'Concertante for Dectet', currently in rehearsal for the Philip Jones Memorial Concert.

His choral work 'A Single Blade of Grass' also achieved 1st place in the Jessica Foxley Young Choral Composer Competition, with a performance in Colne, Lancashire - the piece is now in the choir's repertoire. 

Samuel currently lives in London and studies composition and jazz piano at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama with Matthew King and Kate Williams.

For commissions, bookings or any other business, please contact Samuel at samuelwilsonmusic@live.com


Samuel-Wilson

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