Spectre of the Spheres

This is a synthesised sound file of an orchestral score describing the mission profile of the Rosetta space mission, something I contributed to as an engineer back in the 90s....

Rosetta

Homo Sum - Mark David Boden & Croydon Bach Choir

Score & Parts: https://www.jackfrerer.com/purchase-scores

The Juilliard Orchestra, conducted by Jeffrey Milarsky in Alice Tully Hall, April 23rd 2018

Program Note:
“Write what you know” is something I think about often, and having lived in New York for several years now I probably know the city's subway system better than I know certain relatives. What begins as one of the most daunting aspects of living in New York gradually becomes one of the most comforting; not the trips themselves –they’re distinctly uncomfortable– but rather their familiarity. You know what you’re in for, you know where you’re going, you know it will be over soon. It’s the tearing-off-the-band-aid of New York.

I take the 1 train, which runs along the west side of Manhattan, at least twice a day from 157th street to 66th and back. Highlights of this trip include being bowled over by the herd of people switching trains at 96th, the elevated tightrope-esque 125th street stop which skies above Harlem, and the turbulent tracks between 145th and 157th. It’s maddening, but there is something satisfying about knowing to grab the handrail once you leave 145th.

This piece is about my commute from 66th up to 157th. To me, nothing is a better symbol of the energy shifts that you experience in a city like New York. You’re either on, hurtling through work, school, meetings, friends, more work, or you’re off, sitting in the back of a Starbucks trying to catch your breath for a moment, or sitting on an empty 1 train as it emerges from underground at 125th street, sun shining through the windows. In New York, there’s no in- between.

Thank you must be said to my teacher John Corigliano for his guidance throughout the writing of this piece.

On-Again, Off-Again (2018) - orchestra

Despite never being particular good, I was an avid trampolinist as a kid.
One new year's day, I made for an over-enthusiastic launch into a front- somersault, landed on my head on the floor. Cue concussion, and another lesson learned.

(Amusingly, the guy who tried, but didn't catch me was my violin teacher's son. Small world.)

The Self Aggrandisement of Autobiography

10 New Year's Revolution

Variation V for String Quartet
Premiered by the Tesla Quartet
Based on the fifth variation of Beethoven's String Quartet No. 5, "Andante Cantabile"

#TeslaQuartet #Quarantunes


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