Égloga: el Sauce que se enamoró de la Caricia del Viento (Leyendas Místicas I); recorded by the Moravian Philharmonic, conducted by Joel Suben [Mystic Legend #1, "Eclogue: the Willow that fell in love with the Wind's Caress."]

Égloga: el Sauce que se enamoró de la Caricia del Viento (Op. 78, 2002)

Aquarelles: I. Chrysanthèmes (Chrysanthemums) performed by the amazing Phil Best. So beautiful.

Aquarelles: I. Chrysanthèmes (performed by Phil Best)

Home-recorded on a c. 1993 Techniks SX-PX207 electric instrument.
Played by Francis Pott.

Bach-Siloti - Andante from JSB solo violin sonata in A minor.

The third movement (Via Crucis) of Francis Pott's epic Passion Symphony for Organ in five movements performed live in concert October 12th 2012, by Christian Wilson on the Tickell organ of Keble College Chapel in Oxford. The Symphony was composed between 1986 and 1990.
The composer writes: "Via Crucis is an exercise in contraction. Its Passacaglia ‘ground’ sounds five times beginning on A flat, then four on A natural, three on B flat, two on B natural and one on C –the furthest point in the chromatic scale from ultimate ‘resurrected’ F sharp. Meanwhile, the ground itself begins to distort rhythmically, to admit rests and to unfold in fewer bars, as if unsteady beneath hostile buffeting. The flow of ancillary counterpoint progressively features a descending chromatic motif from the previous movement, as well as the chorale outline and ironic mimicry of the ‘ground’ notes, whose final reiteration (by now reduced almost beyond coherence) ignites a jaggedscherzo. At its height three abruptly recessed quiet passages occur, each followed by related and dissonant outbursts embodying the crudely obvious symbolism of hammered nails. The intention is to suggest the gulf already separating hideous extremities of outward, physical torment from the silence of the soul’s struggle within. The third outburst escalates further. Momentary silence intervenes before the central climax of the Symphony, headed ‘CRUCIFIXUS’ in the published score and bearing words from Revelation: ‘Every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced him’. This insistent climax finally collapses into an unsettled darkness, from which upward harmonic progressions offer an unashamedly literal suggestion of suffering ended and a winging of the spirit out of this world into another (influenced by Paul Nash’s watercolour, The Soul Visiting the Mansions of the Dead). The chorale returns, harmonised with extreme simplicity in quasi-Renaissance fashion. The poetic lines quoted in connection with the third movement relate to this passage especially and were set by Samuel Barber amongst his Hermit Songs."

Symphony 'Christus', iii) Via Crucis

Encroaching Shadows: 17 haiku for solo piano after Tomas Tranströmer.
I. Working up the slopes...
—A sneak preview of a work in progress.

Encroaching Shadows: I  [solo piano]

The first movement (Logos) of Francis Pott's epic Passion Symphony for Organ in five movements performed live in concert October 12th 2012, by Christian Wilson on the Tickell organ of Keble College Chapel in Oxford. The Symphony was composed between 1986 and 1990.
The composer writes about this movement: "The first four notes of the work (D-E C sharp-F) articulate a progression which both dictates an overarching tonal cycle and becomes a continual motivic presence. The first movement responds to this motif by ultimately reaching the tonal centre F (the motif’s fourth note). The second movement, opening with the motif transposed to start on F, duly ends on A flat. Repeated application of this principle brings about a fresh start from D at the outset of the finale. However, this movement eventually breaks the cycle by distorting the motif to D –E-C natural-F sharp. C natural is then enharmonically absorbed as a sharpened fourth of the transposed Lydian mode and the work ends in F sharp major. The first movement, Logos [ λογος ] evolves into  a listless fugato after a strict exposition, evoking a world as yet devoid of any affirmative or elevating impulse. After a brief climax a succession of ideas is heard. The mood becomes restlessly expectant and the tempo accelerates. After the first substantial climax in the Symphony (still based on the four-note motif) an extended Allegro is launched. Its rhythms inhabit a consciously middle ground between mediaeval and modern practices, while the intermittent presence of a pedal C sharp undermines an ostensible D tonality. Eventually a further climax occurs, temporarily consolidating C sharp. After a more spacious passage the dynamic level drops. A chorale theme is heard for the first time, ornamented by fragmentary patterns beneath. This is destined for increasing significance throughout the work as a whole, assuming many harmonic guises and ultimately crowning the Resurrection finale. Insofar as there exists any specific ‘Christ motif’, the chorale may be felt to provide it. There follows an extended free development of material heard hitherto. In due course the Allegro is recapitulated, but rising tension is dissipated by a remote chordal statement of the chorale (which shows a tendency to remain open-ended until its apotheosis near the close of the work). The resumed Allegro presents a steady escalation through successive restatements of the ‘motto’ four-note theme, beginning in the depths with an unceremonious interruption and rising inexorably towards the final bars. Fitfully dramatic and beset by sudden contrasts, the movement seeks to convey some impression of the Holy Spirit [Logos] contending with a resistant pagan force. Its peroration retains some austerity, as if not yet free from the shadow of the opening fugato."

Symphony 'Christus', i) Logos

The second movement (Gethsemane) of Francis Pott's epic Passion Symphony for Organ in five movements performed live in concert October 12th 2012, by Christian Wilson on the Tickell organ of Keble College Chapel in Oxford. The Symphony was composed between 1986 and 1990.
The composer writes: "Gethsemane begins monodically with the motto theme, soon introducing a very slow procession of chords. These are in effect a non-vocal ‘setting’ of the word ‘slowly’ in the quoted text by Thomas Merton, whose vision depicts Christ as a spectral visitant embodying all the despair of human suffering. Eventually motivic counterpoint asserts itself in a transient chorale prelude (the chorale being sounded by the pedals). The chordal material returns, now silent on the first beat of each bar to allow a pedal development of the four note motif to show through. An anguished climax intervenes suddenly, subsiding at length until the chordal texture is regained. The music becomes both more meekly accepting and more other-worldly thereafter, though perhaps not before Merton’s vision has exposed the ineluctable humanity of Christ’s frailty and defeat: that hairsbreadth of salvation which Christian perception of the resurrection asfait accompli threatens largely to obscure."

Symphony 'Christus', ii) Gethsemane

The fourth movement (Viaticum) of Francis Pott's epic Passion Symphony for Organ in five movements performed live in concert October 12th 2012, by Christian Wilson on the Tickell organ of Keble College Chapel in Oxford. The Symphony was composed between 1986 and 1990.
The composer writes: "Viaticum, the dramatic low point of Christus, provides extended repose between the inexorable treadmill of the third movement and the explosive opening of the last. Its title, meaning ‘wages for a journey’, symbolically denotes prayers attending the departure of a soul from this world into the next. At first the music makes as if to recapitulate the work’s opening in a new key, thereby evoking a spiritual regression to that world before Christ. This is short lived, and after a static chordal passage (balancing that of Gethsemane) a lengthy movement evolves in the time signature of 5/4, its principal melodic idea being a free inversion of the chorale’s later stages. (This recurs momentously in the finale, where it signifies satanic opposition to the true chorale’s determined upward progress.) Viaticum  evokes a world locked in sleep or buried in some deep midwinter of the spirit. Its rhythmic tread bears some resemblance to the tenor solo in the Agnus Dei of Britten’s War Requiem. The music remains confined to modest dynamic levels and pursues its hibernatory course to the prescribed tonal point, D. Far-distant references to the chorale conjure a faint memory of the living world reaching into an entombed stillness. The music embodies two momentary homages to the much mourned Robert Simpson, one of the great symphonists of this or any age."

Symphony 'Christus', iv) Viaticum

The first movement is completed. The title and titles for each movement are lines from Keats' 'Ode to a Nightingale'.

'Fled is that music:—Do I wake or sleep?' Mvt. 1: 'And with thee fade away into the forest dim'

'Dancing In Plague Time' was completed on July 22, 2020. Its predecessor, 'Reeling at Mourne', was based on actual Irish reel tunes, whereas this one is original stylized Irish dance music (slip jig and reel) with occasional quirky divagations. The title refers to the time of lockdown in 2020, when the piece was written, and reflects both my interest in Irish traditional musics and the need to keep up our spirits during this difficult time.

Dancing In Plague Time (Op. 101, July 2020)

A short collection of piano miniatures, written for my dear friend, Rob Haskins. Note that the set is presented in order of composition, but the performer has the option of rearranging the order in any way that suits him or her. (Note: this is a MIDI realization of the score.)

Sheet music may be purchased at: https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/21142973

Bach-Siloti - Andante from JSB solo violin sonata in A minor.

Francis Pott

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