recorder (alto in G), dulcian
Composed 2014, duration 5’30”
Dedicated to Kamala Bain and Ben Hoadley.
Kamala Bain and Ben Hoadley, St Andrews on the Terrace, Wellington, 14 May 2014:
The piece takes two historical instruments, the recorder and the dulcian, and detaches them from their familiar context. There are some oblique references to the instruments’ usual repertoire, but the main focus is on forming relationships between their distinct sound palettes. The score offers the players considerable rhythmic freedom. The music alternates between sections of loosely synchronised counterpoint, and passages which invite the players into a guided improvisation, so that their spontaneous interactions form the musical foreground.