Three Rituals – for Tuba and Piano

In my composing, I enjoy exploring the possibilities of instruments I do not myself play and like to work in partnership with accomplished performers. In this way, I will quickly find out about anything in my pieces which creates undue difficulty for the musicians, as well as having the privilege of hearing a live performance. In this case, the collaboration was with tuba player Jonathan Rees and his involvement came with a request to write something for tuba and piano that could be played in a concert: there are many technical studies for unaccompanied tuba but very little tuba music written for its own sake.

A ritual is a repeated, stylised action which defines the culture and identity of the people taking part. It might perhaps be Sunday lunch, the Last Night of the Proms, or a wedding. I set out to use post-modern, minimalist musical language to create the atmosphere of a ritual.

The first Ritual develops some fragments of melody that were in my in head after a visit to a Greek restaurant. The flavour of Greek traditional music has, however, passed into memory (rather like the taste of the taramasalata), leaving my music to build a life of its own. The second Ritual uses bar-lengths which vary according to a system to create something rather more pensive and occasionally melancholic. Much of the third is characterised by a sense of fun, with its playful, angular writing and abrupt conclusion.