Narrative Music
Notes: Vikings sailing before a storm. Five movements: (1) Dark, brooding sky, wild wind, surging sea breaking over the bows as ship plunges forward just in front of the leading edge of the storm; (2) Vikings marauding inland; (3) Sacked village – smouldering ruins, no life anywhere; (4) Survivor - memories of what once was; (5) Hope and optimism triumph over adversity.
Composed: 2018.
Instruments: Symphony orchestra with SATB choir and solo duduk.
Notes: The excitement, anticipation and innocence of looking forward to going to a carnival/circus at night, with its colourful tents and lights, cacophonous sounds, music, strange smells and diversity of people.
Composed: 2021.
Instruments: String quartet - two violins, viola and violincello.
Notes: Flying a sailplane, starting with the increasingly violent winch-launch, then comparative silence after the release, followed by turbulence, a few minor acrobatics through the clouds and the one-chance landing.
Composed: 2021.
Instruments: Symphony orchestra.
Notes: The inexorability of change—the absolute certainty that nothing remains the same. It is life’s most relentless constant; the rhythm of nature, the march of time and the inevitable cycle of evolution. Understanding this can shift one’s perspective from fearing the unknown to embracing new beginnings.
Composed: 2019.
Instruments: String trio (violin, violincello, contrabass) with added timpani, drum set and four synthesizers.
Notes: At sunset a lone piper stands on a cliff top overlooking an angry sea. A storm has just passed; waves are crashing on the rocks way below as a Piper farewells the day as the last light fades.
Composed: 2019.
Instruments: String orchestra with bagpipes, drum and tin whistle.
Notes: “Vlei,” a low-lying wetland that holds water and is full of animal life during the rainy season. Reminiscent of a walk from the sanctuary of home to explore the wildlife of a nearby vlei one summer afternoon.
Composed: 2019
Instruments: String orchestra with sound effects.
Notes: Three movements: (1) The rush of traveling, hurrying to get from A to B; (2) The exhaustion that follows the travelling, time to slow down, rest and recover; (3) Happiness and excitement of seeing new places, experiencing new things.
Composed: 2022.
Instruments: Symphony orchestra.
Notes: Early childhood years. Three movements, (1) uncertainty about the vast, exciting, world; (2) joyous, innocent happy and carefree times; (3) omnipresent anxiety of living in a harsh, unforgiving, indifferent land.
Composed: 2017.
Instruments: String orchestra with solo flute and trumpet.
Notes: Prompted by seeing so many people being needlessly cruel to complete strangers on social media, basically just because they can; and it saddens me that people can show so much intolerance, so much ego, so much willful discourtesy, to complete strangers.
Composed: 2024
Instruments: Symphony orchestra with solo oboe.