Shoes and Ships and Sealing Wax (2015)
for piccolo, flute, clarinet, soprano/baritone saxophone, alto saxophone, C trumpet, horn in F, 2 tenor trombones, tuba, electric guitar, bass guitar, piano, and drum kit
Duration: 8’
Commissioned by and first performed by Orkest de Ereprjis, conducted by Clark Rundell
Recipient of Het Gelders Orkest Prize
Program Note
Shoes and Ships and Sealing Wax takes its name from a line of Lewis Carroll’s ‘Walrus and the Carpenter’ poem, which first appeared in his nonsense book, Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There (1871). The ‘shh’ vocalisations heard throughout the piece represent the sibilant line and title. The piece’s structure is inspired by the fragmented nature of Carroll’s Alice books; it is organised as a musical mosaic which experiments with stylistic juxtapositions, drawing from jazz, rock, funk, metal, and dance. I have explored ideas from the Alice books in previous pieces; like Carroll’s body of work, at times Shoes and Ships and Sealing Wax indirectly quotes and refers to phrases (with a knowing wink!) from my earlier works Cabbages and Kings (2014) and Radishes and Strings (2014).
Performances
29 January 2017, Orkest de Ereprijs, ACEC Apeldoorn, The Netherlands
19 January 2017, Orkest de Ereprijs, Piet Hein Eek Hall, Eindhoven, The Netherlands
13 November 2016, Orkest de Ereprijs, November Music Festival, The Netherlands
23 October 2016, Orkest de Ereprijs, Bolzano, Italy
11 September 2016, Orkest de Ereprijs, Gaudeamus Muziekweek, Tivoli/Vrendenberg, Utrecht, The Netherlands
12 December 2015, Orkest de Ereprijs, DRU Cultuurfabriek, The Netherlands
19 November 2015 , Orkest de Ereprijs, Deventer Schouwburg, The Netherlands
11 November 2015, Orkest de Ereprijs, Musis Sacrum Arnhem, The Netherlands
1 March 2015, Orkest de Ereprijs, Musis Sacrum, Arnhem, The Netherlands
27 February 2015, Orkest de Ereprijs, 21st Young Composers Meeting, Closing Concert, Podium Gigant, Apeldoorn, The Netherlands
22 February 2015, Orkest de Ereprijs, 21st Young Composers Meeting, Opening Concert, City Hall, Apeldoorn, The Netherlands, world premiere