City Polyphony

(written 1999-2000)

City Polyphony was written for City University Orchestra whilst I was completing my Masters there and my original idea was to write a double fugue. The two main ideas (the first a muscular maestoso and the second a faster, lighter theme with an Eastern European flavour) are worked independently and then combined.  The counterpoint is quite subtle and the material often sounds more homophonic than polyphonic.  However, apart from a short quiet chordal section in the middle, the structural elements of the double fugue remain (albeit at a distant level) throughout the piece.

At the time of writing the piece I was studying eclecticism in late 20th Century repertoire (in particular Ligeti’s Piano etudes) and this is therefore one of my most deliberately eclectic pieces.  There is reference to the late Romantic repertoire in the heavily wrought first idea and towards the end of the piece the stab chords in the brass and woodwind are derived from Jazz.  The double fugue working at a background level is ultimately derived from Baroque models, there is the Eastern European folk influence already mentioned and 20th Century ideas have naturally shaped much of my thinking.

Due to a particularly tight deadline I found myself composing right through the Millenium hour and finished writing the score in the early hours of the 1st of January 2000.  City Polyphony’s second performance was broadcast on various European national radio stations by the Noordhollands Philharmonisch Orkest under Micha Hamel as part of the 2001 Gaudeamus Music Festival.