Catalogue
To Die (2009)
Programme Note available | View performance history...
Commissioned by the Sound Festival with funds from the Scottish Arts Council.
First performance: Aberdeen Art Gallery, 13 Nov 2009
Work Details
Category: chamber quartet
Duration: 11
Instrumentation: Fl B-Fl B-Cl Vc
SMC Holdings
Programme Note
The title for this work is taken from the Damien Hirst/David Bailey photograph hanging in Aberdeen Art Gallery - "Jesus is Condemned to Die On The Cross" - taken from The Stations of The Cross.
I am unsure as to how Hirst intended his series of photos to be comprehended. I find it difficult to see beyond the initial sensationalism that drew me to this picture and I cannot help but to draw parallels with some death metal, which often takes over-the-top atheist or satanic texts as the adolescent image its purveyors choose as a selling point. I kept imagining this picture (were it not for copyright reasons, no doubt) as an album cover.
The musical material comes from this often-belligerent soundworld (which I have always rather guiltily enjoyed), with much use of tuning inflections around one note and gradual rhythmic displacement, imagining the effect of listening to a heavily-muffled metal band, perhaps from far outside of the venue.
