Nick's Compositions

I had wanted to have a go at music composition for some time, but it was only when I retired two years ago that I finally did something about it. I have enjoyed classical music from a young age and remember listening to old 78rpm records on our windup record player in the caravan in which we lived, on the edge of Epping Forest. My musical tastes were later to encompass all that the sixties had to offer but classical music has always been uppermost in my mind. Therefore my compositions, such as they are, follow a classical influence though by no means are they of any discernable stature. I realised subsequently that the structure of most of my pieces follows a similar path, namely, that I compose three themes that gradually get woven together as the music develops. There must be a musical name for this style but I don't know what it is.......However , they are mine and I've enjoyed what I've done so far!

My focus is on composing tunes that interest me and less on the sound engineering required to make a tired old laptop computer sound like a symphony orchestra. I now understand why sound engineers are so sought after! My efforts with Ableton standard software, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Musescore have given me a reasonable sound to express the music I have written but are far from what I would wish to achieve if I had sufficient expertise. My computer can only handle so much input from the software and at times this has limited my selection of sounds. For example multi tiered vocal samples exceeds the CPU capacity of my computer so I tend to use soprano voices only. Strings are often supplemented by brass because they sound more authentic etc. BUT I'm still happy with the compositions and hope that they convey some meaning to the listener.

Carol for Oscar ©

I wrote this carol to celebrate the birth of my youngest son's first child. I had only just started composing and was experimenting with the structure hence the long introduction to the main tune . I wrote the words to convey an ambiguity between Oscar, my grandchild, and celebrating the birth of Christ.

Meditation ©

I wrote this piece in 2022. Its in my favourite time signature 3/4. I can't remember why I wrote it but do rememeber feeling that it needed a tune with a hymn like quality half way through. I'm not sure I achieved that but am happy with the result. Its a gentle , drifting piece that suited a background of Tracey's paintings. Hope you enjoy!

Isabella's Star

Since I had composed a carol for Oscar, my youngest son's first child, I thought it only right to compose something for his sister, Isabella, born two years later. I chose a nursery rhyme for the focus of the piece and constructed variations around it. You can hear references to a well known christmas carol and another nursery rhyme in the harmony. Sing along!

Old 100th

I started writing this gentle melody without any end point in mind. As the composition developed I felt it needed a strong theme to anchor the piece. From whence it came I know not but suddenly I was singing the old hymn 'All people that on earth do dwell' , know as the Old 100th, and so the piece grew from there. At events like the coronation etc this wonderful old hymn is given the full organ treatment , which is very moving, but I felt a lighter touch was suitable, particularly in the opening verses. Another surprise was the inclusion of an 'Amen' phrase at the end....it just wrote itself! Hope you enjoy.

Parting Song

This composition was complex in its origin. I wrote it at the outset of the Ukraine war and was , like many people, depressed at the waste of human life that was presenting itself before me on Youtube. Its opening theme is heavily influenced by Prokofiev's Field of the Dead, a song which is particularly beautiful and haunting. I would recommend listening to the Youtube recording of the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra with Ewa Podles singing....wonderful! My piece tries to portray a dieing persons refections on their life, in all its aspects, and their death. The music reaches a climax as they stand in front of their God for final judgement and eternal rest.

Midsummer Dance

I wrote this piece as an exercise. It was the first time I had composed in 3/4 time and decided to try to write a medieval dance tune. It envisages a dance troupe of ladies coming to a village to perform. The boys of the village try to impress with their boisterous dancing style which alternates with the more refined style of the ladies. The two styles combine until finally the dancers move on to the next village.

Cometh Easter

For many years I had recalled singing an Easter anthem called 'Jesus Lives' but could only remember the opening phrases. Despite considerable efforts I have been unable to trace this anthem (it is not the hymn of the same name) so decided to use the phrase in my memory (I think I was about 14 when I last sang it....60 years ago!) as the basis for a composition. The phrase is played on the trumpets at the openingof the piece and at various stages as the music progresses. A religious piece?...I don't know!

Adagio on a Seventies Theme

Some years ago I first heard the music of Domenico Zipoli and especially his Adagio for oboe, cello, organ and strings.I decided to copy his opening tune and see if I could write a harmony for it. This then leads to a theme from a folk song I wrote back in the seventies which I had heard from some old demo tapes that had been unearthed. The horns play a significant part in underpinning the piece which was an experiment at the time.

Fayre Melody

I was listening to some Gregorian chant and kept hearing a phrase that reminded me of the old folk song 'She moved through the fair' which we sang in our folk group many yeras ago. I decided to use the phrasing as the basis of a composition but also wanted to experiment with using different time signatures in the same piece. Hence the music moves to 3/4 to 4/4 as the it progresses. The transition fells quite natural once you get used to it.

Memories ©

This piece started out as a slow, dark dawning but developed into a much more optimistic statement with some gentle transitions from one section to another. I particularly like some of the interplay between the choral lines and the strings, and the dissonant chords towards the end. I asked Tracey what the music reminded her of and she said 'memories of her Mother'. Therefore it's called 'Memories'. To me it was just an enjoyable piece of music to write!