I've been composing formally notated music since embarking on my Master's degree at the University of Surrey in 2021. Some of my scores are presented below as score videos, with the full scores to download. If you'd like to perform any of these pieces, please drop me a line at [email protected].
Tears of Pleasure Ever Flowing (G.F. Handel), arranged for classical guitar quartet (2024)
This is my arrangement of Handel's beautiful Air and Duet from his oratorio "Theadora" (1755-59). The transcription draws heavily on several piano reductions, in particular one by Alex Demutskiy, and is transposed from the original key of G to D. This is a MIDI rendition but I'm hoping the Brighton Guitar Quartet will roll it out in our 2025 concert season.
The Aleph (A Lullaby for Albert Frank Nikky Ferrier-Hopkins), for two classical guitars (2024)
Here's a short piece I wrote to celebrate the birth of my first grandchild, Albert. It's a MIDI rendition for now, but I'm hoping to perform it live and record it with the excellent Shaun Bullard later this year. The downloadable score incorporates some fingering and technical suggestions from my fantastic teacher Gregg Isaacson.
You Only Live Twice (John Barry), arranged for classical guitar quartet (2024)
This is my latest arrangement for the Brighton Guitar Quartet, a re-working of my favourite Bond theme song, from 1967. This version is a MIDI rendition, but I hope to record it with the group in concert later this year.
Picotudes #1-5 for classical guitar (2024)
I'm currently writing a series of classical guitar mini-studies, or "picotudes". Each piece is a response to, or in some way an adaptation of the studies in Reginald Smith Brindle's 1980 collection of guitar studies, "Guitarcosmos Volume 1". I've written five so far, and will add more here as I complete each batch of five. The audio on these - so far! - is a midi rendition.
Johnson & Johnson (or, Blues in E) for piano (2024)
This is my first piece formally written for piano, for possible inclusion in a New Music Brighton concert by Karen Kingsley in October later this year. It's something of a conceit, bringing together melodic materials from "The Witches' Dance" and "Hellhound on my Trail", supernaturally-themed pieces by two very different Robert Johnsons, the English Renaissance lutenist and the great Mississippi bluesman.
The Pillars of Hercules (Lost Soho No. 1), for two electric guitars (2024)
I wrote this piece to perform with my good friend Paul Dallaway at a New Music Brighton concert in April 2024. It's intended as a collision of Reginal Smith Brindle and King Crimson. Or something. The audio on this recording is MIDI, but it should give a reasonable idea of the sound world.
Three Poems by Li Bai, for mezzo-soprano, viola, guitar, vibraphone and recorded atmospheres (2022)
My most ambitious composition to date, a 30-minute, 5-movement chamber piece based on poems by the Tang-era Chinese poet Li Bai, sung on this recording in classical Mandarin by my fellow Master's student Yi Zhang, with the brilliant Ellie Blackshaw on viola.
The Honeycomb Conjecture, for classical guitar quintet and electric bass guitar (2024)
A piece originally intended for a New Music Brighton concert given by the Brighton Guitar Group, but now hopefully to be performed at some point in 2024 by an expanded line-up of the Brighton Guitar Quartet. This recording features MIDI renditions of the guitar parts.
Three Sonnets by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, for voice and guitar (2022)
This is a piece I wrote as part of my Master's at Surrey, a short three-movement piece for classical guitar and mezzo-soprano based on sonnets by the great Victorian poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning. On this recording, my fellow student Yi Zhang sang the vocal part beautifully, with me accompanying on guitar.
Casualties of the Dharma, for brass quintet (2023)
I wrote this piece for a New Music Brighton concert given by Brass Fusion; sadly it wasn't picked for the show (in retrospect it's metrically quite a challenge without a conductor). The piece was workshopped with the great Gavin Bryars at a residential workshop in the French Pyrenees in the summer of 2023.
Guitar Quartet No. 1 (2022)
This is another piece written as part of my Master's programme at Surrey, a classical guitar quartet, recorded here by me on all parts, but with a view to the piece being played by the Brighton Guitar Quartet.
Sheep May Safely Graze (JS Bach), arranged for guitar quartet (2023)
My arrangement of the famous aria for soprano, two flutes and continuo, from Bach's "Hunting Cantata" (BWV 208). This recording is a live performance by the Brighton Guitar Quartet in Falmer in 2024. My thanks to Steve Gordon for help with the initial orchestration, to Gregg Isaacson for guidance on the performance instructions, and of course to my BGQ bandmates for playing so beautifully.
Doom Scrolling for four-piece rock band (2022)
A slightly odd one, I agree. But to explore some of the rhythmic and harmonic concepts in the second semester of my Master's programme, I thought prog-metal might be the way to go. Of course.
She Erases a Constellation, for flute and guitar (2021)
My first real attempt at "formal" composition, written in the first semester of my Master's degree. It's a MIDI rendering at this point, I'm afraid; I'm hoping to get around to recording it properly in 2024.
On the Empty Pianos, Puppeteer Spiders, for string quartet and recorded atmospheres (2022)
Another piece from the second semester of my Master's programme, a single-movement piece for string quartet and atmospheres, somewhat (loosely) riffing on Lutosławski's "chain" compositions. The strings on this recording are MIDI.