In The Valley Of Novelty

Past Project

For my main study in my honours year at University, I decided on Composition. “In The Valley Of Novelty” is the composition portfolio that I submitted at the end of the year, at the end of many solid hours of graft.

I began the year writing washy piano music, the kind of thing only Debussy has managed to pull off without it sounding completely shallow. My tutor Bob Marshall drew my to the music of Ligeti and Schoenberg, and the first two pieces, “Cataracts (1, 2 & 3)” and “Reflections In A Kundabuffer, I: The Ouroboros” are heavily inspired by those composers.

The second two pieces, “Ickaros” and “Cry For Help”, were essentially throwaway pieces to complete the portfolio, the former coming out significantly better. “Cry For Help” was literally that, and will likely not hold up against the other pieces, at least in the way that they could be mastered musically in more capable hands.

I created a great deal of artwork for this project, and went to a lot of trouble to present it attractively. Unfortunately I never got the bound copies back from the RSAMD (Reflections In A Kundabuffer was A3!), and I’ll always regret not having that keepsake. At least I have the recordings.