Hidden Wiring

This work is inspired by the hidden wiring that exists as connections between matter which function beyond our comprehension. Some of these types of wiring are physiological (such as vision and other sense-to-brain processes), including the unknown magnetism we sometimes feel towards particular people and objects which, early on, make no sense to us. The Gestalt Principles of visual perception are another wonderful example, an appropriate example being the closure and continuity principles. Then there is the hidden wiring I feel as a composer. The invisible link between brain and "the final sound" is still very much an enigma for me and I face it every time I write a piece of music. I love the unknown of it and yet each work is still a learning curve which brings me one millimetre closer to comprehending that link, until I realize the thing I discovered has already changed and a new unknown connection has replaced the one I was chasing, Rorschach-like.
Focusing on this concept and bringing it into a musical context was a delight - the spatialization and diffusion of the Brass is a crucial part of this work and one of the more prominent embodiments of Hidden Wiring as the sound is passed wirelessly around the performance space throughout the piece, chasing its own tail (as I sometimes feel I am doing).

Work Details

Year: 2020

Instrumentation: Piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, cor anglais, 2 clarinets in B flat, bass clarinet in B flat, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns in F, 3 trumpets, 2 trombones, bass trombone, tuba, timpani, percussion (2 players - bass drum, vibraphone, tam-tam, glockenspiel, large suspended cymbal, large suspended sizzle cymbal, triangle, sleigh bells).

Duration: 7 min.

Difficulty: Advanced

Commission note: Commissioned by Queensland Symphony Orchestra