Colin Riley’s work draws on a range of elements including new
technologies, improvisation, song-writing and large-scale classical form. His
work is difficult to categorize, embodying a genuine integration of stylistic
approaches. His new work, As the Tender Twilight Covers, will be
performed by pianist Matthew Schellhorn at the next Late Music concert,
Saturday 7th September at the Unitarian Chapel, St Saviourgate,
York.
Steve
Crowther: Can
you describe the work to us?
Colin
Riley:
The piece takes two stanzas
of a poem by Rabindranath Tagore as its inspiration.
Matthew had originally
asked that the piece be a memorial piece to his parents and when I came across
the poem it provided me with some poetic nuances which could help to shape the
piece dramatically and place this in a context for me. The music unravels
gradually transforming as it proceeds from a dark, dusk-like atmosphere towards
jagged fractures and distortions. It subsides from this into a serene stillness
distilling the harmonies from the whole piece into a chorale-like coda.
“As the tender twilight covers in its fold of dust-veil
marks of hurt and wastage from the dusty day’s prostrations, even so let my
great sorrow for thy loss, Beloved, spread one perfect golden-tinted silence of
its sadness o’er my life.
Let all its jagged fractures and distortions, all
unmeaning scattered scraps and wrecks and random ruins, merge in vastness of
some evening stilled with thy remembrance, filled with endless harmony of pain
and peace united.”
I describe the process of
composing ‘As the Tender Twilight Covers’ more fully in a recent blog:
http://colin-riley.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/visualising-and-physicalising.html
SC: Do you write at the piano,
do you pre-plan? Can you describe the compositional process?
CR:
Most pieces begin with general concepts germinating
in my head for several months. The ideas bob around and start to take a more
focused form over time. I write lots of ideas down in word-form in notebooks
and on pieces of paper, and sometimes sing or talk through ideas into my
iphone. I like to fill manuscript with lots of penciled sketches once I’m
working at the piano. Composing at many different pianos often helps the
process. I improvise with these sketches, and I like to physicalize the music.
If things get stuck I find that walking always helps to unlock them. From the
sketches I move into transferring the notes into Sibelius. If I can, I try never
to press the play function as this usually results in me loosing faith with my
material. I sometimes realise sections of the music, especially if it is
groove-based, on Logic software.
SC: Is it important to know the performers? Do you write with a sound in mind?
CR:
Knowing
your performer does make a difference, but its not essential. Its wonderful if
the performers you are writing for are available to consult with. This always
provides some added inspiration as well as solid advice on technical and
notational aspects.
I’ve
created quite a body of work in the last ten years for my own ensembles (MooV
and the Homemade Orchestra) and had the luxury of working with some really
sensitive musicians. It never ceases to amaze me how magical it is when the
dots and lines you make on a page come to life in the hands of such players.
SC: How would you describe
your individual ‘sound world’?
CR:
Distilled.
SC: What motivates you to
compose?
CR:
I
can’t remember ‘not’ composing.
I
think I began from just altering the piano pieces I was learning when I was
young. I would make a mistake, stumbling into something new and just follow my
nose into another world. I’ve always done it. I’ve always thought of myself as
a composer. Manuscript paper has been a big part of my life. There are so many areas to keep you
motivated and curious. Applying technology in my work for example has always
pushed me into new approaches. The same is true of improvisation, and
collaboration.
SC: Which living composers do
you identify with or simply admire?
CR:
David
Sylvian
SC: If you could have a beer
and a chat with any composer from the past, who would it be and why?
CR:
Schoenberg.
He
lived in an interesting period of history, and I think he’s open up after a few
beers.
SC: Now for some desert island
discery – please name eight pieces of music you could not be without, and then
select just one.
CR:
Schoenberg
– Five Pieces for Orchestra
Elgar
– Cello Concerto
Ligeti
– Piano Etudes
Messaien
– Quartet for the End of Time
Stravinsky
– The Rite of Spring
David
Sylvian - Blemish
Alva
Noto and Ryuichi Sakamoto -
Insen
Britten
– Serenade for Tenor, Horn and
Strings
Elgar’s
‘Cello Concerto is something I can keep coming back to. I am a ‘cellist by
trade and this piece oozes ‘cello-ness. The melancholy and the restrained
emotions also express something very English. It’s such a complete piece in so
many ways.
SC: …and a book?:
CR:
Ordnance
Survey OL6 Map: The English Lakes, South Western Area
SC: …a film?
CR:
Synecdoche,
New York
SC: … and a luxury item?
CR:
A
piano
