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OVERTURE Excerpts
00:00 / 02:12
TWO BROTHERS Excerpts
00:00 / 03:11
FIVE CURIOSITIES Excerpts
00:00 / 05:56
Written in 2017-18 for the Armistice Centenary, TWO BROTHERS tells the tale of boy soldier brothers in the First World War. Arthur Mallet was just 14 at the start of the war and 15 when he signed up to fight. His older brother Charles was killed by machine gun fire on the fearsome Western Front, by chance near enough to die in the presence of his younger brother.
Structured in 5 movements, with one for each year of the 'Great War', 1916 features a central 'Acoustic Palindrome' requiring the complete movement to be recorded and reversed, then placed precisely on top of the same material played forwards.
Acoustic Palindrome
Composing at Thiepval
Mastering at Abbey Road
FIVE CURIOSITIES
5 lush orchestral movements detail 5 wonderful aspects of Jersey as detailed acoustic postcards.
1. The monumental and millennia-old Mont Orgueil Castle in the east of the island, a mighty fortress standing proudly against invading forces over the centuries, it has welcomed royalty, and been a temporary home to French, English, and German soldiers, imprisoned ‘witches’, and en- dangered species of lizards. The movement features massive Taiko drums and anvils.
Artwork by Ian Rolls
2. “Bioluminescence” is a magical phenomenon that can be experienced in the right conditions around the coast of the island. Glowing worms sparkle beneath footprints in the sand, or flash their lights to one another as the water of their shallow pools is disturbed. But beware of going without a guide: tides here are treacherous.
3. “Abandoned War Bunker” details the often ter- rifying experience of exploring one of the many abandoned concrete bunkers built by slave labour- ers under Nazi supervision during the Second World War, when around 20% of Hitler’s entire Atlantic fortification resources were directed to- wards the Channel Islands. Prisoners faced brutal treatment, and many perished in the islands dur- ing the war. Orchestral effects include full pitch spectrum glissandi, 3 triangles, large chains over the Tam-tam, and asking the whole orchestra to slide their feet alternately across the hall.
4. The “Moonlight Parade” is the evening version of Jersey’s annual ‘Battle Of Flowers’. Every summer, intricately designed, flower-covered lorries drive slowly past the crowds in opposing directions, each with a different theme, music, and dancers, later lit up at night, and all in competition for the variety of prizes on offer.
5. “Magenta Sunset” is a depiction of a blissful sunset to be found over the long beach of St Ouen’s on the west coast, where I spent my earliest years. No sunset here is ever quite the same, on rare occasions presenting an incredibly striking, almost otherworldly pinkish-crimson hue.
Customer Testimonials
"You have created a work of beauty... For three-quarters of an hour, I was transported... At one point, a brass-band sound suggested the industrial north. At another time, I was an astronaut stepping out into a new world with trepidation, but the planet was beautiful in its strangeness (then all the plant-like things started pulsing...). At another point, I saw a busy-body woman striding comically with determined intent through the town, and then a second character, then a third also started their purposeful and swift walks towards an inevitable show-down.
I shall treasure this CD."
"I have just finished listening to your album and WOW!! it's soooooo BEAUTIFUL"
"I gave your album to my granddad for Christmas - he absolutely loved it, said it was very beautiful"
“I love playing your music in my class, it’s just so beautiful and beautiful to teach to... over the 20 years I've been teaching, I've played so many different albums and have never had people enquire about them in the way they have about yours”
“What a Christmas present – a real box of goodies! It’s such a treat to hear pieces I didn’t even know existed! It’s a triumph – especially as it needed so much hard work, grit and self belief from you”
"The music is amazing. The Overture is a true masterpiece! Waiting for your new releases"
"What a superb album. Many, many congratulations. Beautiful themes and orchestrations" - Robert Emery
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