Dulcet Tones

Chris writes: “The initial harmonic material for this work was derived from spectral analyses of tuning fork strokes. This small device enables me to realise pitches (internally) while working on a score, and its subtle tone is audible only in close proximity to my ear. I was drawn to this sense of interiority, and to the interesting shifts of timbre between the tuning fork’s attack and resonance.

The title refers both to this sweetness of tone colour, and tangentially to the dulcitone: a Nineteenth-Century keyboard instrument comprised of tuning forks struck by hammers – a precursor to the Fender Rhodes. Dulcet Tones was composed for NZTrio, in whose collaboration I find continual inspiration.”

Intaglio

Intaglio is a printmaking technique in which an image is etched or engraved on the surface of a plate. Ink would then be applied to the plate and removed from the surface, leaving ink only in the incisions. The title refers less to the work itself than to the process of composing it, a small insight into the composer’s ideas about how material manifests in musical shape. This piece is written in three uninterrupted movements.

Commissioned by NZTrio with funding from Creative New Zealand.