Compositions

Overture

The Treasure of May Hill
This orchestral overture is based on an old pipe and tabor morris dance tune whistled by Mr William Henry Watts in Tewkesbury, April, 1908, and recorded there by Cecil Sharp.

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Atmospheres

Four painting-with-music meditations on seasonal haikus by Japanese masters:

Under the Rainclouds - Uejima Onitsura (1661 – 1738):

Under the rainclouds
The plum blossoms seem like stars
   Despite the daylight

Spring: Flute, Viola, Bassoon and Celesta

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The Charcoal Kiln - Hayano Hajin (1676 - 1742):
  
The charcoal kiln –
   A deer watches
The evening smoke

Summer: Flute, violin, piano & percussion

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Leaves of Ivy - Yamamoto Kakei (1648 - 1716),
   for Jasper:

Leaves of ivy
   Every one astir -
The autumn wind

Autumn: Oboe, French horn, cello & percussion

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Snow's Falling! - Masaoka Shiki (1867 – 1902):

Snow's falling!
I see it through a hole
   in the shutter...

Winter: Octet

String Quartets

String Theory - referring to the unifying theory of everything. Also scored for string orchestra:

The (Get It) Together Song - As a lock-down project, I played all the string quartet parts for this, plus percussion. As my cello skills are nil, this part was transposed up an octave for viola and then the software transposed it back down to sound like a cello!

A Truly Momentous Quartet
of Strangeness and Charm

A quantum-mechanical exploration in four movements:

Alchemy In Music

For string quintet and percussion:

Chamber Music

Francesca da Rimini is one of Dante's favored but condemned characters in the Divine Comedy. Here is her lament for a lost lover:

With apologies to Vivaldi and Philip Glass:

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Orchestral Suite

Birnbeck Pier - a suite for orchestra, telling the story of the old pier at Weston-super-Mare, its heyday, decline, disaster and rebirth:

Octet for Wind Band

Dead Cat Bounce:

No cats were hurt in the making of this music.

Bagatelles for Brass Quintet

Whispers of the Garden

Six short pieces inspired by poems of T.S Eliot, Longfellow, Wallace Stevens, Philip Larkin and Oscar Wilde:

Rebecca Northway Photography

The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls

Symphony

The Newent: five symphonic scenes:

The Onion Fayre

More Orchestral Works

Telstar Revisited

For Joe Meek, 'the Telstar Man', whose childhood home and birthplace is just round the corner from my own house:

The Well-Tempered Orchestra

For my local community orchestra:

Arrangements

There is a wealth of untapped material from the wonderful era of old time music hall and musicals.  Here's one of a series, a jazz classic by De Sylva, Brown & Henderson, that I arranged for string quartet.

Original 'Overcoat' vocals sung by the fabulous Ruth Etting

... and a song by Vivian Ellis from 'Bless the Bride':

Although 'Memory Music' is fun, it also has a serious purpose: for the elderly and sufferers of dementia, memory is a vital component in their sense of self. 'Memory Music' is a stimulant for this sense. Here is one of of several arrangements:

Inspired by the Offa's Dyke national trail, featured in Ramblings About Music:

Imagination for solo Violin:

Written for my chamber group, Carnevale: