Through Gates Unseen (2022-23)

Instrumentation: Orchestra
2 Fl(A.Fl), 2 Ob, Cl, B.Cl, Bsn, C.Bsn – 2 Hn, 2 Tpt, 2 Tbn, Tba – 2 Perc – Hp, Pno – Strings
Duration: 8 minutes
Written for the London Philharmonic Orchestra Young Composers Programme 2022/23

Programme Note
A ceremony, a passage, a rite.

The ‘staff’, violently shaken, raised, swayed, and slammed back down provides the catalyst for much of the activities enacted by this vast congregation. Low drones smear and collide with each other, brass choirs amplify the entrance of towering blocks, drums with harp and oboe awkwardly dance, the viola laments, the cello responds, echoes of bassoons and bass clarinets shadow the intensity while the ‘staff’ reasserts itself for a final solo of ecstasy.

Through Gates Unseen takes Australian artist and descendent of the Yawuru people Robert Andrew’s Tracing inscription (2020) as a departure point to explore the dialogue between control and decay. Andrew’s work uses suspended charcoal, branches, ochre, and stones, each connected to a moving plotting machine at the far end of the gallery space. Over time, the plotting machine and suspended strings gradually move each piece of organic matter, slowly marking the white wall behind, smearing, decaying, breaking apart, and bumping into each other. Through Gates Unseen translates the plotting machine into a custom built percussion ‘staff’ as a force that dictates the unfolding of music activity. Sheer blocks of sound echo the separated but interdependent panels of charcoal and branches that gradually erode over time, while the smearing of line and ornamentation resemble the blurred black and ochre shadow left by the organic material upon the white gallery wall behind.

Performance History
13th July 2023: Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, UK – London Philharmonic Orchestra.

Score Availability:
Score coming to the Australian Music Centre soon.

Recording: