Commissioned by Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University
First performance by brass and percussion players of Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University, directed by Ben Marks, St John's Cathedral, Brisbane, 17 August 2013
Program note
Andrew Ford: Uproar (2013) for 11 trombones and four bass drums
As in some of my other recent pieces (including The Cloths of Heaven for 10 cornets), Uproar consists of a single melodic line performed freely by a number players who never synchronise their playing. But where in the cornet piece the effect is of a single gleaming smudge of sound, here the aim is something darker and far more dramatic. In both works, the players are encouraged to think of themselves as soloists, but in Uproar they actually sound that way, because the melodic line contains many more short, accented notes that jump out unpredictably from the general soup of trombone sound.
Uproar was commissioned by Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University.
© A.F.