Brian Noyes
The Hour of Lead.
Short instrumentation: 0 1 3 0 - 0 0 0 0, perc(2), guit, hp, vc(3)
Duration: 10'
Instrumentation details:
cor anglais
1st bass clarinet in Bb
1st bass clarinet in Bb
1st bass clarinet in Bb
1st percussion
1st percussion
guitar
harp
1st violoncello
1st violoncello
1st violoncello
The Hour of Lead.
Sample pages
Work introduction
This chamber piece for large mixed ensemble is part of a series of pieces that I have embarked upon which reflect upon the intense feelings that I experienced when discovering that my mother had passed away. Reading the poem by Emily Dickenson reminded me of that emotional experience, from the extraordinary first moment to the time when "nerves sit ceremonious". The piece mirrors the poem in some ways, from taking the first words "After great pain" and trying to put into musical time the human experience of the moment, to the more reflective aspects, "the stupor - then the letting go". The scoring reflects the dark moods in the text, so the use of three bass clarinets and three cellos, together with cor anglais, provide possibilities for discovering sounds that are symbolic of a range of expression, and the plucked instruments of harp and classical guitar can similarly add their own biting or mellow sound worlds.