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Duration: c. 5 minutes
4 players: solo cello + cl.hn.va
Len’s music was first performed on 4th September 2009 at Kings Place concert hall, London, by Endymion. It was commissioned by Endymion for the Kings Place Festival 2009. The cellist was Jane Salmon, accompanied by Mark an de Wiel, Stephen Stirling and Robin Ireland.
Listeners’ Note
Philip Venables is currently writing an opera based on Boris Vian’s play, The Empire Builders, a Cold War farce about the consequences of giving free reign to paranoia. The plot concerns a family fleeing from an unknown loud noise in the house they share with a faceless wretched figure, whom they mindlessly torture. Eventually the father, having killed his wife and daughter through fear, is left facing the mysterious figure, and throws himself out the window.
Len’s music is an instrumental condensation of ideas for this final scene, with the cello taking the role of the father, Len. The continuous simple, slow melody portrays him in sorrow, reminiscing and slowly going mad.
Charlotte Gardner
