Sound Histories An evening of live music for the British Museum collection

Friday 5 July 201318.00–21.00Free, just drop in

Welcome to Sound HistoriesTonight you will hear music spanning the last 600 years, from an Ockeghem chanson written in the 15th century to music whose notes are still wet on the page. Together, these sounds have been inspired by and are performed alongside objects from around 1.8 million years of human history.

Designed to bring the histories of many of the Museum’s objects to life though music, the evening will involve over 200 musicians, including a chamber orchestra, wind, brass and vocal ensembles, chamber music, duos and solos. Over 120 performances make up tonight’s show, presented across most of the ground floor galleries, as well as Room 33 on Level 1 and Room 25 on Level -2. Presented as a large-scale installation, you are free to explore the galleries and experience the music you find throughout, so creating your own unique experience of the production.

Tonight’s music is presented in short sequences that average 15 minutes. In order to plan your evening, if you so wish, these sequences are first listed by start time and identified by a letter (e.g. A ) that, using the maps on the following pages, show exactly where the sequence starts. Beyond this, the same sequences are listed room by room, along with brief notes on each one. Alternatively, there are equal pleasures in just following where your ears and eyes take you!

The evening will begin at 18.00 in the Great Court, finishing there again at 20.30 with a specially commissioned finale featuring all 200 performers. And you can create your own ‘interval’, as the Great Court shops and cafés will be open all evening.

We are filming Sound Histories tonight, and we will send you a link to the finished film if you register your email details at rncm.ac.uk/sound_histories There you will also find a growing archive of additional material about Sound Histories, including expanded programme notes and recordings. And feel free to document the evening yourself with photos and tweets (#soundhistories).

I hope you enjoy the evening ahead.

Toby SmithDirector of Performance and Programming, RNCM

With thanks to Richard Collins, Matt Whitham, Richard Wistreich and Harvey Davies for their contributions to tonight’s programming.

Sound Histories by time

80 79

Level -1 Level -2

Level -1 Level -1

West stairs

Ford Centre for Young Visitors

Clore Education Centre

Level -1 & -2

Up to Great Court

Up to Great Court

Up to 21

Level -2 Level -2

Up to 24

25 2577

78Z

AA DD

BB

CC

EE

Lower floor

Please refer to the maps for lettered start locations

18.00 A

18.00 19.10 B L N T U Z FF LL MM

18.05 19.15 AA

18.10 19.20 G V 18.15 19.25 GG NN PP

18.20 19.30 E W

18.25 19.35 C H P R BB JJ QQ 18.30 19.40 M CC

18.35 19.45 F X RR

18.40 19.50 Q HH

18.45 19.55 D J DD

18.50 20.00 K S SS TT

18.55 20.00 KK

18.55 20.05 Y EE

20.30 A

Level 2

Level -1

Level 1

Level 0

Northstairs

West stairs

Main entrance Great Russell Street

Court Café Court Café

Great Court Shop

GrenvilleRoom

Gallery Café

Book Shop

Montague Place entrance

Members’cloakroom

Northstairs

Reading Room

Southstairs

CollectionsShop

Eaststairs

Anthropology Library and Research Centre

Level 0

Great Court

North stairs

Members’ Room

Level 0

(special temporary exhibitions)

Down to 25

Level 0 Down to 25

Down to Clore Centre

Down toClore Centre

Level 0

Level 1Up to 95 and 67

Level 2Down to 33

Level 0

Level 1

Level 2

Level -1 & 0Up to 24 and Great Court or down

to the Montague Place entrance

via West stairs & lift

Up toDown to 77Up to 20a

6795

33 33

33b

24 26 27

1

21

49

20

19

1

1

2

3

6

61112

13

4

48

7

23

22

14

17

16

18b

18a

15

18

18

1810

34

A

B

L

N T

U

FF

LL

G

V

GG

KK

NNPP

E

W

C

H

P

R

M

F

X

RR

Q

HH JJ

D

J

K

S

SS TT

Y

MMQQ

F

Ground floor

A 20.30

Steve Berry Lebab (première) for massed performers (10’)

Steve Berry writes: ‘All humans are born vulnerable, united in the universal sound of an infant’s helpless cry. Racial, cultural and linguistic differences acting upon the developing child all too often contrive to create hostility, a profound sense of otherness and alienation. What stops us from freely linking together harmoniously despite our diversity, like the myriad threads of a weave? In preparing a finale for Sound Histories, I have imagined ‘reverse engineering’ the breath-taking scope that surrounds us here at the British Museum. As tonight’s musicians congregate in the Great Court, I imagine them unravelling the complex weave of historic threads that they leave behind them, from rooms filled with objects and writings from across millennia. They are invited to employ their adult sophistication, musicianly abilities, experience and awareness to hear their own unique and individual ‘voice’, offering it into the emerging piece voluntarily and coherently. The result represents a musically idealised version of the human being’s potential to collectively find consensus, meaning and unity of purpose.’

Great Court

A 18.00

Francis Poulenc Un Joueur de flûte berce les ruines (5’)

The melancholic line of Poulenc’s solo study, ‘A flute player serenades the ruins’, opens Sound Histories, in a reworking for many flute players who together transport this song into the galleries around us.

Sound Histories by roomPlease refer to map on previous pages for lettered start locations

Room 1,

B 18.00 and 19.10

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Largo - Allegro Molto, Adagio and Molto Allegro (Finale) from Serenade in B flat major K 361 ‘Gran Partita’ for wind ensemble (20’)

In the first of three sequences chosen to animate the Enlightenment Gallery, several movements from Mozart’s most famous wind serenade reflect the knowledge and appreciation of the composer’s music in the London of 1828. The music of all the composers represented in this room tonight would have been ubiquitous on the concert programmes of the day, at the opera and, perhaps most importantly, in the everyday lives of cultured ‘amateurs’ – the same kinds of people who also travelled, studied, collected and laid the foundations of modern natural history and anthropology, and whose tastes and treasures formed the contents of the Gallery.

C 18.25 and 19.35

Francesco Geminiani Andante from Sonata in D minor Op 4 No 8 for violin and continuo (4’)

George Frideric Handel ‘Come in ciel’ and ‘Cara pianta’ from Apollo e Dafne (11’)

Geminiani spent the majority of his life in Britain and his highly successful violin sonatas reflect the huge impact of Italy on the Northern cultural imagination. Cantatas were ‘miniature operas’ suitable to be performed in the salons of the day. These excerpts from Handel’s Apollo e Dafne complement the Gallery’s statue of Apollo, and reflect the passionate revival of interest in Classical culture and its mythology in the 18th century, reawakened in England by those who were able to make the ‘Grand Tour’ to experience the ruins and artefacts of the ancient world.

D 18.45 and 19.55

Franz Joseph Haydn ‘With verdure clad the fields appear’ from The Creation (5’)

Felix Mendelssohn Intermezzo from String Quartet No 2 in A minor Op 13 (5’)

Ludwig van Beethoven ‘The Shepherd’s Song’, ‘The lovely lass of Inverness’ and ‘Dim, dim is the eye’ from Scottish Songs Op 108 (9’)

Audiences would have found nothing strange in an aria performed in a private room with piano rather than orchestra, and this extract from Haydn’s The Creation connects us to the Gallery’s collection of the earliest fossils found in England and growing debates between religion and science in the Age of Enlightenment. Some of the most sophisticated music-making in London at this time was made by those we today would call ‘amateurs’, often very highly trained musicians who, because of class or gender, would never have considered becoming professionals. The remainder of this sequence reflects this world, including a quartet movement and three songs by Beethoven reflecting the craze for all things Scottish and Romantic in the early years of the 19th century.

Enlightenment

Room 2,

E 18.20 and 19.30

Katie Chatburn Puririy (première) for oboe (2’) written for Inca Gold Llama (BM ref 1921.0721.1)

Jennifer Pearson Warrior holding a trophy head (première) for percussion (5’) written for Warrior holding a trophy head (BM ref 1937,1113.1)

Aaron Parker Sutton Hoo Helmet (première) for bass clarinet (5’) written for Sutton Hoo Helmet (BM ref 1939,1010.93)

Representing the ancient Andean practice of sacrificial offering, and the unpredictable response of the Inca mountain deities, the two ideas in Puririy interact with growing intensity, an imagination of the final journey of those facing human sacrifice. Jennifer Pearson employs drums to create a sense of looming war and metallic percussion gives her study an armour-like sound and feel. The hollow mask of the Sutton Hoo Helmet inevitably reminds the viewer of the absent human being. Aaron Parker translates the still, empty, solemnity of this artefact, separated from us by vast historical distance, into music of comparable obscurity: hollow, motionless, distant.

F 18.35 and 19.45

Paul Wheatley Olduvai Stone Chopping Tool (première) for cello and double bass (3’) written for Olduvai Stone Chopping Tool (BM ref 1934.12-14.1)

Caroline Louise Haines Ain Sakhri Lovers (première) for mezzo-soprano and baritone (3’) written for Ain Sakhri Lovers (BM ref 1958.10-7.1)

Matthew Brown Mammoth Spear (première) for cello duo (4’) written for Mammoth Spear Thrower (BM ref Sieveking 551)

Nelson Bohorquez-Castro Overnight (première) for guitar (4’) written for Olduvai Handaxe (BM ref 1934.12-14.49)

This sequence considers some of the oldest objects in the Museum. Paul Wheatley’s music for the Olduvai Stone Chopping Tool creates a sense of calm and mystery, respectful of its age and history. Caroline Louise Haines bonds together two voices to create a fused sound that reflects the intimate union of the couple depicted in the Ain Sakhri figurine. Two cellists generate striking sounds on their instruments in a study for an Ice Age mammoth spear thrower. Overnight utilises the structure of one of the earliest forms of Colombian Andean music in response to the beauty, suggestive of the origins of art, in a handaxe from Olduvai.

The changing Museum

These four pieces respond to Egyptian sculpture. The melancholic theme of Alexander Dawson’s piece recalls the lost grandeur of a civilisation that once hailed scarab beetles as gods. Leo Geyer’s Book of the Underworld translates sarcophagi hieroglyphs into small musical cells, adding them together to create a larger structure that reflects the funerary text of the original hieroglyphs. The god of the sky, Horus, was often depicted in ancient Egyptian mythology as a falcon and it was said that the sun was his right eye and the moon his left; Vitalija Glovackyte’s piece focuses on the moment in time when these opposites meet – dusk. And in filling the room with sound, Tom Harrold’s Ramesses imitates the oppressive (yet impressive) nature of the eponymous statue.

Room 4,

G 18.10 and 19.20

Alexander Dawson Colossal stone scarab beetle (première) for tuba (4’) written for Colossal Scarab (BM ref EA 74)

Leo Geyer Book of the Underworld (première) for bassoon (5’) written for Sarcophagus of Nectanebo II (BM ref EA 10)

Vitalija Glovackyte Granodiorite statue of a Horus-falcon (première) for double bass and portable radio (5’) written for Granodiorite statue of a Horus-falcon (BM ref EA 1226)

Tom Harrold Ramesses (première) for brass quintet (3’) written for Ramesses II (BM ref EA 19)

H 18.25 and 19.35

Simon Holt Sphinx for cor anglais and gongs (14’) Limestone fragment of the beard of the Sphinx (BM ref EA 58)

Sphinx is austere in texture and takes the form of an extended riddle, the answer to which may be the one and only appearance of the A sharp at the end of the piece, the quietest, highest, and possibly the longest note that the solo cor anglais plays.

Egyptian sculpture

J 18.45 and 19.55

Aaron Parker Sakhmet, seated (première) for cello (5’) written for Seated Sakhmet (BM refs EA 76, 57, 62 and 80)

Lucy Pankhurst Sekhemti (première) for trumpet (4’) written for Head and Arm of Amenhotep III (BM refs EA 15 and 55)

(at 18.45 only)Halim el Dabh Aapep and Ra for narrator and double bass (9’)

Gillian Menichino Thebes and the Burden of Rulership (première) for flute, cor anglais and oboe (6’) written for Three black statues of King Sesostris III (BM refs EA 684, 685 and 686)

K 18.50 and 20.00

Gamal Abdel-Rahim Raqsat Isis (Dance of Isis) for flute and harp (5’)

Giancinto Scelsi Ixor for clarinet (4’)

(at 20.00 first movement only)Marshall Crutcher Egypt for guitar (11’)

Abdel-Rahim employs exotic harmonies based on Arabic music modes (maqamat) to evoke the sounds of ancient Egypt. Scelsi wrote many short pieces for wind instruments, music that draws on influences from Byzantium to China. There is a feeling for Middle Eastern modality in some of this wind music, and the four movements of Ixor evoke the ancient Egyptian ney flute. Crutcher’s suite for guitar paints in sound three Egyptian scenes: a caravan at dawn; the pyramids; and the desert.

The lion-headed Sakhmet was a goddess of aggression and destruction, yet these seated statues display an unusual composure, which Aaron Parker’s cello study interprets as concealing a pent-up rage, reflected in his eerily relentless landscape. The arm and head of Amenhotep III inspire Lucy Pankhurst’s two regal fanfares, emulating the brittle sound of Egyptian trumpets. Aapep and Ra describes the struggle of the sun god Ra against the serpent of darkness, Aapep. Gillian Menichino’s piece draws on the meditative expressions of three armour-clad statues and contemporary poetry that considers the heavy burden of rulership, creating material that is sombre and rhythmically unsettled.

Room 4, Egyptian sculpture

Room 6, Assyria

L 18.00 and 19.10

Laurence Tompkins dishlishou/LOINCLOTH (première) from Boji for two oboes (10’) written for Colossal guardian lion (BM ref ME 118895)

Alexander Symcox The Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III (première) for trombone (5’) written for Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III (BM ref ME 118885)

Toby Butt On the Blood-stained Mountains (première) for tuba (5’) written for Stela of the Assyrian King Ashurnasirpal II (BM ref ME 118805)

These three pieces link key pieces of sculpture from the Museum’s Assyrian collection. The two movements of Laurence Tompkins’ duo may be played separately, together, and in any order. Alexander Symcox’s piece reflects the great power and achievements of the Assyrian empire, using the expressive capabilities of the trombone to reflect both. The stela of Ashurnasirpal II is covered in descriptions of his reign. One line reads ‘With their blood I dyed the mountain red as red wool’ and Toby Butt’s piece attempts to capture the majesty that the ruler wanted others to fear.

Room 10, Assyria

M 18.30 and 19.40 (please note this sequence finishes in Room 6)

Tom Rose Gate 2 (première) for saxophone and guitar (4’) written for Pair of Human-headed winged bulls and protective spirits (BM refs ME 118808 and 118809)

Alexander Symcox Lachish reliefs (première) for violin and cello (5’) written for Lachish reliefs (various BM refs)

Tom Rose Gate 1 (première) for violin and cello (4’) written for Pair of Human-headed winged lions (BM refs ME 118801 and 118802) Tom Rose’s Gate pieces have been written to be performed at opposite ends of series of relief-lined corridors. While accompanying the image of ‘gatekeepers’, they also consider the gates within electronic music – whereby signals are starkly switched on/off. Between the two, Alexander Symcox considers the siege of Lachish, his music expressing moments of vulnerability with sudden aggressive gestures. Towards the end this dynamic settles down to a delicate sound world portraying how even the greatest of civilisations turns to dust.

Room 17, Greece

N 18.00 and 19.10

Jae-Moon Lee The Three Seas (première) for small ensemble (5’) written for Nereid Monument (BM ref 1848-10-20.33-258)

Jack Sheen String Trio (première) for violin, viola and cello (5’)written for Three Nereids (BM refs Sculpture 912, 910 and 909)

Johannes Ockeghem Aultre Venus estes for alto, tenor and bass (4’)Lely’s Venus (Aphrodite) (BM ref Sculpture 1963.10-29.1)

William Alwyn Naiades for flute and harp (12’)

In Greek myth, the nereid is a sea nymph. In front of the Nereid Monument, Jae-Moon Lee describes three images of the seas with various instrumental techniques. Opposite are the three nereid statues, thought to have escorted the soul of the deceased on its journey to the afterlife. Each movement of Jack Sheen’s trio focuses on one of the players implying a sense of gradually increasing cohesion. In his chanson, Ockeghem compares the perfection of his muse to Aphrodite, declaring her ‘a second Venus’. Alwyn’s Naiades refers to the beautiful water nymphs of Greek myth who were reputed to drown those with whom they fell in love.

Room 18, Greece

P 18.25 and 19.35

David Bowie (arranged Calum MacLeod) Pallas Athena for oboe, cello and harp (3’)

John Tavener Lament of the Mother of God for soprano and chorus (16’)

Buhurizade Mustafa Itri(arranged Michael Jackson) Neva Kar for three saxophones (5’)

Giovanni Gabrieli Canzon à 8 for brass ensemble (3’)

Ludwig van Beethoven Overture to The Ruins of Athens for chamber orchestra (6’)

Sergei Akhunov Centaurs for four cellos (7’)

Sequence conceived for the sculptures of the Parthenon

This sequence of pieces reflects the major events in the complex history of the Parthenon sculptures. A simple arrangement of Bowie’s Pallas Athena reflects the first temples built on the Acropolis to venerate the goddess Athena Nike. The ikon-like stillness and purity of Tavener’s Lament of the Mother of God represents the building’s conversion to a Byzantine cathedral. An arrangement of a 16th-century song by Itri, the so-called ‘Ottoman Bach’, charts another conversion from cathedral to mosque. A fanfare by Gabrieli announces the Venetian bombardment of 1687, dynamite reducing much of the site to rubble. Beethoven’s overture (performed tonight) and incidental music to a play by August von Kotzebue highlights the culture and reason of 19th-century Europe, and its response to the ruins of the ancient Greek world. And to close, four centaur pieces by a young Russian composer respond to the centaur metopes now on public display in these galleries.

Room 19, Greece

Q 18.40 and 19.50

Thanasis Tsiatas First Delphic Hymn to Apollo and Hymn to Dionysus for guitar (6’)

Claude Debussy Syrinx for flute (4’) Aphrodite and Pan playing knucklebones accompanied by Eros (BM ref GR 1888.12-13.1 Bronze 289)

Paraskevas Apostolos The Daedalus and Ikaros Journey for soprano and guitar (5’) Icarus (BM ref GR 1867.5-8.746 Bronze 1451)

A small number of compositions have survived from ancient Greece, most in small, unrelated quotes. Tsiatas has arranged two, found engraved on marbles at Delphi, for guitar. Commonly performed ‘off stage’, reflecting its origin as music written for a ballet interval, Debussy’s Syrinx considers the doomed pursuit of the eponymous nymph by the god Pan. Apostolos’ text focuses on another Greek myth, that of Daedalus and Icarus. Fashioning wings from wax and feathers, Icarus flies too close to the sun and plunges to his death in the waters below; whilst Daedalus escapes to Italy, he is promptly captured and drowned in hot water.

Cassandra’s Dream Song portrays the conflict between Apollo and Cassandra. Two separated music stands contain contrasting material, together demanding an emotional intensity and technical fluency that perhaps represent Cassandra’s attempts to speak once again with her own voice. Two of Britten’s six Metamorphoses are performed tonight, spotlighting the revels of Bacchus and the tears of Niobe. Katie Chatburn’s setting of Sappho’s Hymn to Aphrodite has the soloist call for Aphrodite to come to her aid so that she might win over her beloved. Musgrave’s study returns us to Niobe’s tragic story, the weeping line of the oboe accompanied by evocative sounds of distant high voices and the slow tolling of bells.

Room 21, Greece

R 18.25 and 19.35(please note this sequence finishes in Room 23)

Brian Ferneyhough Cassandra’s Dream Song for flute (10’) Marble head of Apollo (BM ref GR 1857.12-20.264 Sculpture 1058)

Benjamin Britten Two Metamorphoses after Ovid for oboe (5’) Marble statue of Dionysus(BM ref GR 1816.6-10.111) Apollo and Artemis slaying the children of Niobe (BM ref GR 1877.7-21.1 Sculpture 2200)

Katie Chatburn Hymn to Aphrodite: Be thou my ally (première) for soprano and iPhone (3’) written for Lely’s Venus (Aphrodite) (BM ref Sculpture 1963.10-29.1 )

Thea Musgrave Niobe for oboe and tape (5’) Apollo and Artemis slaying the children of Niobe (BM ref GR 1877.7-21.1 Sculpture 2200)

Room 22, Greece

S 18.50 and 20.00 (please note this sequence finishes in Room 21)

Calum MacLeod Colossal Marble Statue of Apollo (première) for harp (5’) written for Colossal Marble Statue of Apollo (BM ref GR 1861.7-25.1)

Blaize Henry Aurum (première) for violin (4’) written for Gold Oak Wreath with a bee and two cicadas (BM ref GR 1908.4-14.1 Jewellery 1628)

(at 20.00 second movement only)Mike Hall Two movements from Tales of the Sun God for saxophone quartet (8’) Marble head of Apollo (BM ref GR 1857.12-20.264 Sculpture 1058)

This statue of Apollo playing his lyre was found broken into many pieces and, with this in mind, so the melody of Calum MacLeod’s study for solo harp is never heard in its entirety. Blaize Henry’s Aurum is rooted in the C major chord, a triad commonly associated with divinity, and chosen by the composer to represent the association of the wreath for which it is written with the Greek gods. The two movements of Hall’s suite are based loosely around Apollo’s mythological exploits: first, his musical contest with Pan; and second, his fateful kissing of Cassandra.

Room 23, Greece

T 18.00 and 19.10

Calum MacLeod Marble portrait of Alexander the Great (première) for harp (5’)written for Marble portrait of Alexander the Great (BM ref GR 1872.5-15.1 Sculpture 1857)

George Frideric Handel ‘Softly sweet in Lydian measures’, ‘War, he sung, is toil and trouble’ and ‘Revenge Timotheus cries’ from Alexander’s Feast (10’)

This sequence considers Alexander the Great, ruler of an empire that stretched from Macedonia to the Himalayas, from Persia to Egypt. Calum MacLeod draws on Egyptian modes and a traditional doumbek drumming pattern for his portrait for solo harp. Handel’s Alexander’s Feast describes a banquet held by Alexander in the captured city of Persepolis, during which the musician Timotheus sings and plays his lyre, arousing various moods in Alexander until he is finally incited to burn down the city in revenge for his dead Greek soldiers.

V 18.10 and 19.20

Dan Ryan Makemake (première) for tenor saxophone and percussion (8’) written for Hoa Hakananai’a Easter Island Statue (BM ref Ethno 1869,10-5.1)

Michael Betteridge and Emma-Ruth Richards Cradle to Grave (première) for clarinet, violin and viola, and flute, guitar and viola (10’) written for Pharmacopoeia’s Cradle to Grave (BM ref AOA Ethno 2003)

Makemake is inspired by the story of the Rapa Nui, once inhabitants of Easter Island, Rapa Nui. The structure of this piece traces their arrival, the gradual growth of civilisation, ritual celebration, the loss of resources and consequential bloodshed. Responding to the big questions surrounding life and death posed by the Cradle to Grave installation, two composers here use 12 ‘microludes’ – short movements of varying lengths – to explore ideas of growth and expansion, as well as diminution, in various musical ways.

Room 24,

U 18.00 and 19.10

Peter Sculthorpe Island Dreaming for mezzo-soprano and string quartet (12’)

Island Dreaming is based upon ideas suggested by the musics of the Torres Strait Islands. Here, the cultures of Indigenous Australia, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia are brought together as one, their mythologies dominated by the sea. Sculthorpe’s text, sung in its Indigenous language, derives from poetry both modern and archaic and concerns the centrality of water in these societies.

Living and Dying

W 18.20 and 19.30

Lucy Pankhurst Cristallum Calvariam (première) for viola with vocalisation (6’) written for Rock Crystal Skull (BM ref Ethno 1898-1)

Terry Riley La Muerte en Medias Caladas Negras from Dias de los Muertos for guitar and percussion (6’) Day of the Dead paper maches

Cristallum Calvarium attempts to capture a sonic glimpse of the crystal skull: the smooth, reflective surfaces and transparency, where, the closer you look, the more is revealed. To illustrate its ‘forgery’, the soloist must also sing, the vocal tone emerging from the violin before revealing its own identity. A musical exploration of the untimely and unexpected ways in which Death manifests itself, ‘Death Appears in Black Fishnet Stockings’, as Riley’s title translates, is a coy dance of seduction, a dance of death disguised as a beautiful woman.

X 18.35 and 19.45

Matthew Hindson Didjeribluegrass for didjeridoo and string quartet (8’)

Helen Fisher Te tangi a te Matui for flute with vocalisation (7’)

Tom Rose Red Cedar (première) for viola (4’) written for Raven crest (BM ref Ethno 1981 Am 12.13)

As the title suggests, Didjeribluegrass incorporates some aspects of bluegrass music, in particular the fast ‘fiddling’ style of string playing that includes many open strings, into the sound world of the didjeridoo; the two sometimes co-exist comfortably, and at other times not. Fisher’s study beautifully fuses a sung Maori karakia, or incantation, with a flute line that evokes the koauau, a small Maori flute, together celebrating the call of a native New Zealand bird, the tui. Tom Rose’s solo for viola explores the unstable sounds of the instrument, carving their way from isolated moments and decoration to the core of the solo line.

Y 18.55 and 20.05

Nelson Bohorquez-CastroCrisálidas (première) for mezzo-soprano and marimba (4’) written for Ghanaian drums and bells (various BM refs)

Traditional Koutou Katoa Rä and Tama ngākau mārie for voice (4’)

Peter Sculthorpe Threnody for cello (7’)

Nelson Bohorquez-Castro's song describes the last days of a young girl and ends with a question: ‘what do the human souls find when they leave their earthly jail?’ Two Maori songs traditionally sung at funerals or hui (assemblies or social gatherings) follow. Sculthorpe’s Threnody is dedicated to the memory of the conductor Stuart Challender, who died of an AIDS-related disease in December 1991. It is based on an Aboriginal lament from Echo Island in the Arafura Sea.

Living and Dying

Room 25, Africa

Z 18.00 and 19.10

Aled Smith Laments and Fanfares (première) for French horn (4’) written for Throne of Weapons (BM ref Ethno 2002 Af 01.1) Sally Beamish Awuya for harp (9’)

Traditional Baani lay for kora (5’)

Monika Stadler African Reflections for two harps (5’)

Based on the construction of the Throne of Weapons sculpture, Laments and Fanfares suggests both a condemnation and glorification of war. Awuya fuses drumming rhythms, central African tribal harmonies and a lullaby tune whose words reflect a sleeping sickness disease that decimated the population in the 1940s. Baani lay is a traditional West African song with kora accompaniment, originally from Mali, and used in modern times as a protest song against the often violent greed of powerful men. The sound of the kora has inspired Stadler’s duo, which experiments with the sounds two harps and their players can produce.

AA 18.05 and 19.15

Hamza el DinEscalay (Waterwheel) for string quartet (13’)

Having settled in New York, the flooding of the Aswan High Dam inundated the village where Hamza was born. Escalay is suggestive of the hypnotic, repeated songs of those who sit behind the oxen which help the waterwheel to turn, a mood that the composer recognised in his own playing on revisiting Aswan, faced with the devastating loss beyond the flood.

BB 18.25 and 19.35

Jae-Moon LeeMan’s Cloth (première) for two cellos (5’) written for Man’s Cloth (BM ref Ethno 2002 Af 10.1)

Priaulx Rainier Ubunzima for soprano and guitar (3’)

Matthew Brown Tree of Life (première) for violin (4’) written for Tree of Life (BM ref Ethno 2005 Af 1.1)

Dan Ryan Mutuality (première) for guitar, oboe and cello (6’) written for Kilwa pot sherds (BM ref OA +.916)

El Anatsui’s art work is the inspiration behind Jae-Moon Lee’s cello duo, its image portrayed with fragments of sounds and a mosaic of nuanced details and small moments. Retreating shadows reveal green mountains between the zulu cries of Rainier’s song. Matthew Brown’s music for the Tree of Life is suggestive of many melodies evolving from one starting point, its mood hinting at aspects of life and hunger and the lack of medical provisions. Reflecting the theme of trade across oceans suggested by pottery sherds, the instruments of Dan Ryan's trio communicate musical ideas and gestures to one another like individuals in conversation.

CC 18.30 and 19.40

Isak Roux Makwaya Sunday, Jake’s Penny Whistle and Concertina Jam from Tekweni Suite for saxophone quartet (10’)

Michael Betteridge Two leopards (première) for A clarinet and B flat clarinet (3’) written for Two leopards (BM ref AOA 1924,L1a-b)

Adam Stafford Oba (première) for guitar, French horn and cello (3’) written for Benin plaques (various BM refs)

Sarah Gait A King of Kings (première) for violin and cello (4’) written for Ife Head (BM ref Ethno 1939, Af 43-1)

Deriving from eThekwini, the Zulu name for Durban, Roux’s Tekweni Suite recall the days of the composer’s youth in this port city, with its subtropical climate, its vibrant mixture of cultures, and the sound and smell of the Indian Ocean.Reflecting slight discrepancies between objects that appear identical at first glance, Two leopards uses material that constantly evolves, written for two instruments that look very similar but are actually different in many ways. The suggestion that the Benin plaques refer to the burdens and responsibilities of the Oba, or king, is the impetus for Adam Stafford’s trio, whose form is inspired by a fictional expedition by the Oba and his servants. Sarah Gait’s primary influence for A King of Kings is the utterly focused expression of inward concentration on the face of the Ife Head, behind which an almost frightening level of power is also glimpsed in this music.

DD 18.45 and 19.55

(at 18.45 only)Kevin VolansSecond movement from String Quartet No 1 ‘White Man Sleeps’ for string quartet (5’)

Foday Musa Suso Tilliboyo (Sunset) for kora and string quartet (4’)

Justinian Tamusuza Luganda from Ekitundu Ekisooka for string quartet (6’)

Sarah Gait Khedive (première) for cello (5’) written for Sudanese slit drum (BM ref Ethno 1937, 11-08.1)

Tim Bailey Something from Nothing (première) for viola (3’) written for African pottery display

Three short movements for string quartet open this sequence: Volans’ reworking of the Nyungwe music of Mozambique; Suso’s pizzicato strings and kora evoking celebration beyond sundown; and Tamusuza’s interpretation of the Kiganda music of Uganda. Gait’s Khedive is inspired by the journey of a slit-drum that may have been brought to Sudan from central Africa as the result of slave-raiding expeditions. The music fluctuates between a rhythmic theme inspired by the drum itself and another more melodic and wailing, derived from the possible sufferings

of those slaves who may have heard the drum. Something from Nothing is inspired by the notion that something made from practically nothing can be so essential to its makers, and so durable while still being art. It uses a single bar of material for each of the 22 pots on display, which can then be reordered and repeated as many times as the performer pleases.

EE 18.55 and 20.05

Tim Bailey Three Miniatures (première) for violin and viola (5’) written for African masquerade exhibition (various BM refs)

(at 18.55 only)Peter Klatzow Three Spiritual Nocturnes for chorus (7’)

Christopher Ayodele (arranged Fred Onovwerosuoke)Om’ Oba ni for chorus (3’)

Bailey’s miniatures are each composed with a specific mask or a group of masks on display. The first refers to a mask denoting the leader of a rival tribe; the second to masks that symbolise female beauty and ward away witchcraft; and the third to a mask used to ridicule foreigners. Klatzow’s nocturnes are prayers to God, thankful for the day passed, a peaceful night of renewal, and the new day ahead. Om’ Oba ni (‘The Prince’) is a joyous, rousing processional from Nigeria performed in either concert or church settings. It offers many opportunities for audience participation.

Room 26, Americas

FF 18.00 and 19.10

George Rimmer the end-of-you is the beginning-of-me: Same Blood, Different Heart (première) for oboe (4’) written for Otter Effigy Pipe (BM ref Ethno (S)266)

Marilyn Bliss It Was the Wind for soprano and Native American flute (4’)

Marilyn Bliss Blue Dawn for cello and Native American flute (4’)

This sequence considers the world of the Native North American peoples. George Rimmer’s solo is one of a pair, its partner to be performed in Room 27 tonight; it is inspired by an Appalachian smoking pipe in the form of an otter, the composer’s intention to capture something of the psychology of smoking. It Was the Wind is a setting of an evocative Navajo text; Blue Dawn is mellow and cheerful, celebrating the fresh air and big sky of the High Plains of North America.

Room 25, Africa

GG 18.15 and 19.25

Leo Geyer Sedna for three female voices (4’) Playful Sedna

Jacob Thompson-Bell Songmaking: Eclectica 1 (première) for viola (5’) written for Seven ivory bow drills engraved with scenes

Both these pieces use Inuit imagery as their stimulus. Sedna tells of the deception by her father of the eponymous goddess of the sea and marine animals, the score employing a form of throat singing not unlike the way such myths have been passed from generation to generation. Deriving from a set of ornamental Inupiat bow drills, Songmaking: Eclectica 1 takes the form of a graphic score, inspired by the imagery on the drills themselves.

HH 18.40 and 19.50

Jay Ungar Ashokan Farewell for violin (3’)

Katherine Hoover Winter Spirits for native American flute (5’)

Mark O’Connor Appalachia Waltz for violin, cello and double bass (6’)

The three contemporary pieces of this sequence suggest a more recent North American history. Ashokan Farewell is written in the style of a Scottish lament, its sense of loss and longing recognised by filmmaker Ken Burns, who used it as the principal theme of his PBS documentary series, The Civil War. Based on a painting of a native American flute player, Hoover’s Winter Spirits refers to the beneficial kachinas (spirits) and totem creatures conjured by the flautist’s song. Appalachia Waltz takes its inspiration from Scandinavian and Appalachian folk fiddling, again suggestive of a more recent American history.

Room 27, Mexico

JJ 18.25 and 19.35

Ben Parker Sculpture of a Huaxtec Goddess (première) for cello (5’) written for Tlazolteotl, Huaxtec female deity (BM ref Ethno Q89Am3.1)

Aled Smith tok’ (première) for bass clarinet and double bass (8’) written for Maya relief of royal blood-letting (BM ref Ethno 1886-317)

One of the female deities of the Huaxtecs associated with fertility, Tlazolteotl was a goddess associated with the purification of vice and sin. The laborious and repetitive performance from the cellist musically emulates the worsening contractions of a woman in labour, before reaping the award of a child. tok’ translates from Mayan as ‘letting blood’. The stark, ritualistic nature of the imagery on the lintel has influenced the structure of the piece, which is in several small sections that can be performed in any order, any amount of times.

Room 27, Mexico

KK 18.55 and 20.00

George Rimmer the end-of-you is the beginning-of-me: Same Blood, Different Heart (première) for bassoon (4’) written for Olmec stone mask (BM ref Ethno 1938.10-21.14)

David Curington Entropy (première) for flute, piccolo and agogo bells (5’) written for Mexican flutes and bells (various BM refs)

Adam Stafford Ecdysis (première) for viola and crotoles (3’) written for Double-headed serpent (BM ref Ethno 94-634)

George Rimmer’s solo is one of a pair, its partner to be performed in Room 26 tonight. It is inspired by a stone mask from Olmec Mexico. Entropy responds to a set of ritual flutes and bells with a similar instrumentation: flute, piccolo and agogo bells. The surface of the music is evocative of some sort of solemn ritual, particularly when the agogos enter, perforating the more delicate initial texture set out by the flautist. Adam Stafford writes: Ecdysis n. (plural ecdyses) The shedding of an outer layer of skin in snakes; Fragment n. (plural fragments) A part broken off; a small, detached portion; an imperfect part.

Room 33,

LL 18.00 and 19.10

Aaron Parker Steatite seals from the Indus Valley (première) for alto flute (5’) written for Indus seals (various BM refs)

Gillian Menichino Seated Buddha of Gandhara (première) for clarinet (9’) written for Seated Buddha of Gandhara (BM ref OA 1895.10-26.1)

Aaron Parker’s study is a collection of tiny interconnected gestures or fragments, each offering enigmatic glimpses into an otherwise hidden musical landscape – perhaps analogous with the way that these steatite seals reveal cryptic insights into a lost Indian culture. The posture of this Gandhara Buddha sets in motion the real nature of life and existence to his followers. The permeating elements of Gillian Menichino’s music are ascending figures that reach from the bottom of the clarinet’s register to the top in a quiet pianissimo, reflecting peace and enlightenment.

MM 18.00 and 19.10

Edward Ayre 春天 Spring (première) for percussion (5’) written for Chinese bronze bo (BM ref OA 1965.06-12.1)

Bright Sheng String Quartet No 4, ‘Silent Temple’ (17’) Exploring Confucius’ ideas of how a society can work in harmony, Edward Ayre combines timbres from a small pool of percussion elements, collecting and merging groups of sounds, and from which a single harmonious atmosphere emerges. The four movements of Sheng’s quartet draw on the imagined previous life of a now-ruined temple, from the praying and chanting of monks to the violence committed to the temple and the monks by the Red Guards.

China, South Asia, and Southeast Asia

NN 18.15 and 19.25

Adam Stafford Borobudur (première) for alto flute and bass clarinet (3’) written for Borobudur Buddha head (BM ref OA 1859.12-28.176)

Evan Ziporyn Kebyar Maya for eight cellos (14’)

This head of the Buddha on which Adam Stafford’s piece is based originally comes from a statue at Borobudur on Java. When walking through the monument one is led through three participatory states and planes (or realms) of existence; Stafford's Borobudur is divided into three distinct sections that each signify one of these realms. Kebyar Maya turns the cello into a gamelan, with its gongs, bamboo flutes and interlocking percussion textures. ‘Kebyar’ refers to sudden, natural events, the bursting open of a flower, or a flash of lightning; ‘Maya’ is the veil of illusion.

PP 18.15 and 19.25

Tan Dun The Silk Road for soprano and percussion (10’)

Based on a poem of the same name by New Mexico poet Arthur Sze, The Silk Road combines the rhythms of English verse with the tonal qualities of Peking opera in a linear structure like the connected brush-strokes of calligraphy.

QQ 18.25 and 19.35

Stephen Goss Red flowers blooming all over the mountain and Blue orchid from The Chinese Garden for guitar (5’)

Beth Morgan-Williams Helpings of Hell (première) for flute and double bass (5’) written for Chinese ceramic sculpture depicting an assistant to a judge in the underworld (BM ref OA 1917.11-06.1)

Benjamin Britten Songs from the Chinese for soprano and guitar (10’)

Evoking the peaceful and contemplative atmosphere of a traditional Chinese garden, these two short movements are based on folksongs from Shanbei in Shaanxi province. Helpings of Hell has been written to be played alongside a Chinese ceramic sculpture, an assistant to the judge of hell, the music responding to his screwed up face, maybe from disgust, maybe from pain. Britten’s Songs from the Chinese set six texts by Arthur Waley that are remarkably condensed and terse, the spareness of the texture of the guitar writing reflecting something of the spirit of the Chinese lute or koto.

China, South Asia, and Southeast Asia

RR 18.35 and 19.45

Katie Chatburn Nataraja (première) for two flutes (2’) written for Shiva Nataraja (BM ref 1987.3-14.1)

Clémence Hazaël-MassieuxShiva and Parvati (première) for violin (2’) written for Shiva and Parvati (BM ref Asia 1872,0701.70)

Giacinto Scelsi Ko-Tha (A Dance of Shiva) for guitar (13’) Shiva as Lord of the Dance(BM ref OA 1969. 12-16.1)

The Hindu god Shiva sits at the heart of this sequence. First, two flutes represent the themes of creation and destruction present within the Hindu cosmic cycle, phrases building and dying, often returning in adapted guises. Next, Shiva and Parvati uses sounds and rhythms reminiscent of traditional Indian music to paint a dialogue between the divine lovers. In Ko-Tha (A Dance of Shiva), the soloist is called upon to produce a vast array of percussive sounds from the guitar. Things speed up, things slow down, and Scelsi’s mystic passion ebbs and flows until at last the rhythm dies away to nothing.

SS 18.50 and 20.00

Roxanna Panufnik Letters from Burma for oboe and string quartet (12’)

Daniel Crompton Ohm Mani Padme Hum (première) for clarinet, violin, cello and double bass (3’) written for trumpet of copper with brass fittings (BM ref OA 1933.5-8.38a)

The letters behind Panufnik’s score were penned by Aung San Suu Kyi, its four movements referencing Burmese folk song, the pain of children separated from their imprisoned parents, the beauty of an orchid, and the joy in dancing, even in the shadow of political oppression. Based on a mantra of the same name, Daniel Crompton’s score is inspired by a ceremony to mark the destruction of a sand mandala created by the Tashi Lhunpo monks at RNCM in 2012. The ceremony was accompanied by the resolute soundings of the traditional Tibetan trumpet, similar to an instrument on display in Room 33.

TT 18.50 and 20.00

Bright Sheng The stream flows for viola (4’)

Tan Dun In distance for piccolo, harp and bass drum (10’)

Much of The stream flows is based on a well-known Chinese folk song from southern China, the resemblance of the timbre and the tone quality of a female folk singer evoked by a solo viola. Three different distances underpin In distance: the wide distance between each of the instruments in terms of register, timbre and dynamics; the texture of the music, which is very open and has a great deal of space; and the physical distance, even conflict, between atonal writing and the use of folk material.

Room 33, China, South Asia, and Southeast Asia

The British MuseumGreat Russell Street, London WC1B 3DG

Tottenham Court Road,Holborn, Russell Square+44 (0)20 7323 8000britishmuseum.org© The Trustees of the British Museum 06/2013

Front cover:Colossal granite head of Amenhotep III, Karnack, Egypt, c. 1370 BC.Illustration by Aaron Groves, The Design Monkey.