Memories in rust and cobwebs (2023)

Programme Note:

Inspired by concepts established in Slonimsky’s Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns (a resource later popularised by both John Adams and John Coltrane), Memories in Rust and Cobwebs is a chamber piece which encapsulates a scrapyard, the decaying artefacts, and the memories found within them.

The piece can be viewed as three programmatic images which are each extensively developed: The Scrapyard itself, which emphasises metallic and industrialised imagery; Searching through objects, which depicts a sense of wonder and awe for the treasures one may find, and finally; Reflecting on memories, which polarises the preceding two scenes with a dreamy and ‘timeless’ space. The piece concludes by mixing and jumbling previous material together to suggest that the objects have been returned to the scrapyard or that new objects have taken their place.