General biography

On my music

It’s best to start simply by saying that most of my music is directly connected to and inspired by the patterns and forces of Nature. But having written that, I’m aware that there might be two sharply-divided opinions, (or rather, ‘sound-points’) on what exactly music is about and for. There are some who believe that music is entirely contextual and belongs only to an expression of patterns in sound and their potential impact on the ‘shape’ of the experience of the listener. Such a person might say music is about nothing except music itself.

But there are others who might feel that music is connected with more than just the sense of hearing and that it is possible for music to refer to experiences and sensations beyond the purely aural. There is no doubt that Bach’s 48 Preludes and Fugues are emotionally fired and shaped, but none of them tries to ‘paint a picture’ or to ‘tell a story’. Debussy’s La Mer, on the other hand, is definitely a piece of music that refers to something beyond music - this being the sound and visually dynamic activity of the ocean in various states of calm and tempest.

I’ve never been comfortable with polarised opinions, and generally mistrust labels that are all-too-often proscriptive and not descriptive at all!

So perhaps it is best not to try to define what music does or is about. That is something which belongs to the performers out there and to you, the listeners. But what I can say is why I compose and what the inspirational and creative sources are before and within my music.

I write music as an expression of the experiences I have living and moving in the natural landscape.  I have lived-in or visited many parts of the world, and there are many landscapes that have led me to compose music arising from those journeys and explorations. For several years now, I have preceded the compositional process with a series of sketches and paintings. These visual notations vary between ‘straight’ drawings of what is being observed (and listened-to), and elaborate abstract forms that deal more with the forces behind a landscape rather than what it looks like.

It is perhaps for this reason that my music has often been described (by both musicians and listeners), as possessing special qualities that stimulate a visual as well as sonic response.  Whatever I may feel about the purpose of my music, ultimately it is for the musician and listener to decide on their own relationship with it. However, I must add that although many of my inspirational sources are extra-musical, I am nevertheless fascinated by the many facets of musical form - the nature of harmony and counterpoint especially.

Every listener has favourite composers and it is common for critics to search for inspirational ‘sources’ in any new music. Several composers have and continue to inspire and intrigue me. Top of my list would be J.S.Bach; Haydn; Janacek; Debussy; Sibelius and Messiaen. But although these composers especially move and delight me, it is the constant strangeness of being in natural places that provides for me the core of what I think my music is and seeks to be.

Top of page