Untroubled Light was commissioned by Musica Kirklees, and first performed by soloist Craig Ogden, massed Guitar Ensembles (Musica Holme Valley, Musica Colne Valley, Musica Shelly, Musica Mirfield, Musica Batley), conducted by Ginette Eady, and Musica Kirkless Youth Orchestra, conducted by Thom Meredith at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival on 20th November 2018 as part of Kirklees Children’s Biennale.

Duration: 11 minutes 45 seconds

For this work I combined four melodies into clusters played by the guitars. I gradually arranged them vertically; resembling partials of a missing strike tone. Chords begin at a very slow tempo that increases gently as the harmony develops, while the soloist remains with the original tempo. The orchestra slips briefly through this texture in four places. A shimmering harp and percussion section emerges beneath the guitars towards the end, fading with the lights to the soloist who ends the piece in darkness. EC