Atomic Cafe (ensemble)

Instrumentation: fl (= picc). ob. cl. bcl. bsn(= cbsn). hn. hp. strings (min 1.1.1.1.1.)

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PROGRAMME NOTE

Whilst visiting the Imperial War Museum in Manchester I viewed a number of British Civil Defence public information filmsfrom the 1970’s entitled, Protect and Survive. These ‘self-help’ style videos gave a bleak and ‘practical’, yet unrealistic,guide to surviving a nuclear holocaust.
Some-time later I was introduced to a disturbingly comic film, The Atomic Cafe; a collection of United States governmentissued propaganda films from the 1940’s and 50’s that were designed to dispel fears about the possibility of a futurenuclear attack.

Ironically of course, in the event of a nuclear attack, these films would offer no help or consolation to those caught in theexplosion or subsequent fallout. As a result, The Atomic Cafe is at once a laughable and deeply disconcerting movie thatsardonically plays on our fears of annihilation and Armageddon; but it also shows up the incompetence of our leaderswhen faced with existential threats towards their citizens.

This work opens with desolate soundscape: a single tone D that unravels into a pulsing five-note chord. From this chordmuch of the material in the piece is developed. After a short prelude the work picks up speed with a sardonic dance,clumsy march and frantic scherzo. After a series of aggressive ‘rips’ of the horn the work ends with a return to thematerial of the opening bars and finishes in a haze of glassy natural string harmonics.

Atomic Cafe began life as a wind quintet, written for Mark Simpson and premiered by the Northern Sinfonia, entitled,After Fallout... I was later asked by the Rambert Dance Company to extend this work for use as a ballet.

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