Rough Voices
Instrumentation: 1.1 (= ca).2 (II = bcl).2 (II = cbsn). - 2.2.2.1. - 1 prc. - hp. - pno. - strings
Percussion: Large orchestral bass drum (dampened); Kick drum; Bongos (2);Tom-toms or Roto-toms (3); Opera gong; Almglocken (4); High suspended cymbal.
PROGRAMME NOTE
Like all the composers commissioned to write new works for the 2020 Proms season, I was asked if I could respond insome way to the Covid-19 pandemic.
I thought long and hard about the impact of the crisis and I kept returning to the thought of how those living in povertywere disproportionately affected – as has also been the case with issues of mental health, loneliness, education, housingand redundancy. This made me angry.
As I was writing the piece I came across the poem ‘Tough’ by Tony Walsh (born 1965, aka Longfella) – a battle cry for theworking-class – and his words resonated with the music I was composing:
They don’t like it when we make it despite all their ifs and cuts
They don’t like it when we take it as our right to shake things up
They don’t like it when rough voices start demanding better choices
But it’s tough, we’ve had enough and we are coming*
Being from a working-class background myself, I know how life changing music can be. I also know that, as we come out ofthe pandemic, readdressing diversity and class within the classical-music world will become even harder. We mustcontinue to support and promote working-class talent or we will needlessly lose a generation of brilliant musicians. As thenumber of people living in poverty continues to rise and working class voices continue to be marginalised, it’s moreimportant than ever that we are heard.
As such, Rough Voices is a rallying call to arms: we’ve had enough... and we are coming!
The piece starts with a scream – of anger, frustration – that seems to interrupt a continuous and immanent chorale played on strings. The ‘interruptions’ move into an insistent, incessant procession that drives relentlessly onwards. The ‘scream’ returns at the climax of the work, though now in a righteously indignant tone, before the chorale reappears,changed somewhat with echoes of the rhythmic pulse that dominated much of the piece.
