Myself and Geth Griffith are currently half way through a short UK tour with The Delia Darlings to celebrate the work and achievements of composer and electronic music pioneer Delia Derbyshire (The composer of the iconic Dr Who theme from an idea by Ron Grainer). We are performing a ‘mechanically deranged duet’ by international award winning composer Ailis Ni Riain, who, for these purposes, is one of the said Delia Darlings.
Geth and I are only one part of a whole evening containing live performances of special commissions. Aside from Ailis’ music, there will be new music from composers Daniel Weaver and Caro C. The event also shows two films; one from the award winning Kara Blake(The Delian Mode) and the other constructed from the Delia archive in Manchester. There is a live visual artist during the performances too.
Geth & Myself rehearsing last Saturday at The Horse Hospital in London
The Consequences Of Falling was commissioned for Delia Derbyshire Day 2013 at Band On The Wall in Manchester. It is a challenging piece to perform, to say the least. It is inspired by two pieces of Delia’s work ‘Falling’ and ‘Pot Au Feu’ but is an entirely original work and acoustic (for solo trumpet and double bass).
It is a twelve minute roller coaster ride with twists and turns of every description imaginable.
The performance at Delia Derbyshire Day 2014 at Anthony Burgess Foundation
Based on the germ of an idea that two tape machines, perhaps of the type Delia would have had to painstakingly synchronise for her work at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. The tapes work together but occasionally get out from each other (on purpose!). The work is in four distinct sections and there are machine inspired sections, jazz inspired scenes and some small fragments of Delia’s music. The work is a classical piece though.
A warm welcome at The Horse Hospital – London
The Delia Derbyshire Tour continues tomorrow where we can be heard in Bristol, at The Cube Microplex and on June 4th at the Norwich Arts Centre. The tour will also be appearing at the Oxford Contemporary Music Festival later in the year.
Composer Daniel Weaver setting up his Delia style hardware for his performance in Hebden Bridge
Here is a small fragment of Geth & I…
<p><a href=”http://vimeo.com/92733863″>The Consequences of Falling (extract)</a> from <a href=”http://vimeo.com/ailis”>Ailís Ní Ríain</a> on <a href=”https://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a>.</p>
Ailis Ni Riain introducing her work ‘The Consequences of Falling at The Trades Centre – Hebden Bridge
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