Ben Foskett - compostion

and this you is what I would sing
Piano Trio - 5' - 2007 - fp: Agon Trio, Aldeburgh Festival, 22/6/07
Bench
Alto Saxophone, Piano - 6' - 2005 - fp: Jan Schulte-Bunert, Laubach Germany, 2005
Five Night Pieces
Piano - 10’ - 2001 - fp: Sarah Nicolls, Cheltenham, 9/10/01
Going Down
Piano Duo - 5’ -2002 - fp: Dukes Hall, RAM
Hornet
Bb Clarinet - 5’ - 2001 - fp: Andrew Mason, Purcell room, 2002
Mis
Accordion - 6' - 2007 - fp: Milos Milivojevic, Deal Festival, 11/07/07
Only in Black
Oboe - 5’ - 1998 - fp: Alan Evans, RCM recital hall, 1998
Stand around
Bass Clarinet, Piano - 3' - 2004 - fp: Chroma, Music past and present, 2004
Trying to see more
Soprano Saxophone, Piano - 5’ - 2004 - fp: John Barker, Timothy Sidford - Purcell room London, 22/9/04

Dance Merrily Through the Park
Saxophone quartet - 7' - 2000 - fp: clair-obscur, BKA Berlin, 3/9/01
Some Variations
fl.cl.vib.pn.vln.vc - 9' - 2007 - fp: Psappha, St. Annes Church Manchester, 21/11/07
Three Pieces for Saxophone Quartet
10' - 2006 - fp: clair-obscur - Konzerthaus Berlin, 2007
Wind Quintet
8' - 1999, re.2002 - fp: Zephyr Ensemble of London - Purcell room, 1/03

Es gibt einige hohe Wellen
1111.1111.1perc.hp.pn.11111 - 9’ - 2002 - fp: London Sinfonietta, QEH London, 2002
Filter Tip Tango
1111.111.perc.hp.pn.11111 - 4' - 2003 - fp: Manson Ensemble, Dukes Hall, 2003

Suburban Nightmares - text - Dave Hollander
Soprano.1010.000.perc.pn.2111 - 10’ - 2002 - fp: Bergamo Ensemble, Canterbury, 2002

The Scarlet Pimpernel - narrative ballet - London Children's Ballet
1111.1110.perc.acc.32331 - 80' - 2006 - fp: Hesketh, LCB, Peacock Theatre, 2006
What I see/what I get - contemporary dance - Thresh
Violin - 10' - 2002 - fp: Jane Gordon, Laban Centre, 2002
NN...rememory...reality - contemporary dance - Thresh
Violin, Cello - 9' - 2003 - fp: Rachel Golub, Dave Eggar, New York, 2003

Violin Concerto
Vln solo.1121.1111.perc.hp.pn.00221 - 16' - 2004 - fp: Gould, Knussen, London Sinfonietta, QEH, 2004

Three Gascoyne Settings - text - David Gascoyne
Orchestra - 18' - 2000 - fp: Alison Wells, Edwin Roxburgh, RCM Sinfonietta, RCM, 18/5/01

and this you is what I would sing
The title is taken from the poem Song by George Szirtes. The poem seems to explain what I was trying to do in this piece. To me, the poem describes a song the poet would sing "if I had a voice to sing it". In same way, I have written a piece which tries to describe another piece which I would have liked to have written, but could not. What is left is the essence of a piece, a description of it, of a piece which could never exist. The poem ends "but it's as if I heard that singing now", and so hopefully does the piece. This piece is dedicated to Rose Berney.

Five Night Pieces
The five pieces are played back to back with only small gaps between them. The work consists of two pairs of pieces (1,4 - 2,5) with a longer piece at the centre. The first and fourth deal with quite static chordal sturctures whilst the second and fifth have faster moving material. the central piece combines aspects of the outer pieces being more diverse in character.

Going Down
This piece concentrates on the sounds that both ends of the piano make. The material is constantly falling inwards towards the centre as if being pulled in. The central two octaves are left out for a substantial part of the piece until a melodic idea is hammered out in this register in the build up to the climax. This central melody acts as the final pulling force drawing in the outer parts in.

Hornet
Hornet for solo clarinet uses four opposing elements to create a constantly evolving yet fractured discourse.
The opening phrase contains each of these elements: isolated staccato notes; sustained notes; running figurations and repeating figurations.
The music then combines each of these in various combinations. Eventually all the elements come together, culminating in a manic and destructive climax.

Mis
Mis plays with the relationship between the two keyboards of the accordion. It is spun from two melodic fragments - one on each side - which when combined creates a longer hocketed line. The hocketing between the keyboards persists throughout the piece to varying degrees resulting in a dynamic interplay between the voices. As the intensity of the music builds the two voices start to collide forming small fragments of harmony. This continues to a point where harmony takes over from line. Mi? lasts about 5 minutes.

Only in Black
The piece opens with a frantic rhapsodic episode in which the oboe winds the opening material of the piece into ever more florid patterns. This finally comes to a climax leading to the second section of the piece. This is slower and lamenting in character. The work ends with a small coda concentrating on the falling semitone in an obsessive manner.

...dance merrily through the park
Clair-obscur dance merrily through the park was written for the Clair-obscur Saxophone Quartet in 2000.
The piece started out life as a solo alto saxophone piece written for Christian Biegai. It was then completely re-written when Christian decided it might make a good quartet piece.
The alto saxophone still retains a leading role, taking solo roles at various stages of the piece, most notably, the rise to the extremes of its register at the final frenzied climax.
The piece is in one movement, consisting of an introduction followed by a series of ever building sections which are constantly being interrupted, holding the drive of the music back until its final release at the end of the work. Enjoy.

Wind Quintet
Wind Quintet was written in 1999 for the Zephyr Ensemble of London and revised / extended into a three movement piece in 2002.
The first movement is very short and loud. The horn dominates throughout.
The second, in contrast is very quiet and is the first time the whole quintet play.
The last movement is the longest and is centred around a monody that runs throughout. This central thread is past between the members of the quintet finally settling in the horn toward the end. The instruments which are not playing the monody provide a fast decoration to the line.

Es gibt einige hohe Wellen
I. Four
II. Es gibt einige hohe Wellen
This piece deals with the perception of musical material at different tempos and directions. It is scored for sixteen players, has two movements and lasts nine minutes.
The first movement is a short choral, introducing the very vertical nature of the piece. The second movement, which is the main body of the work, takes the vertical nature of the first and takes it to extremes, pitting the solo bassoon against the ensemble. The music starts extremely slowly and gradually accelerates to the centre of the pieces at which point the reverse happens and the music grids back to halt.

Filter Tip Tango
This piece is a spun out monody. Harmonies are drawn from the line as it gains momentum.

Suburban Nightmares
Suburban Nightmares is a setting for soprano and ensemble of five haiku by Dave Hollander. I have tried to capture the distinct character of each of the texts in a short space of time. Making the songs very distinct and to the point.

Violin Concerto
Conceived as a single movement of gathering momentum and intensity, Ben Foskett’s first solo concerto certainly fulfils one expectation of the form: the solo violin is a dominating presence throughout the work, not least because the soloist is the only violinist on the stage. However, in other respects, Foskett’s approach to concerto form evolves directly from his work on two song cycles (Three Gascoyne Settings and Suburban Nightmares) and two scores for dance: in each of these pieces, the ‘world’ created by one protagonist (dancer or singer) resonates and develops through the accompanying ensemble (be that solo instrument or symphony orchestra).

The soloist instigates and leads the narrative progress of the Concerto and, by deriving the orchestral fabric from the violin’s musical stream of consciousness, Foskett reinterprets traditional notions of opposition and contrast between the one and the many as, effectively, the one with itself. The Concerto is a monodrama with the ensemble texture constituting a kind of ‘double’ of the solo part, and this is embodied by the two basic means of solo/tutti interaction deployed throughout the work. First, the initial sequence of perfect fourths on the violin is taken up as the basis for the chords that circle the solo line; then, a more rhythmically fluid relationship is established, itself characterised in forceful rhythmic unison writing for the ensemble.

Ben Foskett’s Violin Concerto is dedicated to Clio Gould who gave the first performance with the London Sinfonietta, conducted by Oliver Knussen, on April 2, 2004

© Christopher Austin 2004

Three Gascoyne Settings
Three Gascoyne Settings for mezzo-soprano and orchestra was written in Ben’s final year at the RCM and sets the poems; Signs, The Cage and Yves Tanguy by David Gascoyne. All the poems are taken from Gascoyne’s early and surrealist poetry, written in the 1930’s.
The first of the pieces, Signs, exaggerates the sense of darkness within the poetry.
The Cage is much lighter, with a very transparent texture surrounding the mezzo line.
Yves Tanguy, the last of the settings, is more aggressive and deploys the full force of the orchestra.
My deepest thanks go to David for letting me set his poetry.


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	solo / duo :: click on titles for example pages - scroll down for programme notes :: and this you is what I would sing Piano Trio - 5' - 2007 - fp: Agon Trio, Aldeburgh Festival, 22/6/07 Bench Alto Saxophone, Piano - 6' - 2005 - fp: Jan Schulte-Bunert, Laubach Germany, 2005 Five Night Pieces Piano - 10’ - 2001 - fp: Sarah Nicolls, Cheltenham, 9/10/01 Going Down Piano Duo - 5’ -2002 - fp: Dukes Hall, RAM Hornet Bb Clarinet - 5’ - 2001 - fp: Andrew Mason, Purcell room, 2002 Mis Accordion - 6' - 2007 - fp: Milos Milivojevic, Deal Festival, 11/07/07 Only in Black Oboe - 5’ - 1998 - fp: Alan Evans, RCM recital hall, 1998 Stand around Bass Clarinet, Piano - 3' - 2004 - fp: Chroma, Music past and present, 2004 Trying to see more Soprano Saxophone, Piano - 5’ - 2004 - fp: John Barker, Timothy Sidford - Purcell room London, 22/9/04 ensemble Dance Merrily Through the Park Saxophone quartet - 7' - 2000 - fp: clair-obscur, BKA Berlin, 3/9/01 Some Variations fl.cl.vib.pn.vln.vc - 9' - 2007 - fp: Psappha, St. Annes Church Manchester, 21/11/07 Three Pieces for Saxophone Quartet 10' - 2006 - fp: clair-obscur - Konzerthaus Berlin, 2007 Wind Quintet 8' - 1999, re.2002 - fp: Zephyr Ensemble of London - Purcell room, 1/03 large ensemble Es gibt einige hohe Wellen 1111.1111.1perc.hp.pn.11111 - 9’ - 2002 - fp: London Sinfonietta, QEH London, 2002 Filter Tip Tango 1111.111.perc.hp.pn.11111 - 4' - 2003 - fp: Manson Ensemble, Dukes Hall, 2003 voice Suburban Nightmares - text - Dave Hollander Soprano.1010.000.perc.pn.2111 - 10’ - 2002 - fp: Bergamo Ensemble, Canterbury, 2002 dance The Scarlet Pimpernel - narrative ballet - London Children's Ballet 1111.1110.perc.acc.32331 - 80' - 2006 - fp: Hesketh, LCB, Peacock Theatre, 2006 What I see/what I get - contemporary dance - Thresh Violin - 10' - 2002 - fp: Jane Gordon, Laban Centre, 2002 NN...rememory...reality - contemporary dance - Thresh Violin, Cello - 9' - 2003 - fp: Rachel Golub, Dave Eggar, New York, 2003 conceto / concertante Violin Concerto Vln solo.1121.1111.perc.hp.pn.00221 - 16' - 2004 - fp: Gould, Knussen, London Sinfonietta, QEH, 2004 voice and orchestra Three Gascoyne Settings - text - David Gascoyne Orchestra - 18' - 2000 - fp: Alison Wells, Edwin Roxburgh, RCM Sinfonietta, RCM, 18/5/01 :: Programme notes :: and this you is what I would sing The title is taken from the poem Song by George Szirtes. The poem seems to explain what I was trying to do in this piece. To me, the poem describes a song the poet would sing "if I had a voice to sing it". In same way, I have written a piece which tries to describe another piece which I would have liked to have written, but could not. What is left is the essence of a piece, a description of it, of a piece which could never exist. The poem ends "but it's as if I heard that singing now", and so hopefully does the piece. This piece is dedicated to Rose Berney. Bench Five Night Pieces The five pieces are played back to back with only small gaps between them. The work consists of two pairs of pieces (1,4 - 2,5) with a longer piece at the centre. The first and fourth deal with quite static chordal sturctures whilst the second and fifth have faster moving material. the central piece combines aspects of the outer pieces being more diverse in character. Going Down This piece concentrates on the sounds that both ends of the piano make. The material is constantly falling inwards towards the centre as if being pulled in. The central two octaves are left out for a substantial part of the piece until a melodic idea is hammered out in this register in the build up to the climax. This central melody acts as the final pulling force drawing in the outer parts in. Hornet Hornet for solo clarinet uses four opposing elements to create a constantly evolving yet fractured discourse. The opening phrase contains each of these elements: isolated staccato notes; sustained notes; running figurations and repeating figurations. The music then combines each of these in various combinations. Eventually all the elements come together, culminating in a manic and destructive climax. Mis Mis plays with the relationship between the two keyboards of the accordion. It is spun from two melodic fragments - one on each side - which when combined creates a longer hocketed line. The hocketing between the keyboards persists throughout the piece to varying degrees resulting in a dynamic interplay between the voices. As the intensity of the music builds the two voices start to collide forming small fragments of harmony. This continues to a point where harmony takes over from line. Mi? lasts about 5 minutes. Only in Black The piece opens with a frantic rhapsodic episode in which the oboe winds the opening material of the piece into ever more florid patterns. This finally comes to a climax leading to the second section of the piece. This is slower and lamenting in character. The work ends with a small coda concentrating on the falling semitone in an obsessive manner. Stand around Trying to see more ...dance merrily through the park Clair-obscur dance merrily through the park was written for the Clair-obscur Saxophone Quartet in 2000. The piece started out life as a solo alto saxophone piece written for Christian Biegai. It was then completely re-written when Christian decided it might make a good quartet piece. The alto saxophone still retains a leading role, taking solo roles at various stages of the piece, most notably, the rise to the extremes of its register at the final frenzied climax. The piece is in one movement, consisting of an introduction followed by a series of ever building sections which are constantly being interrupted, holding the drive of the music back until its final release at the end of the work. Enjoy. Three pieces for saxophone quartet Wind Quintet Wind Quintet was written in 1999 for the Zephyr Ensemble of London and revised / extended into a three movement piece in 2002. The first movement is very short and loud. The horn dominates throughout. The second, in contrast is very quiet and is the first time the whole quintet play. The last movement is the longest and is centred around a monody that runs throughout. This central thread is past between the members of the quintet finally settling in the horn toward the end. The instruments which are not playing the monody provide a fast decoration to the line. Es gibt einige hohe Wellen I. Four II. Es gibt einige hohe Wellen This piece deals with the perception of musical material at different tempos and directions. It is scored for sixteen players, has two movements and lasts nine minutes. The first movement is a short choral, introducing the very vertical nature of the piece. The second movement, which is the main body of the work, takes the vertical nature of the first and takes it to extremes, pitting the solo bassoon against the ensemble. The music starts extremely slowly and gradually accelerates to the centre of the pieces at which point the reverse happens and the music grids back to halt. Filter Tip Tango This piece is a spun out monody. Harmonies are drawn from the line as it gains momentum. Suburban Nightmares Suburban Nightmares is a setting for soprano and ensemble of five haiku by Dave Hollander. I have tried to capture the distinct character of each of the texts in a short space of time. Making the songs very distinct and to the point. The Scarlet Pimpernel What I see/what I get NN...rememory...reality Violin Concerto Conceived as a single movement of gathering momentum and intensity, Ben Foskett’s first solo concerto certainly fulfils one expectation of the form: the solo violin is a dominating presence throughout the work, not least because the soloist is the only violinist on the stage. However, in other respects, Foskett’s approach to concerto form evolves directly from his work on two song cycles (Three Gascoyne Settings and Suburban Nightmares) and two scores for dance: in each of these pieces, the ‘world’ created by one protagonist (dancer or singer) resonates and develops through the accompanying ensemble (be that solo instrument or symphony orchestra). The soloist instigates and leads the narrative progress of the Concerto and, by deriving the orchestral fabric from the violin’s musical stream of consciousness, Foskett reinterprets traditional notions of opposition and contrast between the one and the many as, effectively, the one with itself. The Concerto is a monodrama with the ensemble texture constituting a kind of ‘double’ of the solo part, and this is embodied by the two basic means of solo/tutti interaction deployed throughout the work. First, the initial sequence of perfect fourths on the violin is taken up as the basis for the chords that circle the solo line; then, a more rhythmically fluid relationship is established, itself characterised in forceful rhythmic unison writing for the ensemble. Ben Foskett’s Violin Concerto is dedicated to Clio Gould who gave the first performance with the London Sinfonietta, conducted by Oliver Knussen, on April 2, 2004 © Christopher Austin 2004 Three Gascoyne Settings Three Gascoyne Settings for mezzo-soprano and orchestra was written in Ben’s final year at the RCM and sets the poems; Signs, The Cage and Yves Tanguy by David Gascoyne. All the poems are taken from Gascoyne’s early and surrealist poetry, written in the 1930’s. The first of the pieces, Signs, exaggerates the sense of darkness within the poetry. The Cage is much lighter, with a very transparent texture surrounding the mezzo line. Yves Tanguy, the last of the settings, is more aggressive and deploys the full force of the orchestra. My deepest thanks go to David for letting me set his poetry.