Klangspiel
Klangspiel is a German word which is used here to encompass all manner of audio elements. It suggests play, musicality, and intentional sound arrangement — with a poetic or aesthetic character; a wide creative space for artistic and musical interpretations. I produce Klangspiel works in a Digital Audio Environment, a computer based array of hardware and software. It allows me to generate music, sounds, and live audio into a single tapestry, weaving a large range of elements, affording me great flexibility as writer, composer, performer and sound designer. The samples I use are almost entirely based on Spitfire Audio's BBC Symphony Orchestra and the Spitfire Symphony Orchestra, as well as other sample libraries.
Please note: All of my Klangspiel pieces are mixed for headphones.
Occluded Illuminations
These pieces are part of an ongoing cycle.
1492 is a multi-layered piece about the Jewish and Moslem expulsion from Spain, and what followed. It concerns itself with intolerance, religious dogma, and how victims can themselves turn into oppressors.
Strawberry is about the inner workings of the mind of a man with dementia. Interesting that the wind chimes which begin the piece are often called Klangspiel in German.
Clouds was composed in 2026; a setting of five nested Haiku poems by Kate Aranye Nye, who performs them on the track.
Stars was composed in 2025. It is a contemplation of the heavens and our place in the universe. A version including live choir was performed by the Gillingham Singers in November 2025.
Voyager imagines the Voyager spacecraft being found in a few billion years by an intelligent life form.
Normalconcerns itself with the impact of global warming and our seeming indifference to its effects.
Reflections on Mortality
As I become older, my thoughts turn naturally to my own mortality. These pieces were composed in 2019 as solace, I suppose. The poems for Petrichor and The Bell are by Seán Street; Transition and A Rich Life by me.
Concerto For Hyperorchestra
My first large Klangspiel work using the Digital Audio Environment, the Concerto for Hyperorchestra was composed in 2020 during COVID lockdown. Its four movements are described well by their titles.
Pieces for Unprepared Pianist
Composed in 2019, these pieces were devised as a means of combining two bits of software, the Modartt’s PianoTeq 8 and the Ircam Prepared Piano.