On my Music

My music is firmly enmeshed with the natural world. I have written very few
pieces that are not connected in some way with the behaviour of living things.
Not that I compose "from nature" in the same way as Messiaen. My interest in
the living world is an interest in the behaviours of forms and not how they sound,
per se.

In creating a work like Gesangbuch of 1978-9, for example, I was not so much
concerned to reproduce or relocate natural sound into a musical setting, but
rather to explore the fabric of structures in time and space and to re-form these
in an acoustic setting. Had I been a painter in this case, I would not have
painted the landscapes of North West England in a realistic way, rather I would
have painted what the landscapes do.

My earlier works did not involve a great deal of sketching. I was often able to
compose an entire work in a very short time without systematic planning.
Always, however, the process of gestation has included the acts of drawing,
so that it is possible to see that I have connected "seeing" the ways form
behave and connected them (fused) to acoustic processes.

By the late 1970's, for some reason that I cannot fathom, my music became
more overtly tonal and aligned with recognisable "classical" principles of form
such as sonata, concerto and theme and variations. I cannot say, on reflection,
that it produced music that worked for me though I am the first to confess that at
the time of composing a new piece, I always believe that it is the best that I
can do.

During the 1980s, I emigrated to Australia and lived there for 12 years. This
self-imposed "exile" has had far-reaching consequences for me. Firstly, I was
able to discover rich and strange landscapes way beyond my imagination and,
secondly, I lived in a country where there was far less opportunity for
performance than in England.

For seven years, between 1986 and 1993, I composed no orchestral works at
all, concentrating instead on chamber music, music for solo instruments and a
few sets of songs. It was not until my 50th birthday in 1993 that I returned to
larger formats with my Cello Concerto.

After my return to England in 1995, I continued to compose mainly chamber
music, but in the past two years have worked on a number of larger-scale
pieces.

It is hard to say how my music will now move onwards. I am restless about
musical notation. Years working as a painter and natural scientist have begun
to make me question more the inherent "failings" of musical notation. I seek,
more than ever, to compose music that is natural and of nature. I cannot be
sure, at this time, that I shall not find a new way to notate and document what
takes place in my acoustic imagination, but time will tell....