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Electric Guitar Concerto

2017 | 21’

electric guitar w/ electronics, electric bass, kit, keys, chamber orchestra 1.1.1.1/1.1.1.0/perc/1.1.1.1.1

Written for/performed by Huw Cheston


I first wrote a piece for guitarist and friend Huw Cheston in June of 2014, a short exercise in minimalism and phasing. In in the summer of 2015 I was asked to write something for electric guitar and electronics to accompany Steve Reich’s Electric Counterpoint on Huw’s EP, “live; electric”. So, in September 2016, I suggested a concerto that brought together aspects of progressive rock, jazz, and contemporary classical music.

The concerto is based around sieves of the sort Iannis Xenakis used in some of his compositions. In particular, the main sieve that guides the concerto is:

{{6@3|4@2}^4@1}|{7@1^{6@4|3@1}}^5@3

The numbers were taken from Huw’s soundcloud page. In addition to this, each movement had its own modifier sieve. The data from these sieves provided the source material I worked from, including pitch sets, rhythms, structure etc., although from the beginning I was determined not to bury my own artistic voice in mathematics. It is, I think, the interplay between sieve material and intuitive, stream- of-consciousness composition that creates musical interest, in how they both blend and contrast.

Movement I is the most “rock”, though I wish the best of luck to anyone attempting to join in on air-guitar; ever-shifting rhythms and unconventional harmonies create a lively, eclectic soundworld. Movement II offers a brief moment of calm, before movement III climbs back into dense textures, jazz harmony and musical eccentricity. The improvisational aspects of the last movement made perfect sense in a piece written for Huw, a phenomenal jazz improviser.

The electric guitar is perhaps the instrument most suited to live electronics, as even when it is played clean it still requires amplification. Thus, I decided to bring this aspect into the piece from the very start, the electronics being a part of the composition process rather than simply colouring the already-finished material unnecessarily. This increased my musical options significantly, and made the guitar much more versatile in the context of the piece.


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