Category Archives: Vocal

Fuck Forever video

Posted on August 26, 2011 by phil| Leave a comment

Fuck forever from Philip Venables on Vimeo.

I’m delighted that my 3-minute Six Word Opera was premiered last week (11th and 12th August) at Riverside Studios in London, as part of the Tête-à-Tête Opera Festival.  It was performed by the wonderful John Savournin (speaker/singer), James Young (piano and MD), Rosalind Acton (cello) and Matthew West (woodblock).  Check out this video of one of the performances.

James Young asked me to write one (and he probably regrets it…) for the second year of the successful Six Word Opera project.  I was very glad to!  As almost all of my recent pieces have involved spoken word in concert music (I —- the body electric, numbers 91-95, numbers 76-80 : tristan und isolde, The Schmürz all in the last 12 months), this seemed a great way to try out some ideas.  Also a good testing ground for the project that I am working on with Jorge Balça and Omar Ebrahim which is also a mini-opera, semi-staged, with themes of sex, sexuality and violence.

Hope you enjoy it!

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Time stands still

Posted on March 30, 2011 by phil| Leave a comment

Year: 2008

Duration: 6 minutes

Orchestration: soprano and guitar

 

Time Stands Still was commissioned for the Sing Softly tour by Juliet Fraser.

It was first performed at the Soundwaves festival, The Pavilion Theatre, Brighton, on Friday 27th June 2008, by Juliet Fraser (soprano) and Alan Thomas (guitar).  www.alanthomas-guitar.com

 

Download a perusal score here

 

Buy the score here

 

 

Listeners’ Note

Time Stands Still is a free response to Dowland’s song by the same name. It uses the same principal notes in the vocal line: a downward major scale. In this case, F major. Around this long, mostly static vocal line is spun a vigorous guitar accompaniment, which is mainly independent of the vocal line. I wanted to explore the idea of stasis and motion. The harmony of this piece is quite static, but the gestures are always moving, with the exception of the slow, pulseless, final section of the piece.

The only words used are those of the title “Time stands still”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Thalidomide

Posted on March 30, 2011 by phil| Leave a comment

Year: 2008

Duration: c. 9 minutes

Text: Sylvia Plath (1962)

Orchestration: 24 voices (6 Soprano, 6 Alto, 6 Tenor, 6 Bass)

Thalidomide was developed for performance by the BBC Singers as part of spnm’s season of events 2006/07.

It was first performed at St Paul’s Church, Knightsbridge, London, on Wednesday 25th July 2007 by the BBC Singers conducted by James Morgan.

It has been temporarily withdrawn for a text re-write following Faber’s U-turn on their rights agreement.

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I –––– the body electric

Posted on March 30, 2011 by phil| Leave a comment

Year: 2010
Duration: 5 minutes
Text: Walt Whitman
For one male singer and another male speaker playing piano or another instrument (untrained)

I —- the body electric was written for a UYMP album of contemporary vocal song, aimed at conservatoire and undergraduate-level students.

 

Listeners’ Note

I —- sing the body electric uses sections of poetry by Walt Whitman, from his poem I sing the body electric.  It uses a male singer accompanied by a male speaker who plays also a single note on a piano or other instrument.  A skilled instrumentalist is not required and the part could be played by an actor or anyone with a good speaking voice and clear diction.

The poem, read aloud, has some words removed, which then appear in the sung part.

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