COLIN RILEY
Colin Riley ‘doffs his cap to the contemporary classical genre but also manages to stand alone in that genre as a unique indie voice’ (BBC Radio). His music draws on a range of elements including new technologies, improvisation, song-writing and large-scale classical form.
His recent albums include Shenanigans (NMC) and In Place (Squeaky Kate). Other works include Warp and Weft a concerto for 2 cellos (Gabriella Swallow / Guy Johnston), Rock Paper Scissors (Ensemble Bash), Stream-Shine (Philippa Mo) and Earth Voices (Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra, Sweden).
Hearing Places, his large-scale multi-media piece was recently premiered by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales to excellent reviews. ‘Witty, inventive music of ear-tickling inventiveness’ (Daily Telegraph).
Colin is developing a multi-media project Ludic Inventions for piano and live visuals, a new string quartet for the RIOT Ensemble harnessing AI and the song of the blackbird, as well as a new album for Melanie Pappenheim. He has also just finished the music for COMA2020, a film by Michael Rosen, a piece for tabla player Kuljit Bhamra, and music for an installation at the Cutty Sark, London in collaboration with Nic Pendlebury.
He is Reader in Composition at Brunel University, runs his own label Squeaky Kate and writes a regular blog about composing called Riley Notes.
Read below his answers to our penetrating questions.....
How would you describe your music?
This is always a good question. The answer often tells you more about the composer than you’d think. I read quotes from composers offering a comprehensive range of cultural, political and identity-centred statements about their music. I read publicity hype and social-media theatrics, but it boils down in the end to the music. We all listen with cultural baggage and with personal preferences about taste. My music tries to excite, entice and tickle the listener with something that (hopefully) has depth and some complexity, but it also tries to be direct and approachable. I like to think that when heard from the avant-garde side of things it’s quite accessible and melodic, but when viewed from the poplar side of things, it’s innovative and quirky. I guess I like inhabiting the margins. People just need to listen to new music with generosity. Give it a reasonable chance. We are easily led by fashion and hype. We should notice. Use our ears well!
The Guardian described you as 'Wry, understated and slightly bonkers' - how do you feel about that?
Well, they were actually talking about the music not me! But, maybe the music we create is in some part an expression of ourselves. I don’t know. I’m happy with this quote. It probably says something about my ‘Englishness’. I am extremely serious about my music. I have attempted to be a composer since about the age of seven. I think that’s pretty serious. But at the same time, like good comedy, I feel that there are important ways to say things with irreverence, flippancy and humour. It’s like opposite sides of the same coin. Life, I suppose.
Who or what influenced 'Rock, Paper, Scissors'?
Ensemble Bash has a flavour of the Goodies (remember them?) or Monty Python. When I was invited to write a new piece, I knew straight away that it should be quirky in some way. I was also interested in extending the timbral range with a few added extras. A quick peruse of my book of titles and ‘Rock, Paper, Scissors’ shouted out immediately to me. A piece using the sound (and theatrical potential) of rocks, paper and scissors. What else? Titles are a hugely important part of the creative process. Sometime they come late on and help me complete a piece, or finesse it in some way. Sometimes they start the process (as with this piece) and help drive many aspects including style, instrumentation and form. The piece is in three movements. Hard, soft, hard. The endings and change-overs between sections allows for the Bash trademark of shuffling around onto different instruments. Re-configuring the design. Seeing (and hearing) things from a different angle. The title also led to a theatrical conceit where the first section gradually disintegrates, transforming from tradition pitched instruments onto knocking pebbles, then onto flapping newspapers, and ending with the spatial ‘snips’ of various pairs of scissors. Very silly, (slightly bonkers?), and certainly intending to solicit a ‘wry’ smile.
In what way is it different writing for percussion instead of other instruments?
In many ways it really the same. Composers work in different ways. I like to physicalise as much as I can, playing ‘air-instruments’. I also like to imagine a stage set up for the instruments I’m writing for, just before the players emerge to begin the performance. I think, ‘what will the music sound like? How will it start? What would make an engaging ending?’ We have so many tools at our disposal now for creating music. I like to mix and match these tools. At some stage in the process I may ‘mock up’ the music using samples so that I can hear a kind of realisation. This is good for hearing grooves and monitoring durations of sections. But I do a lot of preparatory work with pencil and manuscript paper at the piano. I like knocking together a few note-generating systems with my instinctive musical intuition. There’s a messy, but fruitful synergy in this collision of methods. Importantly it’s also playful and its fun. The work-arounds and problem-solving force me into creative places that I might not otherwise find. There’s different parts of the brain being used also.
Do you have any advice for other composers who are asked to write for percussion? Get out the pots, pans cutlery and wooden spoons from your kitchen. Have a bash. Have fun.
Links to Colin’s music (some understated, some wry, and some slightly bonkers).
People Need People
Trees
The Years Midnight
Moss
No Longer A Flower
