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Essay in Radiance (1981-83) |
Essay in Radiance was written between 1981 and 1983, and revised in the summer of 1984. It is dedicated to my composition teacher, Peter Wiegold. The first performance took place in February 1984 in Riverside Studios, London, with Music Projects/London conducted by Richard Bernas.
The work is characterised by a sequence of "catastrophes" in which discourse is continued on a new and unforeseeable plane, as the conducted tempo gradually unwinds from the frantic opening (216 beats per minute) towards the glacial slowness at the end (12 beats per minute), finally fading into litera, stillness.
© Richard Barrett