See the Music
moving image work commissioned by Joe Parks Music
Performed on London, 24th June, 2018 at Royal College of Music (The video can be found here.)
"From Parry" String Quartet (2 Violins, Viola, Cello):
Hubert Parry was a British composer who wrote around the turn of the twentieth century. He is known for his harmonically rich and often religious style and this piece tries to embody that spirit. It is split into five movements. The first is not my own composition, but my arrangement of a choral work by Parry titled "Dear Lord and Father of Mankind". The following four movements proceed in that vein, each taking a hymn text as its inspiration; "My God Accept My Heart This Day", "Behold Us Bringing", "Drop, Drop, Slow Tears" and "Come Down O Love Divine". What makes this work particularly interesting is how all the movements are based on choral texts and yet they are scored for string quartet, an ensemble which obviously cannot sing. What the composer hoped to achieve is for the listener to still be able to feel the vocal tradition through the music without having to actually hear the words it is based on.
'Movements play music and communicate it'
This piece started from an idea that the music is played not only by instruments, but also by a beautiful flow of instrumenters' body movements. Having a combination of this idea and a story behind "After Parry" piece, this film is for the audience to 'see the music' through body-movements.
Being inspired by sign-language, it aims to communicate music to any kinds of the audience including someone who has difficulty with listening. The movements of sign-language had been improvised by two contemporary dancers, and it enabled to appreciate abstractness of language.
