Scores and performance materials are available for most of these works from Composers Edition. Any further enquiries regarding the music of Tim Souster should be made to:
Penny Souster
OdB Editions
37 Windsor Rd, Cambridge CB4 3JJ, United Kingdom
p.souster@btinternet.com
tel +44 (0)1223 351995
1965 Songs of Three Seasons
- for soprano and viola
- duration 12′
- Settings of poems by Christopher Logue (after Pablo Neruda), Ted Hughes and Li-Hou-chu
- First performed by Helen Lawrence (soprano) and Paul Collins (viola) at a Society for the Promotion of New Music concert on 3 November 1965 in St James’s Square, London
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1965 Poem in Depression at Wei Village (revised 1985)
- for soprano, flute, viola, cello and piano
- duration 8′
- Settings of text by Po Chü (AD 812) translated by Arthur Waley
- First performed by Noelle Barker and the New Music Ensemble conducted by John Carewe on 9 July 1966 at the Shaftesbury Hall, Cheltenham as part of the Cheltenham Festival
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1965/1966 Parallels
- for two percussionists
- First performed by Tristan Fry and James Holland on 31 January 1966 at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London
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1964/1966 Two Choruses
- for seven-part choir or seven solo voices (SSATTBB)
- 1. Voices (Caliban’s dream from The Tempest )
- duration 4′
- 2. I wake and feel the fell of dark, not day (Gerard Manley Hopkins)
- duration 7′
- First performed by the Aeolian Singers conducted by Sebastian Forbes at an SPNM concert on 14 November 1967 in St Clement Danes Church, Strand, London
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1966 Piano Piece No. 1
- Written for Roger Smalley and first performed by him at the Mahatma Ghandi Hall, London on 5 October 1966 as part of the Music in our Time Festival
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1966 Song II
- for soprano and percussion
- text by Penelope Hales
- unperformed
1966 Study for Organ
- Written for Christopher Bowers Broadbent and first performed by him in 1966 as part of the Music in Our Time Festival, London.
1967 Metropolitan Games
- for piano duet
- duration 9’30”
- Commissioned by Susan Bradshaw and Richard Rodney Bennett and first performed by them on 6 February 1968 at a Macnaghten Concert at the Wigmore Hall, London
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1968 Kyrie March
- for two-part children’s choir, percussion and piano
- Written for Channing School, Highgate, London
1968 Tsuwamono-domo
- for three choirs, three orchestras (of 18,19 & 26 players), three instrumental soloists and soprano solo
- Texts of poems by Bertolt Brecht, Ezra Pound, Byron, Basho and Tu Mu
- unperformed
1969 Titus Groan Music
- for wind quintet, ring modulator, amplifiers and two-track tape
- Commissioned by the Macnaghten Concerts for the Stockholm Philharmonic Wind Quintet and first performed by them at the Camden Festival in 1969
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1970 Chinese Whispers
- for from four to eight players using a variety of electronic sound- sources and percussion instruments
- duration variable but normally 10′-20′
- Conceptual work based on the process of imitation and inevitable distortion familiar from the parlour game of the same name
- Commissioned by the English Bach Festival and first performed by Intermodulation in June 1970 at the Holywell Music Room, Oxford as part of the English Bach Festival
1970 / rev 1974 Triple Music II
- for three orchestras
- duration 38′
- Orch 1: strings 12. 12. 12. 10. 8
- Orch 2: 2pf, 2hp, cel, vib, el.org, org, bs gtr (all amplified, two players for mixing)
- Orch. 3: wind 3 fl (+picc), 3 ob. Eflat cl. Bflat cl, bs cl, sop sax, bsn, 2 con bsn, 6 hn 3 tpt, 3 trbn, tba
- Original version (withdrawn) commissioned by the BBC and first performed by the BBCSO at the Proms on 13 August 1970 conducted by David Atherton, Elgar Howarth and Justin Connolly, Royal Albert Hall, London. Revised version (1974) first performed at Senderfreies Berlin by the Berlin Radio Orchestra, conducted by Lukas Fis, Peter Eötvös and Bernhardt Kontarsky on 10 December 1974
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1970 Waste Land Music
- for soprano saxophone, electronic organ, piano and synthesizer
- duration 30′
- Six instrumental pieces for performance with a reading of Eliot’s poem, or as a separate concert work
- Commissioned by the Apollo Society for the City of London Festival; first performed on 14 July 1970 by Intermodulation with Jill Balcon, Cecil Day Lewis and Gabriel Woolf (speakers)
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1972 Spectral
- for viola, live-electronics and tape-delay system
- duration 14’40”
- The sounds of the live viola are picked up by contact microphones and fed into a delay system and modified and multiplied. The exact nature of the electronics may be varied according to what is available.
- First performed by the composer on 4 March 1972 at a Macnaghten Concert at St John’s Smith Square, London
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1974/1980 World Music
- for eight players and four-channel tape
- duration 73′
- Player 1: Bflat cl/ sop sax/ alto sax/ bs cl
- Player 2: bsn
- Player 3: vln/vla
- Player 4: el. gtr/bs gtr
- Player 5: perc/drum kit
- Player 6: grand piano
- Player 7: el. org/el.pno
- Player 8: el. pno/synth
- Original version (for four players) commissioned by the Westdeutscher Rundfunk, Cologne and first performed by Intermodulation in the Beethovenhalle, Bonn on 1 December 1974. Revised version first performed at the Cambridgeshire College of Arts and Technology on 7 February 1980, conducted by Peter Britton
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1974 Song of an Average City
- for small orchestra and natural sounds (on tape)
- duration 22′
- picc, fl (+picc 2), ob, cor, Eflat cl, bs cl (+ Bflat cl), 2 bsn (+contra), tpt, hn, tbn, tba, strings (8-6-4-3)
- Commissioned by the BBC and first performed by the BBCSO conducted by Pierre Boulez on 11 March 1974 at the Round House, London
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1974 Zorna
- for soprano saxophone, tape-delay system and three drummers (four players plus sound engineer)
- duration 12′
- Written for Intermodulation and first performed by them on 29 July 1974 at a BBC Prom concert at the Round House, London
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1976 The Music Room
- for trombone and stereo tape
- duration 15′
- Music-theatre piece for trombonist and assistant
- Commissioned by James Fulkerson and first performed by him in December 1976 at the Wigmore Hall
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1976 Afghan Amplitudes
- for electronic keyboards and percussion
- duration 8’30”
- player 1: synth, el. pno
- player 2: synth, pno
- player 3: rock drum-kit and small percussion
- Written for the group OdB and first performed at Keele University
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1976 Arcane Artefact
- for amplified keyboards, percussion and tape
- duration 13’14”
- three players plus sound engineer
- player 1: synth, el. pno
- player 2: marimbaphone, vibraphone
- player 3: drum-kit
- Written for the group OdB and first performed at Keele University
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1977 Song
- for instruments and four-track tape
- duration 14’30”
- player 1: synth, el. org,
- player 2: grand pno
- player 3: small perc. and tam-tam
- Commissioned by Merseyside Arts for the Hope Street Festival 1977;
- first performed by the group OdB on 25 June 1977 at the Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool
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1977 Heavy Reductions
- for tuba and tape
- duration 10’10”
- Commissioned by Melvyn Poore with funds provided by West Midlands Arts; first performed by Melvyn Poore on 22 November 1977 at the Ashton Centre for the Arts, Birmingham
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1978 Arboreal Antecedents
- for three instrumentalists and four-track tape
- duration 22′
- player 1: synths, el. org, el. pno
- player 2: grand pno, synth.
- player 3: drum-kit, Moroccan drum, glock.
- Written for the group OdB and first performed at Riverside Studios, Hammersmith, London
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1979 Driftwood Cortege
- for computer-generated four-channel tape
- duration 7’30”
- Completed at the Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics, Stanford University, California in September 1978
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1979 Sonata
- for cello, piano, seven wind instruments and percussion
- duration 35′
- cello, pno, fl (+alt fl, picc), ob (+cor), Eflat cl, bs cl, bsn, tpt, tba, perc ( lge array, incl. marimba and vibraphone)
- Commissioned by the BBC for studio recording and broadcast by the Nash Ensemble on 3 August 1980, with Christopher van Kampen (cello), Ian Brown (piano) Gary Kettel (percussion), conducted by Anthony Pay; first public performance given at the Proms by the London Sinfonietta conducted by Ronald Zollman on 2 August 1981 at the Round House, London
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1980 Equalisation
- for brass quintet and live-electronics
- duration 12’50”
- Commissioned by Equale Brass with funds made available by the Arts Council of Great Britain; first performed by Equale Brass on 6 December 1980 at the Purcell Room, London
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1981 Mareas
- for four amplified voices and four-channel tape
- duration 15’35”
- Setting of two poems by Pablo Neruda
- Commissioned by Electric Phoenix with funds made available by the Arts Council of Great Britain; first performed by Electric Phoenix on 1 February 1981 at the Round House, London
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1983 The Transistor Radio of Saint Narcissus
- for flugelhorn, live-electronics and tape
- duration c. 25′
- Commissioned by John Wallace with funds made available by the Arts Council of Great Britain; first performed by John Wallace on 27 February 1983 at the Round House, London
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1984 Le souvenir de Maurice Ravel
- for flute, oboe, clarinet, violin, viola, cello and piano
- duration c. 25′
- Commissioned by the Nash Ensemble with funds made available by the Arts Council of Great Britain; first performed by the Nash Ensemble conducted by Diego Masson on 2 June 1984 at the Wigmore Hall, London
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1984 Curtain of Light
- for metal percussion and tape
- duration 10’30”
- First performed by Elizabeth Davis on 26 June 1984 at the Almeida Theatre, Islington, London
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1984 Paws 3D
- for full orchestra
- duration 17′
- Commissioned by the Cambridgeshire County Youth Symphony Orchestra with funds made available by the Arts Council of Great Britain; first performed by the CCYSO conducted by Clive Fairbairn on 25 July 1984 at the Isle of Ely College, Wisbech
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1985 Work
- for computer-operating pianist or pianist with tape
- duration 16′
- Commissioned by Philip Mead with funds provided by Eastern Arts Association and by Acorn Computers Ltd; first performed by Philip Mead on 21 February 1985 at the Cambridgeshire College of Arts and Technology
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1985 Hambledon Hill
- for amplified string quartet and four-channel tape
- duration c. 15′
- Commissioned by the Arditti String Quartet with funds made available by the Arts Council of Great Britain; first performed by the Arditti String Quartet on 17 November 1985 at the Almeida Theatre
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1986 Rabbit Heaven
- for brass quintet and percussion
- duration 15’20”
- Commissioned by the English Brass Ensemble with funds made available by the Arts Council of Great Britain; first performed by the English Brass Ensemble in 1986
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1988 Trumpet Concerto
- for trumpet (+flugel + piccolo), live electronics and full orchestra
- duration 35′
- Commissioned by the BBC; first performed by John Wallace (solo trumpet) and the BBC Symphony Orchestra of Wales conducted by Nicholas Cleobury in November 1988 at St David’s Hall, Cardiff
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1988 Mekong Music
- for flute and guitar
- duration 10′
- Commissioned by Martin Feinstein and Richard Hand and first performed by them on 24 June 1988 at the Wigmore Hall, London.
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1990 Echoes
- for brass band and live electronics
- duration c. 11′
- Commissioned by the Equale Trust with the support of North-West Arts; first performed on 6 July 1990 by Besses o’ th’ Barn Band conducted by Peter Goodwin (Bassano) at the National Museum of Labour History, Manchester
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1992 Monsoon
- for narrator, flute, cello, keyboards, tabla, sita and tape
- duration c. 20′
- Commissioned by Shiva Nova with funds made available by Greater London Arts and the London Arts Board; first performed by Shiva Nova with Vayu Naidu (narrator) in May 1992 at the Purcell Room, London
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1993 La Marche
- for brass quintet
- duration c. 15′
- Commissioned by the Fine Arts Brass Ensemble and first performed by them on 31 May 1993 at the Malvern Festival
More information to follow
Scores and performance materials are available for most of these works. Any enquiries regarding the music of Tim Souster should be made to:
Penny Souster
OdB Editions
37 Windsor Rd, Cambridge CB4 3JJ, United Kingdom
p.souster@btinternet.com
tel +44 (0)1223 351995