![]() Others (‘Waves I & II’) have purely ‘musical’ aims, while others are poems which can, but need not be, performed (Tone Poem and flit. Hugh’s Prose Pieces vary widely in character and approach - ‘environmental’ pieces (‘Space-time Music’ & ‘Shadows’), theatrical (‘Erasure’ which has the players mimicking the performance of a standard work & ‘Projectiles’), visual (‘Floorboard Music’. Hugh’s father Norman Shrapnel was a renowned writer and journalist whose enthusiasm for the word Hugh has inherited.ĭuring his ‘experimental’ period when he was a member of the Scratch orchestra, Hugh, in common with several other composers of the time wrote a whole series of musical pieces in purely verbal notation in which amateurs and non musicians as well as trained performers could take part, this being an important aim of the Scratch Orchestra. ![]() From the late 1960s onwards, Hugh has been keen on breaking with the traditional concert convention of the audience sitting in rows and for the performance of Woodlands Collection the audience wandered round the gallery listening and looking –an important legacy of the Scratch Orchestra. In February 2001 Hugh wrote Woodlands Collection as a sound component to an exhibition of installations by the artist Carl Plackman. Hugh’s music, from the earliest days, has often been performed in art galleries from the mid 1990s onwards the Redlands Consort performed regularly at the Woodlands Gallery in Blackheath, South East London. In 1991 Hugh was commissioned by Georgie Wise from the Wise-Taylor Partnership, working with visual artists Caroline Wilkinson and Craig Bell to provide music for the highly praised exhibition ‘Unity’ at the Slaughterhouse gallery in London. Hugh did a series of graphic scores during the Scratch Orchestra period. Cantation II was first performed in Portsmouth Polytechnic (now the Portsmouth College of Art), some of the pianists being actual art students. The scores of some of these pieces themselves have a striking visual appeal. During the Scratch Orchestra period Hugh wrote a whole series of ‘white note’ pieces, taking their cue from Robert Rauschenberg’s ‘white’ paintings. Hugh took great interest in the work of the visual artists in the Scratch Orchestra such as Psi Ellison, Carole Finer, David Jackman and Tim Mitchell. The Scratch Orchestra, of which Hugh was a member throughout its existence, forged unique ties between music and the visual arts. The work and ideas of her teacher, the very innovative and inventive Manchester based artist Terry McGlynn made a lasting impression on Hugh as a child. Hugh’s mother, Myfanwy Shrapnel was a highly regarded artist who specialised in collages (some of Hugh’s music has something of the collage). Hugh has a great love for and extensive knowledge of the visuals arts and his music has often been inspired by and modelled on visual ideas forms, colours and shapes. Among the piano works, examples include Autumn Pieces, the 2nd piece of which depicts a storm, Robin (from 1st Piano Set), Sunset written in memory of an aunt, Twilight Preludes.Hugh has a great love of cats Cat Preludes was written for pianist and Radio 3 broadcaster Sarah Walker as well as the recent piano duet piece Basil, a description of her Parsian cat.įromewater depicts a beautiful Cotswold valley which in former days was sometimes flooded by its river.Ĭoronal (2004) was commissioned by the pianist John Tilbury based on a Houseman poem it depicts a flower garden changing from early spring to summer. Hugh has a great love of nature, the theme of much of his piano and instrumental music. He has a profound distrust of ‘labels’ and believes that a healthy musical environment is one in which the music of today is at the centre. Hugh has drawn on a wide range of musical influences over the years: English and American experimentalism, the classical music tradition (and its continuation in the early 20th century pioneers such as Schoenberg, Stravinsky, Bartok and Ives) through to a wide range of popular influences, including music hall, jazz, rock and folk. It is a lyricism which is sometimes tempered by irony and humour however and varies greatly in mood and expression. ![]() The overall character of Hugh Shrapnel’s music is lyrical - an expression of his love of nature and feeling for place and community.
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