Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival - radio programme transcripts (2)

Programme 2

The starting point for House of Bedlam was to create a new classical music ensemble performing experimental instrumental music. But we wanted to add or have a slight difference, and so we had a starting line up which reflected other musics which we had grown up with: blues, rock and folk. So the original line up was electric guitar, saxophone, percussion and electronics although since then we’ve also added spoken word and cello.

We’re always trying to counter-balance the unknown with the more familiar, and the consonant with the very dissonant. So in riviniana, a richer consonant sound-world centred around the guitar is in sharp contrast with a much more abrasive electronic sound-world. And this sort of evaporates for the first few minutes of the piece and then a saxophone melody finally takes over.

I’ve now fused the riviniana piece with a piece that was originally for cello and six channels of electronics called the vermillion border and these two pieces already shared some of the electronic content so it seemed quite natural to put them together and it provides a further abrasive tension between a very very virtuosic and problematic and dissonant cello part with the richer more consonant ensemble

I have been working closely with the poet Matthew Welton over the last few years. We’ve written orchestral songs, chamber songs, a small scale theatre piece and we’re planning an opera next year. The spoken word element in the concerts also takes it out of the more familiar context of a classical concert and provides a different point of perceptive for the music and for the setting.

Last year we performed a Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival Hub Short which is a twenty minute performance platform. And I’m glad that they liked us enough to invite us back.

(Graham McKenzie)

Graham McKenzie Festival Director

Larry Goves is simply one of the most exciting young composers around. I’m absolutely fascinated by the concept around his group, House of Bedlam. The group itself could really exist and work on any musical genre you care to mention. It’s very rare that you actually get spoken word as an integral part of what is going on on the stage.

(Voice over)

Contributor Larry Goves, composer; music by the House of Bedlam; Festival Shorts are produced by Beaumont Street Studios.