Sun so Generous gathers three long-form works, each made for a single player and a single family of sound: bass viol, saxophone, and harpsichord. The compositions share an ongoing interest: extending an instrument’s intonation into microtonal music. The viols are retuned to sound in just intervals; the saxophone’s multiphonics are met by electronics built around the same justly tuned harmonic centres; the harpsichord is sampled and microtonally retuned, extending the practice of the sixteenth-century theorist Nicola Vicentino.
The pieces were written between 2026 and 2027 for two musicians I have worked with closely – the viol player Liam Byrne and the saxophonist David Zucchi – and for myself. Like the album, the compositions take their titles from Walt Whitman’s Song of Myself, and they share its ethos: long-form and sensual.
The album will be released by Flung in 2027.
Earth of Shine and Dark Mottling
Three scordatura bass viols, Liam Byrne, 2026 – 30′
A thirty-minute work for three bass viols, each retuned so that the instruments sound together in just intonation. Byrne recorded the three parts in turn. The recording is mixed in stereo and ambisonics, and exists as a film, 360° film, and installation in which each viol sounds from its own place in the room.
O Suns—O Grass of Graves
Saxophone and live electronics, David Zucchi, 2026 – 10′
The saxophone’s multiphonics are set against an electronic part that the player triggers, made from retuned organ samples and organised around a constellation of harmonic centres that reinforce the instrument’s own uneven tunings.
This the Common Air That Bathes the Globe
Sampler-harpsichord, Benjamin Tassie, 2026–27 – 15′
A work for microtonally retuned sampler-harpsichord, which I will perform. In progress.
Details
Performers
Benjamin Tassie, Liam Byrne, David Zucchi
Release
Flung Recordings, CD + Digital (wav/mp3), 2027
Performances
Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, November 2027
O Suns—O Grass of Graves
Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, 16-20 November 2026
Earth of Shine and Dark Mottling (installation)
Crucible Playhouse, 7 November 2026
O Suns—O Grass of Graves – Tickets
Writing
Journal for Artistic Research, in preparation
Commissioned by
The Vaughan Williams Foundation, the Hinrichsen Foundation, The Marchus Trust, BCU Small Grants Scheme Award