Year of Glad
for large orchestra and smartphones
[3(III=picc).3(III=corA).3(III=bcl).3(III=cbsn) - 4.3.3.1 - timp.perc(2) - pf/cel.hp. - str]
2023
[7 minutes]
First performed by students of the Royal Academy of Music conducted by Aaron Holloway-Nahum in September 2023 in the Duke’s Hall, Royal Academy of Music.
Year of Glad was my first venture into thinking about TikTok and short form content seriously. I had just finished David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest and I loved with how the book dealt with questions of loneliness and entertainment. The piece is in two parts: the first part mimics the apathetic delirium induced by mindless scrolling by having sudden and dramatic switches between various musical styles; the piece then ‘comes to life’ in the second part with the performers having to get TikTok (or any other similar short-form content provider) up on their phones, creating a disturbing mass of noise that the orchestra then ‘fights’ with a quotation from Bach.
Score/parts available on request.