Phosphorus

The composer writes: My

The composer writes: My wife, percussionist Beverly Johnston, and I were very much affected by Cameron’s passing. I dealt with my grief by examining my own feelings and understanding of human mortality by the best available means to me: music. Two musical characters engage in a virtual conversation with each other in this work. One, a quiet lament-like harmonic sequence for the marimba over descending minor thirds, the other is segments extracted from a DJ mix by Cameron called Phosphorus, which he had proudly sent to us a short time before he was diagnosed with cancer. These two musical themes—which in my mind gradually came to represent Bev and Cameron in this conversation—inhabit two different tempi: Bev’s at 75bpm and Cameron’s at 100bpm. They also are radically different musical expression: soft classical music that is close to mine and Bev’s sound work, and on the other hand a heavily distorted, de-sentimentalised, but otherwise matter-of-fact report on the properties of the chemical element phosphorus. Even though in his Phosphorus mix Cameron speaks in a detached manner about things devoid of any emotion, I felt that in some deeper way, perhaps unbeknownst even to him, he was talking not about phosphorus but himself. His evasion of being personal was consistent with his medical condition. However, I could not help but perceive a metaphor about his own difficult life in this text, particularly after his passing when I started using it to create this work. I chose to leave his text musically untreated, just like the documentary material, since I believe that it speaks powerfully and profoundly about the human condition in spite of the seemingly humorous and comical surface. The marimba is trying to come to terms with this material by attempting a metric modulation into Cameron’s tempo (the two tempi have a three-to-four ratio relationship) and towards the end, as understanding grows, the marimba surrenders the original tempo and abdicates to that of the Phosphorus mix. After completing this work, I realised that all three of my compositions for marimba and digital audio have a pre-recorded documentary aspect. Fertility Rites (PE101), references Inuit throat singers, while In the Fire of Conflict (PE108) references the rap pondering of a young man under severe socio-economic duress. Phosphorus continues this theme with the voice of a young man who at one point of his monologue states that ‘In Greek, phosphorus mean Light Bearer.’ Cameron Haynes has been this Light Bearer for a lot of people, including us, and this work is dedicated to his memory. PE123 – vi

The digital audio consists partly of excepts from the mix Phosphorus, created by Cameron Haynes with the assistance of his brother Johnston Haynes. Phosphorus received its premiere performance by Beverly Johnston (marimba) at International Katarzyna Myćka Marimba Academy 2015 (IKMMA) held at Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media, Hanover, Germany on 23 July 2015. Performance notes • The digital audio should be played back at such volume to enable a blend between the live and pre-recorded marimba in the digital audio. • The notation of digital audio in the score is intended to be a guide for cueing purposes rather than a direct transcription. • Timings are provided in the score (minutes : seconds) for navigation in rehearsal. Digital Download • The digital audio files may be downloaded using the Download Coupon attached to the rear of this publication from our website at no extra cost. • To download the files follow the instructions in the Digital File Download coupon in the sleeve. • The coupon will provide a code for one download only. • If the coupon is missing or the coupon code has already been redeemed, please contact the Publisher at support@promethean-editions.com or submit a technical support case on our website (www.promethean-editions.com). • The audio file are supplied in the WAV audio format for maximum compatibility with all devices. PE123 – vii