Symphony no. 2

This work bridges the worlds of sound sculpture/sound art and music composition (both electronic and notated). The commission brief required reference to Futurism (the performance was organised to celebrate the centenary of Marinetti’s Futurist Manifesto).
As a starting point I took a specific Futurist document: a fragment of graphic score by Luigi Russolo. The opening of Symphony No 2 is a transcription of this ca 30” fragment ; to create this I needed to – as well as creatively interpreting Russolo’s visual design – find equivalents of Russolo’s intonarumori in Shiel’s sound sculptures. Further research tasks included collecting ‘concrete’ urban sounds for the electronic component of the work (and also notating rhythms ‘found’ in the city, for acoustic performance).
Shiel’s sound sculptures have been used by (amongst others) Tim Brookes, Denis Smalley, Tazul Tajuddin and Julia Usher. Symphony No 2 follows and builds on the experience and discoveries of my first composition for Sculpted Sound, Invocation (2003). The unique instrumentation makes Symphony No 2, along with Invocation, distinct from the rest of my compositional output.
Symphony No 2 was premièred as part of a conference on ‘theatre noise’. This context adds a further multi-disciplinary dimension to the existing sound art/music composition dichotomy. The piece adds to the small but growing repertoire for sound sculpture in general, and Shiel’s in particular. Through use of the medium it extends the Western acoustic instrumentarium, investigating new expressive potential in acoustic sound.

Composed between September 2008 and February 2009.
Performance: Supported by Central School of Speech and Drama, Estorick Gallery of Modern Italian Art and the Italian Cultural Institute
Symphony No 2 was presented at the Embassy Theatre, Central School of Speech and Drama, London, UK as part of a conference on ‘theatre noise’, to an audience of students, conference attendees and the public.
The performance was audio and video recorded. The audio recording is on FMR Records FMRCD 300-1210.
Contributions to the work were also made by Derek Shiel (text for vocal component) and François Evans (realisation of electronic component). Brian Inglis' contribution accounts for 90% of the intellectual property