David Roche on a Chorus in Alto
Composer David John Roche on the changing image of the electric guitar and his latest work, Chorus in Alto.
David John Roche tells us about the genesis of his new concerto for electric guitar, Chorus in Alto, and reflects on the influences which shaped his latest composition.
I think the image of the electric guitar is changing. As a prospective university student – way back when - I remember being asked by an interviewing lecturer if there was any music for the instrument that was actually written down (there was, obviously). I also remember accepting a place on a university program that forbade students from having “loud instruments like the electric guitar”. The same program had no problem with the guy upstairs spending his free time blasting out Chunk Mangione’s “Feels So Good” on his trumpet with the window open – it’s a good tune, it’s just slightly antisocial to rip it out over and over when you live in a block of flats.
I think the issue people have had with the electric guitar is that it can do a lot of very specific things. Because each of these things are very different from each other, it’s sort of hard to say what the instrument does at all; metal, rock, funk, pop, country, ambient soundscapes, noise art, microtonal tunings, whatever. This issue is compounded by how much the instrument is changing. Players like Tosin Abasi and Joshua Travis embrace the difficulties of ultra-low tunings with high levels of distortion – turning it into something intensely and weirdly artful… but this stuff is a tricky listen, can get pretty abstract, and changes like these are happening all over the place in different directions. What on Earth do you do with the electric guitar?
Well, in writing my new concerto, Chorus in Alto, for Sean Shibe, Britten Sinfonia, and Sinfonia Cymru, I wanted to make sure that I was embracing this peculiar developmental space that the electric guitar sits in. I wanted to make sure I reflected what the electric guitar meant to me. I also wanted to make sure my composition was written for a particular player (in this case, Sean Shibe). So, I spent a lot of time thinking about how I would draw on Sean’s diverse, hugely virtuosic guitar playing skillset – seeing it through the lens of my own musical language and melding it with my own experiences as a guitarist in rock and metal bands. Talking through each of the movements will, I hope, give you some insight into this eclectic, intense work – I’m really proud of it.
The first movement of Chorus in Alto is riffy, fast, and filled with percussion. Here, I’m thinking of my own background in rock and metal bands – being sure to draw on the structures and forms that dominate these types of music making (intros, verses, choruses, pre-choruses – you know the drill). It’s pop music – no doubt, no shame. Audiences will hear a really clear, repeated riff with a changing chordal accompaniment. Each of these gestures focuses around the open strings of the violins, viola, cello, and bass – emulating (often as literally as possible) a special type of chord called a powerchord. This is a chord made up of a root note and fifth (usually above it) – these chords make up an absurd amount of rock and metal music. The language of rock and metal music is a huge part of this concerto, but it’s especially present here. The score itself is also littered with references to bands and guitar tones; Angels and Airwaves, Deep Purple, The Cure (I definitely should’ve picked some cooler ones) but they’re all bands with distinct guitar tones. Often overdriven, often with chorus, lots of Stratocaster sounds present. This movement is closest to who I am as a player – unironic pop and rock music, plectrum guitar, driving and determined rhythms.
The first cadenza (a solo section, usually virtuosic) takes a RH picking pattern from Villa-Lobos’ Etude No. 1. This is a really popular piece for classical guitar (that actually gave me repetitive strain injury – tut tut!), and I liked the idea of taking it and playing it on an electric guitar. The plucking pattern itself sounds really sparkling, glittering, and gorgeous – this is intensified because the electric guitar has a greater and more accessible range of notes (which I use!).
Prior to this patterning, the cadenza begins with a very exposed, sentimental melody (a bit like “Perth” by Bon Iver) – something that makes use of the extreme quiet that the electric guitar is capable of, something that ramps up the expressivity. What I love most about this cadenza, however, is that it gives Sean (or the performer) the space to interpret the music. On the page, it’s just a simple melody and a string of (admittedly less simple) 16th notes. It demands sensitivity and input from the performer. I think that, when writing for a brilliant performer (like Sean), you need to make sure you put the ball in their court. You’re not after the sound of an instrument by itself – you’re after their sound, that specific player is front and centre. It’s important to give them space.
Following the first cadenza is the second movement. This is where you get the clearest glimpse of this piece’s biggest influence – Yvette Young. There’s lots of fingerstyle electric guitar, it’s dancing and dynamic, and there are lots of bends and slides. Check out Covet’s “Lovespell” and you’ll hear the link straight away. The biggest similarity is in the tone and RH dynamics – the playing style and timbre cause the overdriven guitar tone to sit on the breaking point of its overdriven sound. If you dig in, then you’ll hear the distortion, if you don’t then you won’t – it’s much easier to control without a plectrum. It’s something that makes me feel very physically connected to the sound.
Yvette Young’s playing also pushed me to use an open tuning and a CAPO (she uses these all of the time – a staple of Math Rock). The electric guitar is in DADGAD throughout Chorus in Alto, with a CAPO on fret 5 the whole time – locking it into G major. Open tunings make guitars more modal, but they also create opportunities for particular types of gymnastic movement (definitely the case here!).
There’s also a synthpop element to this movement. You can hear elements of artists like Robyn and Highasakite, with ambient, sad, soundscapes washing through the entirety of this piece. To intensify these exposed, emotional tropes, I scored the movement for strings and guitar – nothing else (almost, a tiny bit of percussion!). I wanted it to be much smaller and sensitive. I want it to feel compact and withdrawn.
Switching to classical guitar, movement three is based around the classical guitar technique of tremolo. By moving your right hand fingers in quick succession, you can give the impression of a continuous melodic line. There are lots of famous pieces that do this, but you should check out my piece The Harp of Wales (a National Library of Wales Commission, released by NMC Recordings – Memories of Alhambra is the really famous tremolo classic though, and I didn’t write that one!). Where The Harp of Wales is in DADGAD, this tremolo component of Chorus in Alto is in standard tuning (EADGBE). It felt important to me to push the music away from G major – I wanted to give the whole piece a freshness. I write a lot of tremolo studies, I think they’re really beautiful and I think they’re something that sounds so technical in description, but so gorgeous and liberated in performance.
After the soft tremolo of the third movement, we have a second cadenza. This time, the writing is much more traditional in feel. Big E major chords and melodic lines sing out, lots of plucking patterns shift across strings, and there’s plenty of space for expression and rubato. I chose to reference a second piece of core classical guitar repertoire here, this time it’s the very end of the final movement of Augustin Barrios Mangoré’s La Catedral – with its big, rippling, gorgeous arpeggios. Learning La Catedral didn’t give me RSI (thankfully), but it definitely gave me a headache… probably my mother too, I used to play it for bloody hours!
Each of the movements up to this point have focused on 1 or 2 small ideas. In the final movement, everything changes much more quickly. I chose to play with the elements of more traditional concerto writing with phrases passed back and forth between the orchestra and the soloist - lots of exciting rhythms with brisk gestures. I also indulge the more taboo aspects of rock and metal playing – lots of distortion, octave pedals, intense lead lines, and guitar effects (it moves around a lot!). The whole work ends with the use of a tremolo pedal (not to be confused with the tremolo in the third movement!). with its rhythmic pulsations forming the foundation of an idea that’s traded back and forth between the soloist and the ensemble – leading to a big, culminating chord that ebbs away to the close of the piece! A splashy, dramatic ending to a big work. I love it.
Chorus in Alto is a big piece – it’s certainly not for shy guitarists. The wide range of technical requirements, the high level of difficulty, and the requirement that they embrace the technicality of the electric guitar means that it is a complicated work to perform. I’m really proud of this piece - make sure you go and see it while you can!
Chorus in Alto is being performed by Britten Sinfonia as part of their composer showcase this weekend, further information is available here.