Illuminate Women's Music
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A blog series on women composers from the past and present

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Kerensa Briggs on composition and her piece 'Forget?'

2/19/2019

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Much of my music is influenced by reflection. As music can be such a powerful elicitor of reflective thought, I aim to write music which can give expression to existential emotions in a way that is universally accessible. Having grown up in the English Choral Tradition and singing on a regular basis from a young age, my music has been heavily influenced by the transcendence of sacred music and spaces, with it being described as ‘meditative and mellifluous’[1], with a 'great feel for choral sonority and textures’.[2]

In terms of my compositional approach, I am very much led by my ear. As the composer Herbert Howells once said, ‘I have composed out of sheer love of trying to make nice sounds’.[3]Musical sounds or ideas, like any auditory signal of course, unfold over time. When composing this piano trio, ‘Forget?’, for Prism, I wanted to explore ways in which music can be involved with memory and the processing of emotions, responses and ideas. 

I knew from the outset that I wanted the opening section to reappear in different guises, each time incorporating different textural, harmonic, melodic and rhythmic ideas. I wanted the reminiscence of the initial theme to be clear, but for the memory of it to become altered through the processing of the subsequent contrasting sections. These are varied in numerous ways throughout the piece but hark back to ideas from the original theme.
​

I often find it helpful to refer to traditional structures, and with this idea of musical reminiscence and altered repetitions in mind, I decided early on to use Rondo form as a structural outline (ABA1CA2DA3). Polytonal ascending semiquaver phrases in the piano part juxtapose emotive and more melodic writing found in the string parts in the B and C sections. The D section sees a more contrapuntal interplay between all of the instruments. There are elements of jazz-influenced rhythms and harmonies throughout the piece, particularly at the end of the D section where the strings eventually come together into unison. This then leads us back into the final statement of the original theme, which, although featuring subtle differences and having been influenced by memories of the contrasting sections, has not been forgotten.

You can hear the trio amongst other premieres by Sarah Westwood, Blair Boyd, Angela Elizabeth Slater and Laura Shipsey on the 8th March at the New School of Music Concert Hall in Cambridge, MA; at the Women Composers Festival of Hartford, CT, on the 30th March; at the Music and Wine concert series at St Luke’s, Brighton, on the 30th August; at Late Music at Yorkon the 7th September; St Mary's Church, Stafford on the 14th September, and at Stonevale Concert Serieson Sunday 15th September.

[1]The Choir of St Bride’s Fleet Street on ‘Gloucester Service’ (2018)
[2]Professor Robert Saxton on ‘Ave Regina Caelorum’(2017)
[3]
Paul Spicer, Herbert Howells, Bridgend: Poetry Wales Press Ltd (1998)
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    Authors


    Dr Helen Thomas
    Dr Rhian Davies
    ​Dr Laura Dallman
    ​Alex Burns
    ​Dr Gemma McGregor
    ​Sarah Westwood
    Carol J Jones
    Dr Blair Boyd
    Dr Angela Elizabeth Slater
    Laura Shipsey
    Kerensa Briggs
    Dr Kendra Leonard
    Elizabeth de Brito

    Dr Steph Power
    Lara Poe
    ​Nina Danon
    ​Sabina Pena Young
    Mason Bynes

    Composers
    Morfydd Owen
    Libby Larsen
    Lili Boulanger
    Louise Marie Simon
    Amy Beach
    Sarah Westwood
    Carol J Jones
    Arlene Sierra
    Gemma McGregor
    Angela Elizabeth Slater
    ​Clara 
    Schumann
    ​
    Hélène de Montgeroult
    ​Blair Boyd
    ​Fumiko Miyachi
    Grażyna Bacewicz
    ​
    Hilda Jerea
    ​
    Jennifer Higdon
    ​Thea Musgrave
    ​Elizabeth Maconchy
    ​
    Laura Shipsey
    Kerensa Briggs
    Caroline Bordignon
    ​Vivian Fine
    Barbara Strozzi
    Joanna Ward
    Yfat Soul Zisso
    Angela Elizabeth Slater (vid)
    Blair Boyd (vid)
    Sarah Westwood (vid)
    ​Kaija Saariaho
    Ailsa Dixon
    ​
    Charlotte Bray
    ​Angela Elizabeth Slater - blog on Suncatcher
    ​Steph Power
    Lara Poe
    ​Nina Danon
    Amanda Aldridge
    ​Carrie Jacob Bonds

    ​Sabina Pena Young
    Mason Bynes

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  • Home
  • About
    • Illuminate
  • What's On!
    • Illuminate Scotland tour
    • Support Illuminate Women's Music
  • Illuminate Scotland Artists
  • Illuminate Blog
  • Past Illuminate Women's Music series
    • Illuminate performers Spring 2023
    • Illuminate composers Spring 2023
    • Illuminate Video premieres
    • Illuminate 2022 concerts
    • Illuminate 2021 artists >
      • Illuminate 2021 Artists Season I
      • Illuminate Season II Artists 2021
      • Illuminate Spring 2023 - What's on!
    • Whats on 2021 Season I and II
    • 2020 Season I Artists
    • Digital artists >
      • Digital series - What's On
    • Illuminate at RCM 2020
    • Illuminate Extra at Nottingham!
    • Illuminate 2019 Season II concert series >
      • Illuminate at RCM 2019
      • 2019 Season II Artists
      • 2019 Season II What's Was On!
      • Season II Composer interview videos
    • Illuminate 2019 Season I Concert series >
      • 2019 Season I What's Was On!
      • 2019 Season I Artists
      • Gallery of 2019 Season I concerts
      • Season I 2019 Video gallery
    • 2018 Illuminate touring concert series >
      • Performers (2018)
      • Composers (2018)
      • Gallery of Illuminate 2018 concert series
      • Videos from Illuminate 2018 concert series
      • 2018 - What Was On!
  • Contact
  • Digital concert on 20th November