Sturnus vulgaris cohibitus (2020) at Huddersfield festival
Richard Uttley, photo credit Cathy Pyle.
On November 24th, Sturnus vulgaris cohibitus (2020) will receive its UK premiere, performed by Richard Uttley at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival. Since its creation in Vilnius in 2020, the piece has been performed in Germany, France, and Italy. Notably, an analysis of Sturnus vulgaris cohibitus was featured in Robert Fleitz’s Master’s thesis, Microtonality in Works for Solo Piano: Three Case Studies in the Baltic Keyboard Repertoire, defended at Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music.
Richard Uttley + Ben Goldscheider
Sunday 24 November 1:00 pm St Paul's Hall
Richard Uttley piano
Ben Goldscheider french horn
Laurence Osborn (UK, 1989)
Halali, or, The Kill (2023) 6’
Johanna Eränkö (Finland, 1981)
Tired Light (2010/2013) 10’
Vykintas Baltakas (Lithuania, 1972)
(how does the silver cloud s)ou(nd?) (2006) 5’
Richard Uttley (UK, 1987)
Aufschwung (2022) 13’
Justina Repečkaitė (Lithuania, 1989)
Sturnus vulgaris cohibitus (2020) 9’ UK Premiere
Zoë Martlew (UK, 1968)
Nibiru (2024) 10’
Oliver Leith (UK, 1990)
Eeyore (2024) 11’ World Premiere
Program Note
The impact of the lockdown on nature was pronounced, as people were confined at home, animals began to feel freer in cities, pollution and noise levels decreased and birdsong became more audible. Confined at home, I began to watch starling flocks in my garden and listen to their (by my first-impression) non melodic songs. I wanted to capture their voices, turning them into a virtual instrument.
Composition Sturnus vulgaris cohibitus reflects on the idea of confinement. Piano part has a developed rhythmical language and is treated as a percussion instrument with prepared strings inside the big resonating box. Tiny speakers inside the piano play the brief starling calls which have a timbre function, creating a reverb and later a delay of a played instrument. Expanding it’s register the piece progresses keeping the dependency between piano and tape while symbolising a bird trapped between the strings, only making sound when struck by piano hammers but still hoping to break free.
Virtual instrument patch created by Kristijonas Naslenas.
