Music: As Above, So Below

This work was written a response to a commission by John Wallace (to whom it is dedicated) and The Wallace Collection by the 28 year-old composer and saxophonist, Jay Capperauld, whose works have been performed by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, and a number of leading soloists and ensembles. It received its world première on the afternoon of 30 September at Cumnock Old Church, East Ayrshire, by The Wallace Collection and Dalmellington Band, conducted by Martyn Brabbins, as part of the 2017 Cumnock Tryst festival.

A graduate of the Royal Scottish Conservatoire, Jay Capperauld has based his piece on an esoteric text said to have been found on an artefact known as the Emerald Tablet, one of a number of a fabled pieces of jade, which according to legend were inscribed with the words of Hermes Trimegistus (thrice greatest Hermes), a combination of the Greek god, Hermes and the Egyptian god, Thoth. It treats on the unity and correspondence of all things in the heavens, on earth and in the spiritual realm, and is part of the Hermetica - a series of writings that were once studied intently by alchemists and occultists. Jay Capperauld prefaces his work with a quote from Helena Blavatsky (co-founder of the Theosophy movement), "The Universe is worked and guided from within outwards," and provides a 17th Century translation of the Emerald Tablet text.

Musically, the work centres on an eight-note, chant-like scale and its correlation to the plainsong Dies Irae melody (an accidental discovery according to the composer). To drive home the notion of things above having their counterpart below, the composer directs the solo brass quintet to play from a balcony or raised platform, while the brass band plays at ground level.

The work begins mysteriously with clusters in the lower band and the upper band whispering portions of the text. The chant-like scale is intoned by the mid-band (baritones, horns and euphoniums), and the music and speech rise to a thunderous climax amid the ringing of handbells before returning to eerie muttering. The solo quintet declaims from above and is answered from below, the work concluding in dramatic fashion with crashing percussion. The writing for the quintet requires players of a high standard, whilst that for the band is not so technically demanding as taxing.

A standard brass band is used, but there is a large percussion section, which includes a gong agang (a Javanese button gong) and six handbells that are rung by the solo quintet, making the work most suitable for performance at conservatories and universities with well-equipped percussion departments, and for adventurous concerts and festivals of contemporary music.

DR. RODNEY NEWTON - COMPOSER

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