MCH | BLANK

Official website for Mark C. Hewitt & Blank Productions

Songs of Tenderness & Violence
- a cycle for soprano and nine solo instruments
2002

Music: Peter Copley
Text: Mark C. Hewitt


In 2008, I was invited by composer Peter Copley to write a sequence of texts that he could set to music. He specifically requested texts that were provocative. The resulting sequence of episodic and fractured prose fragments evoke contemporary scenes of dysfunction, perversity, violence, rage and distress. The piece requires an unusual combination of instruments and soprano voice. It is yet to be performed.

Songs of Tenderness & Violence – a cycle for soprano and nine solo instruments
1. Prelude
2. Two Fingers
3. Private Joke
4. Not Knowing
5. Administration Fee
6. Calvin Klein
7. Epilogue

Instrumentation
Soprano voice
Flute/piccolo
Clarinet in E flat
Clarinet in B flat
Bass clarinet
Trumpet in B flat
Tenor trombone
Percussion
Cello
Contrabass

Copley
Peter Copley at a pub in Brighton.