Tripotage Miniatures

‘…makes diverting and often engaging play with its heterogeneous ensemble – witness the teasingly insubstantial dialogue of ‘40 Watt’, often fraught interplay of harmonic and melodic elements in ‘Buzzard’, then increasingly animated conversation provoked by the perpetual motion of ‘Majolica’: object lessons in less is more.’ Gramophone (Richard Whitehouse), June 2020

Instrumentation

fl(=afl+picc).ob(=ca).cl(=Ebcl) - hn - vla.db

Availability

Score and parts for hire

Programme Notes

Tripotage Miniatures are a collection of 3 duets, 2 trios and a tutti movement for mixed sextet. Each miniature is around 1-3 minutes long.

The miniatures are exploring different kinds of opacity, glitch, fuzz, shade and grime – imagining underhand dealings that place a sort of filmy surface on top of the material. (My favourite translation of Tripotage from the French is Jiggery Pokery)

Sometimes this filter seems to drain colour- turning the material almost sepia, sometimes it makes ideas a bit murkier – harder to grasp, slippery and falling through the fingers, sometimes it causes moments to stutter and distort and sometimes its about capturing a fleeting feeling of distance, of something out of reach.

There are tiny thematic links between the movements but they could also be played individually – its about capturing a moment – even if it’s a slightly shady and disquieting one.

I Lanolin Eb Clarinet & Horn

II 40 Watt Piccolo & Double Bass

III Moth Alto Flute, Oboe & horn

IV Buzzard Cor Anglais & Viola

V Scrying Bb Clarinet, Viola & Double Bass

VI Majolica Tutti (Flute, Oboe, Bb Clarinet, Horn, Viola & Double Bass)

Reviews

'…does an imaginative job in Tripotage Miniatures (2016) of showing how varied short pieces for different instrumental combinations can be. She says the title is best translated as “jiggery pokery”, and her six players, drawn from the Aurora Orchestra, explore “different kinds of opacity, glitch, fuzz, shade and grime” with a bubbling sense of fun.'
Financial Times (Richard Fairman), 13 March 2020

‘…makes diverting and often engaging play with its heterogeneous ensemble – witness the teasingly insubstantial dialogue of ‘40 Watt’, often fraught interplay of harmonic and melodic elements in ‘Buzzard’, then increasingly animated conversation provoked by the perpetual motion of ‘Majolica’: object lessons in less is more.’
Gramophone (Richard Whitehouse), June 2020