D: A piece with a title like Opera doesn't instantly suggest instrumental music for violin & piano. Where did this originate from and is the title very important to you in terms of how it might reflect the type of piece this word suggests to the general public?

M: While working on the piece for violin and piano I went down to Brighton to visit Antony Bye (editor of the musical Times) and one of his enthusiasms was the film maker Dario Argento.....I was absolutely mesmerized by the film 'Opera' which we watched together....it's not a regular occurance to find oneself in this situation....usually it's a case of seeing/hearing things which you might like to a greater or lesser extent but the experience goes no further... I realised at once that the abrupt cutting/prowling camerawork/surreal atmosphere bore a relationship with my musical interests. I also relished the title 'Opera' having not come up with a suitable libretto for a request from the Almeida Theatre. This was like a temporary substitute, a way of compacting an opera into a short timespan and for such modest forces! Preferable to the other way round of stretching something something which is essentially small vision onto a big canvas.

D: When you & I were working through early drafts of this piece you kept referring to sections of music from J S Bach's French Suites (I think!) Is his music particularly influential on you ?

M: One of the early drafts of the piece did involve the Sarabande from Bach's 5th French Suite coupled with a freshly composed violin part by me.The violin soaring above the piano part and slightly at a tangent, though not completely as is the case with the recent Finnissy piece for violin and piano. I'm particularly wary about the combination of violin and piano having made a miscalculation in a Trio for clarinet, violin and piano and the Bach experiment was a case of 'what happens if I do this?...' I liked the results but sadly it never reached the final piece! I came to Bach via the quirky interpretations of Glenn Gould which always seemed to get bad write-ups in the Penguin Record Guide so naturally there was a certain exoticism assosciated with him!.....it sounded so modern/fresh! More specifically, I like the preference in Baroque music to stick to one mood in a particular section, then move onto something different. 'Opera' is a good example of this.

D: Every time I hear or perform your music I'm immediately struck by the parallels to composers like Gerald Barry and Michael Finnissy. Without trying to offend, yours can be a music of a certain 'manic nature'. What do you think about this?

M : I agree, my music has a manic quality and it's certainly what has always come most naturally to me though not necessarily in music. When I was very young I loved drawing highly detailed/violent medieval battle scenes, teeming with incident and activity.Though technically primitive I won a prize once for one of these pictures! It's a shame that with the passing of time they've all gone missing.

D: Do your compositional processes change much piece to piece?

M: In general, I'd say the way I work is fairly intuitive which isn't to say I make it up as I go along and the notes magically ooze out...... It's more a case of being flexible with the material...having an overall vision which however strong can be open to all kinds of possibilities. 'Opera' as it happens is a much tighter structure than some of my previous works with the various sections/scenes emerging out of the initial set of notes, quietly stated (at the start) on the violin and piano. The process is transparent where previously I might've obscured matters with various tranformations. Simplicity is often best!

D: Your violin writing in Opera and other pieces I have performed by you is very idiomatic. Was this something you consciously considered whilst writing Opera ?

M: I was very aware of the timbre of the violin while working on 'Opera'....in this respect, I found our early read through of some of the drafts very useful for orientating myself. Unlike Richard Barrett who once said in an interview that he didn't find a dialogue with the performer useful I actually find it quite liberating even if in the end I don't take on board any suggestions!

D: What's your favourite piece of 20th/21st century violin music?

M: It's hard to nominate only one! I'm very fond of the Dillon and Feldman concertos. Both pieces are very alluring and sensual in completely different ways. Solo works by Xenakis, Sciarrino, Barrett(air), Finnissy and Barry are particular favourites as they all have a good sense of line.

Copyright © Darragh Morgan - Interview with Morgan Hayes 2005

Seven States of Rain by Richard Causton - dedicated to Mary Dullea & Darragh Morgan

D: Richard, I remember from many years ago when we were both involved with Ensemble Corrente, that your work Persistence of Memory involved you building an actual instrument for the piece. Baring this and the type of blu-tack preparation for the piano in Seven States of Rain, are new timbres vital at the inception of a new composition?

R: Yes – very often. New timbres can be a source of real fascination when I find them – they seem to create a musical context for themselves and perhaps even a poetic association (such as rain!). But this process can happen in reverse as well, i.e. I find that I need to create a specific timbre for a specific, existing musical purpose.

D: When I look back at early versions of Seven States of Rain I realise how different (and possibly shorter) the final piece is. Is there a strict revision process that you follow or do you sometimes find yourself to be content with the original version?

R: For me composition feels like a process of getting to know the new piece as I write it - a bit like feeling my way around a room with my eyes shut. As work progresses, the features of the piece become more and more apparent and towards the end, there’s usually a phase of paring down/tightening up the piece. In this case, it involved actually cutting out a section of music which I realised wasn’t required. It’s very unusual for a piece to reach its final shape in a single draught.

D: I really admire your clever use of harmony in Seven States of Rain. Was this a challenge you set yourself considering you prepared so many notes across the range of the keyboard that were obviously excluded from 'normal' harmonic use?

R: This aspect of writing the piece was very difficult – it’s the price one has to pay for putting blu-tack in the piano! However, in the end the idea of complementary harmony (prepared vs. unprepared pitches) seemed to become a part of what the piece was about, since both instruments have 2 modes of playing: bowing and plucking for the violin, prepared and unprepared notes for the piano.

D: Seven States of Rain is clearly a very sectional piece. Did you write it in the order it now appears?

R: No – I think it was fairly typical for me in that the end came fairly soon and it progressed backwards (more or less); I like to know where I’m aiming for! But with this work I also had a peculiar feeling that the two instruments were almost playing different pieces, superimposed but out of synch: the violin plays on its own for the first minute or so, and the final minute of the piece is piano solo.

D: In your programme note (see OUP 2003 publication or NMC D108) you provide a very vivid description of rain in its various moods and forms, and how the poetry of rain is invoked in the piece. Which came first the music or the title?

R: The title came perhaps a quarter of the way through – all the basic material and ideas were there but there was still a lot of shaping and polishing left to do!

Copyright © Darragh Morgan - Interview with Richard Causton 2005