Nuages (2019)
It was a tremendous honour for me to have been asked to compose a new work for the BBC Proms, and to have had the chance to work with Ilan Volkov and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. In composing Nuages, I wanted to explore the idea of layering, of thickness and thinness, something the orchestral form lends itself to so beautifully. I love the subtleties and gradations of the undertones in painting, for instance, where different colours are superimposed, generating an overall hue or atmosphere. The title Nuages (clouds) refers to the orchestral images that were in my mind during the creation of the piece: the veiled haze of strings, the tangled thicket of woodwinds, or the soft fog of percussion. I was interested in a quiet lushness, as in the weaving of light and shade in an overgrown garden; occasionally the work completely thins out, like a clearing in the surroundings, a pause in thought. Above all, I felt I was working with clouds of harmony, through which an occasional melody sometimes appears.
Commissioned by BBC Radio 3 and first performed by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra conducted by Ilan Volkov at the Royal Festival Hall on 1 September 2019 as part of BBC Proms 2019.
