Beacons

In the summer of 2014, I walked for ten days from Monmouth to Pen y Fan in The Brecon Beacons, following the Beacons Way, part of Offa’s Dyke, and other smaller paths.  I made a graph of the topographical contour of this walk and set out to use it as a basis for pitch/melody in this piece, by plotting pitches onto the contour.  In addition to the iconic Beacons, I became interested in the part of the contour that ran across the low-lying terrain between Monmouth and Pandy, at the edge of the Black Mountains to the north-east of the Beacons.  This topography produced exactly the type of gently undulating, chromatic monody that I wanted to use, appropriately enough, at the beginning of the piece.  I’ve given fragments of it to all the instruments along with a variety of other musical ideas, which the players are free to play in any order.  This element of freedom/chance runs through the piece, with new and recurring sections inviting the performers to freely choose from fragments that are drawn from the opening of the piece.  At the end, there is a succession of piano chords, coloured by the flute and viola.  The top note of each chord corresponds to the elevation of a significant peak or high point in the Brecon Beacons that I either ascended, passed beneath, or was otherwise affected by. The timing of the chords corresponds with a steady east-west movement through the region, each of the peaks’ chords chiming as its longitudinal position is passed. The final chords belong to the three Beacons:  Fan y Big (719 metres), Cribyn (795 metres) and Pen y Fan (886 metres).