'Afference' (2014) – for string quartet (23')
- Submitting institution
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Royal Northern College of Music
- Unit of assessment
- 33 - Music, Drama, Dance, Performing Arts, Film and Screen Studies
- Output identifier
- 28E
- Type
- J - Composition
- Month
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- Year
- 2014
- URL
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- Supplementary information
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- Request cross-referral to
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- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
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- Forensic science
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- Criminology
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- Interdisciplinary
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- Number of additional authors
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- Research group(s)
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1 - Composition
- Proposed double-weighted
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- Reserve for an output with double weighting
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- Additional information
- String quartet ‘Afference’ (in two movements) was the composer’s major research undertaking during 2014. A series of Elias Quartet meetings (discussions; workshopping of sketch materials) informed practical compositional decisions (including those involving balance, timbre and vibrato) in tandem with the composer’s comprehensive musical exploration of the physiological term afference (how the brain receives signals from the body; how blood moves through vessels towards organs; how nerve fibres convey sensory experiences to the central nervous system) informing development of the work’s intricate soundworld, afferent musical processes, and structure.
This research is directly inspired by the reading and technical mechanisms of the poetry of Geoffrey Hill, as evidenced in the accompanying article. The first movement explores musical material including a motif gifted by Hill (private communication, 7 July 2011) behaving afferently. The composer has used the idea of an axon transferring an impulse to a synapse to inform the music’s trajectory, the interplay of parts, and minute timbral inflections; sequences of axon-shaped gestures occur throughout, sometimes overtly (e.g. violin 1 b.245-246). Influenced by Hill’s concept of ‘neurocratic hope’, the composer found it helpful to consider the second movement as a neural network, viewed from outside. Throughout this movement, earlier materials are transformed, becoming ever slower and more dispersed in a quest for consilience, a unity of knowledge, and ultimately silence.
‘Afference’ was commissioned by the Nicholas Boas Charitable Trust and The RVW Trust, premiered by Elias Quartet (Wigmore Hall, London, May 2015, broadcast on BBC Radio 3); further performances include the composer’s BBC Proms Extra ‘Composers in Conversation’ (2016, Solem Quartet), Aldeburgh Festival Residency (2018, Piatti Quartet). ‘Afference’ was shortlisted for a British Composer Award (2016, Small Chamber) and recorded on the composer’s NMC Debut Disc ‘Magnetite’ (D219, 2016). An online video-score (NMC / Edition Peters) is available worldwide via PRiSM YouTube.
- Author contribution statement
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- Non-English
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- English abstract
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