GEILT (2019)
(for orchestra: 2flute.2oboe.2clarinet.2bassoon; 2altosax.2trumpet.2Frenchhorn.1trombone; strings)
variable duration, approx. 7-20 minutes
Commissioned by the Nevis Ensemble for their Summer Tour of the Hebrides, 2019.
Summer Isles (Am I); Soay (Offering); Thumbs (Two Fingers); The Haar (Absence); West Coast (Grazed Elbows); Zekari Pass (Bruised Wrists); Assynt (Seen From Afar); Hecla (The Witch); Glen Brittle (I am with you…); Sweeney (If I show my heels); Raasay (Listening to the surge on the stony shore); Escape from Inverie (Astray); Tabatskuri (Rubble); From the Black Sea (Kalashnikov); The Atlantic Ocean (Rotten Spring Tide); Hecla (Passed By); Loch Coruisk (A Prayer For A Breeze); Ullapool Sea Wall (Morning)
Photo by Tommy Ga-Ken Wan
During the tour, GEILT was performed at:
Craiginsh Hall, Craignish Penninsula
Oban High School, Oban
Eriskay Community Hall, Eriskay
Bailvanich School, Benbecula
Uist Community Riding School, North Uist
Lochmaddy Community Hall, North Uist
Taigh Chearsabhagh Museum & Arts Centre, North Uist
St Clement’s Church, Harris
The Street, St Kilda
Harris Tweed Hebrides, Lewis
Callanis Standing Stones, Lewis
Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, Isle of Skye
Nan MacKay Community Hall, Glasgow
I have also had the pleasure of writing about my experience of working on GEILT and taking it around the North West with the Nevis Ensemble for...
...the Nevis Blog, featuring sounds I recorded during the orchestra's journey:
https://nevisensemble.org/2020/02/10/blog-rufus-elliot-composer/
...and the Wandering Academic blog, with additional historical background on some of the places GEILT was played:
https://thewanderingacademic.com/2020/02/23/st-clements-church-rodel-harris/