Three sexual pieces for solo violin
(this and this and this)
composed 2018-2020
album in collaboration with Harry Gorski-Brown, released 17 February 2022
'Music of stunning intimacy' – THE QUIETUS
TOP FIFTY ALBUMS OF 2022 – THE QUIETUS
LISTEN HERE
This piece began as an exploration of coldness and frigidity, of bodies and stories which are totally closed to you.
1. PASS
i. introduction
ii. the beginning of the story, and
iii. some more of the story
iv. a bargain struck
v. plateau
vi. impassive hills
vii. meltwater
viii. finally
ix. a track
only pass
that north
No.
Please, stop
IF YOU GET BACK IN YOUR CAR and
Will you
If I
once
and DRIVE BACK DOWN THE MOUNTAIN
texted meters
melted cold
water to wash in
days pass
sky and air
wanted to distant
him
arched myself
spread I come
the I hard-on then
on kissed pass
poured that bare.
(RE)
kissing
gilding pale streams
loving parts
shifting change
[say no]
how with this rage
how like a winter
like the ocean be
like to thee
from me far off
from limits far remote
what freezings have I felt
what strong hand can hold
against the cold
against the watchful siege
where breath most breathes
where my body is
winter’s ragged hand
will hold me
hold out
upon your soundless deep
no stronger than a flower
no shape so true
my body is the frame
which parts the shore
(WS + RE)
2. Tillage [without violence]
the day
the mountain
the winter’s near
those whom Nature hath not made
nothing, sweet boy
both sea and land
rain
and wind
or night
or none
or the sea
or if they sing
or call it winter
or being wreck’d
or seasons’ quality
[say no]
nor stone
nor earth
nor boundless sea
nor gates of steel so strong
but sad mortality
of hand
of foot
of lips
gathered
shake
hold out
3. a piece of horizon has been arching ur back
-
that the whole world is contained in a grain of sand
-
trying to smooth your body out so that you can become underwater in a shallow stream, in what used to be the deepest part of the river, in the only water in Fisherfield, which is melting off the snowfield of the Maiden. Flat, high summer.
-
heavy / light; coda (long and free)
we washed in rivers
and smelled like shady river banks
and dark red peaty water.
(RE)
HGB recording PASS in Dennistoun, November 2020 // photo by RIE
CREDITS
1. - 3. THREE SEXUAL PIECES FOR SOLO VIOLIN (THIS AND THIS AND THIS)
I. PASS
II. Tillage [without violence]
III. a piece of horizon has been arching ur back
4. rain coming; some degree West
SOLO VIOLIN portrayed by Harry Gorski-Brown
STRING TRIO portrayed by Roo Geddes
Dimitrios Antonakakis Giannisis
Simone Seales
THREE SEXUAL PIECES by Rufus Isabel Elliot
rain coming; by Harry Gorski-Brown
RECORDED by Stevie Cossar
MIXED AND MASTERED by Harry Gorski-Brown
with thanks to Alistair MacDonald
ALBUM ARTWORK by Olivia Bush
with thanks to the generous support of the Make It Happen Fund and the Young Scot Nurturing Talent Fund