Colin Matthews

The rules of A Musical Dice Game – first published in 1793 and ascribed to Mozart as K. 516f (with more than a little likelihood of authenticity) – allow for the throw of the dice to determine the ord...

I. Aria cappricciosa II. Intermezzo III. Aria conclusa My Divertimento for double string quartet was written at the request of Sir Peter Pears for the 1982 Aldeburgh Festival, and is dedicated to him....

My Second Oboe Quartet was promised to the Berlin Oboe Quartet after a performance which they gave of my first quartet in January 1988. Composed in the autumn of 1989, the work is, like the earlier qu...

This four-minute cantata was written for Mary Wiegold and the Composers Ensemble who, under the direction of John Woolrich, gave the first performance in May 1989 at the Brighton Festival. br>I Intro...

Instrumentation: fl(=picc+afl).cl(=bcl) - hn - perc(1): 5 tom-t/4 rototom/2 tam-t/boobams/7 crot/vibraslap/susp.cym/siz.cym/cabaca/waterphone - pno - vla.vlc.db The Spanish Conquest of Central and Sou...

Instrumentation: afl(=picc).bcl(=cl) - hn - pno - harp - vla.vlc

23 Frames was composed in 1994 as a gift for Amelia Freedman and the Nash Ensemble. 23 is a favourite prime number of mine, and the ‘frames’ all incorporate a reference – sometimes recognisable but mo...

Instrumentation: 1.1.0.bcl.1 - 1000 - pno - vln.vla.vlc.db Written for Speculum Musicae at the request of Oliver Knussen. L, bent… is a short, fast piece written to celebrate my brother David’s 50th b...

Instrumentation: 1(=afl+picc).1(=ca).1(=bcl).1(=cbsn) - 1110 - perc(1): BD(with foot ped)/hi-hat/4 tom-t/3 tam-t - pno - 2 vln.vla.vlc.db Contraflow might be compared to a journey in which the return...

Instrumentation: fl(=picc).ob(=ca).cl(=bcl).bsn - pno My initial ideas for this piece were more obviously connected with colours than is the finished work, which consists of an abstract series of vari...

Instrumentation: fl - perc(1): vib/mar/glsp - harp - vla

Instrumentation: 3 fl.3 ob.Ebcl.2 cl.bcl.(cbcl).2 bsn.cbsn - 4432 -perc(3): spring coil/4 brake drum/3 susp.cym/siz.cym/tgl/t.bells/2 glsp/4 anvil/4 gong/bell tree/vib/tam-t/lujon/handbells

Instrumentation: fl(=picc).afl(=picc).ob.2 cl.2 bcl.bsn - 1211 -perc(2): 2 anvil/spring coils/crot/4 tam-t/bell tree/2 vib/2 glsp/tgl/2 siz.cym/t.bells/hand bells - pno - harp - amplified vlc.db The t...