Small Plinths is a wind quintet commissioned by Academy of St Martin in the Fields. It was composed in 2026 and first performed on 12th April 2026 at Simms Auditorium, Albuquerque, NM by Academy of St Martin in the Fields Wind Ensemble.
Instrumentation:
Flute, Oboe, Clarinet in Bb, Horn in F, Bassoon
The subtitle for Small Plinths is Small pebbles on plinths in the house of a sculptor. A few months before writing this piece, I was at a dinner in Santa Fe NM where a sculptor in her 80s was discussing her collections of pebbles, shells and similar things around her house. From the description, it sounded like the collection took over most of the house. A teenager at the dinner was so fascinated by this that he arranged to go over and see her collection the next day. She started to talk about a famous sculptor who had a collection of pebbles, fir cones and other small natural objects placed on tiny plinths around his studio. This tiny personal exhibition speaks of a reverence for small and often un-noticed details that made me think of my mother, who is also a sculptor, and her collections of feathers and shells. Next to my desk where I write, I have a pot of old feathers that she and I collected together over the years.
Writing the wind quintet, the image of the different textures of these small natural objects being elevated on plinths seemed to connect to the way I was writing the piece. The wind quintet is a naturally colourful ensemble, with five very different instruments, each completely individual in sound, and yet each with an incredible ability to blend together. Various textures and combinations of colours from within the ensemble, each shaped in its own natural curve, emerged as I was writing, and started to jostle up against each other. This jostling is what propels the momentum of the piece, which is filled and shaped by these small musical objects, until larger forms begin to emerge.