Contingency Music
Richard Harding - guitarist & composer
This is a selection of my scores. Feel free to download and perform them - click on the pictures for the pdf.
Please contact me on the above link if you have any questions - particularly if you would like to perform any of my pieces; they are written to be played, and I'd welcome your thoughts and ideas.
This is a piece in 31 sections, each a possible combination of the notes of the five note chord which forms the basis of the piece. It is written for an ensemble of any number and any type of instruments and was premiered by the a.P.A.t.T Orchestra in Liverpool in 2011.
These four pieces, of open duration and scored for open ensemble, were inspired by T.S. Elliot's Four Quartets. Each takes its title from a different one of the four poems in this set. They were written for, and premiered by, the ensembles of the Liverpool Guitar Society and the Liverpool Composers' Group.
This piece was written for guitar and loop sampler, for performance at a family wedding. In this arrangement, the various cells are played into the sampler and layered up as the performance progresses. It has also been performed in an arrangement for guitar ensemble by Liverpool Guitar Society.
This piece, for guitar quartet, was premiered by Liverpool Guitar Society at Liverpool's Walker Art Gallery in 2010. It was inspired by the mating strategies of periodic cicadas, and takes its title from Ted Hughes' Tales From Ovid.
This piece, for guitar and loop sampler, was composed for performance at the wedding of my sister in June 2011. The short cells are sampled, looped and combined and the resulting texture improvised upon.
This simple, improvisational piece was written for members of the Liverpool Composers' Group. It has been played by them and was also performed at the Wirral Festival of Firsts in Hoylake, Merseyside, in 2013.
This piece was originally written for CoMA NW in 2009, but was given its premiere performance by Liverpool Guitar Society at the Walker Art Gallery in November 2010. The piece explores the different modal possibilities arising from a simple arpeggio figure.
Taking its title from a description of geological strata by Herman Melville, this piece for open ensemble is created by the improvised cobination of repeated rhythmic figures with simple pairs of notes, the layering of which create melodic harmony.
Inspired by the kinetic sculptures of Alexander Calder, this piece for trio and improvisor was written for the Liverpool Composers' Group, and was premiered by them in November 2013, at the Bluecoat art centre in Liverpool.
A song cycle for mezzosoprano and guitar based upon the set of poems of the same name by W.B. Yeats. Written some time ago at the request of a friend, this piece is yet to receive a premiere performance.
Taking its title from a quote by Pierre Boulez, this piece may be played by any number and type of instruments, and works by the free layering and juxtaposition of musical cells based on a whole tone scale. It was written for CoMA NW, who gave the premiere performance at the Prescot Festival in 2011.
A piece for guitar ensemble and electronics, written for Liverpool Guitar Society and premiered at the Liverpool Maritime Museum Dockwatch event in 2012. The piece was inspired by the idea of the colonisation of human environments, such as Liverpool's Albert Dock, by wildlife of various types.
Written for performance by members of the Royal Liverpool Phiharmonic Orchestra in 2014, this piece explores renaissance polyphonic techniques in an improvisational manner.
Inspired by one of Yves Klein's IKB monochromes, this piece was premiered by members of CoMA NW in the Tate Gallery, Liverpool, in 2008.
Composed for cellist Gregor Cuff, this piece for solo cello and electronics take the form of a theme and variations, in which the thematic material is exposed to increasing levels of improvisational indeterminacy as the piece progresses.
A piece for two pianos and two guitars, designed to act, in live performance or recorded form, as a musical installation in a gallery setting. It was written in 2007, and received its premiere in the Liverpool Hope University Cornerstone Building in November of that year. This was the piece for which I was placed on the SPNM (later Sound & Music) Shortlist in 2007.
A set of pieces for solo guitar modelled on renaissance and baroque dance settings. The titles depict scenes along the river Mersey.
A short piece for solo guitar, written when I was feeling slightly melancholy following my daughter's return to school after the summer holidays.
A piece for solo guitar, written after listening to the Kyrie from Mozart's requiem, just to see if I could.
A short piece for solo piano, written in a very short space of time, which explores ideas of balance, inertia and momentum with variously stable and unstable musical phrases.
A piece for solo guitar which cascades by in a series of constantly overlapping phrases, without pause for breath...
A piece for solo piano, inspired by the work of Morton Feldman, the structure of which follows the perimeter of a circular row of notes built from a series of arithmetically increasing intervals. The scoring methods invite the performer to enter into an intuitive creative partnership with the composer.
A piece for flute, bass clarinet and percussion, written for performance by members of the Royal Liverpool Philharminic Orchestra. The structure of this piece represents the sort of tripartate image frequently found as alter pieces in renaissance art.
A piece for guitar and loop sampler, in three sections which explore the different harmonic possibilities of a simple arpeggio figure.
A short setting of W.B. Yeats for mezzosoprano and guitar.
A piece for guitar in three movements, inspired by the guitar compositions of Toru Takemitsu.
An improvisational piece in which each player cycles around a row of notes, this was originally written for the Cottenham Wind Band, but was given its premiere by Liverpool Guitar Society in the Walker Art Galley, Liverpool, in 2009.
A piece for flute, alto recorder, clarinet, guitar, piano and two cellos, wirtten in 2008 for CoMA NW, and the slightly odd set of instruments they had in their membership at that time.
Written for perforamance by members of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra in 2008.
A piece for solo guitar written as a study whilst learning Benjamin Britten's nocturnal.
A set of ten simple guitar studies inspired by the piano miniatures of composer Howard Skempton.
A short solo guitar piece, written in September 2006.
A piece for guitar in two movements inspired by a quote by Benjamin Britten. The second movement is, in fact, an arrangement for solo guitar of my earlier piece Root.