The Forest of Clocks

Cashian, Philip

About the work

This orchestral and choral piece is built around settings of poems by Pablo Neruda, Federico Garcia Lorca, and Kathleen Raine. Parts of these poems are sung and spoken during the performance. One phrase from the Lorca poem goes “I entered the forest/ of clocks./ Leaves were ticking./ bells hung in clusters.” Philip Cashian studied at Cardiff University and the Guildhall School of Music, and in 1990 was the Benjamin Britten Fellow at Tanglewood. Since 1990 he has completed over 20 commissions, mainly of chamber and orchestral music.

Technical notes

The piece requires a full orchestra, including percussion, though there is a degree of flexibility in the instruments required. It requires a supply of mechanical metronomes, guitars, ping-pong balls, and at least one performer with reasonable Spanish pronunciation.

Origin

COMA (with funds from the Arts Council of England)