Andrew Toovey Fast slow faster performed by The St Paul's Sinfonia - Andrew Morley conductor

Fast, slow, faster
For orchestra
2017
Performed by St Paul's Sinfonia at St Alfege Church, Greenwich 21/07/2024
Conductor - Andrew Morley, leader - James Widden.
Dedicated to the memory of Robert Rauschenberg

For more information on this music, looking at the score and other works please visit www.andrewtoovey.co.uk

Programme Note:
I was recently trying to mend a broken vase, and found it difficult to accurately put the pieces back together. Fragments were lost, and some I realised later were connected wrongly, making the task more difficult. I had already started writing the initial ideas for a new orchestral piece and my
experience with this vase caused me to set all that material aside and focus on writing a piece that was somehow broken. Firstly I needed ‘objects’ (music) that I could connect together (like the pieces of the vase) so I decided to take some Baroque music (mostly random pages from Rameau operas – some of my favourite music from this period) partly because of the idea from the Rococo period of Rocaille which is the broken-shell frilly carvings often found on furniture, silver and ceramics of the period that connected with my putting the music (vase) back together. Parts don’t always fit together, but can be close and nearly mended. I enjoyed creating new connections with the material, bumpy, clumsy, cracked and even fake Baroque music that nearly works, but not quite.

The title, Fast, slow, faster is also a typical tempo scheme in much music (String Quartets, Suites, Symphonies etc.), here telescoped together in a single movement of eight minutes duration. The dynamics are also typically blocked into mostly either ff (very loud) or pp (very quiet). Often instruments are layered with incorrect transpositions of the material (the vase looks effectively mended, but hairline crakes are apparent) and parts of the puzzle fragments are incorrectly placed together. I have also thrown in some fragments (not Baroque in origin) that don’t seem to fit within their placed context.

The piece is dedicated to the memory of Robert Rauschenberg an artist who made many ‘combine’ works that collaged and placed many wonderful ideas together and has been an inspiration to me for many years. He also created ROCI – Rauschenberg Overseas Cultural Interchange which shared ideas and artistic connections between different parts of the world. At the present time I feel very strongly that connections, collaborations and sharing of ideas is not only essential, but a priority to at least try to sway the growing feeling of isolation and the broken society felt by many who, like me, love the diversity and openness that we have perhaps taken too much for granted.
Andrew Toovey
November 2017