Declan Molloy - Frieze (2025), performed by Hayden Miller

FRIEZE
For solo piano
Commissioned by Norden Farm Centre of the Arts in Maidenhead
First performance by Hayden Miller on 11.10.2025, recorded at the Royal Academy of Music on 23.10.2025

Following the commission brief of being inspired by Beethoven’s Choral Symphony, this work is specifically influenced by hearing the work in Vienna through the experience of the Beethoven Frieze. This exhibition in the Secession building presents the listener with a varied tapestry painted by Gustav Klimt, raised aloft to create within the observer the experience of gazing up to Elysium - the perfect artistic ‘ode’ to the Ninth. In this musical realisation, the experience of gradually discovering new colours and characters within the painting is reformed, with the emergence of new bursts of energy (much like the beast in the painting), as well as chorale-like motifs (much like the angels). Musically, the opening of the work has a sparse landscape, similar to that of the Ninth’s first movement, and the high-pitch chords eventually unveiled present a fresh take on the ‘Freude, schöner Götterfunken’ and ‘Seid umschlungen Millionen!’ motifs from the original work. The piece expresses a reflection on the emergence of musical connections from artwork and adopts similar musical language to the time of Klimt as a prism through which to refract the Ninth
into more modern musical aesthetics.