Selected Works

Ascent

Ascent, for piccolo trumpet, was written in 2020 for Simon Desbruslais. Having given several performances of my trumpet piece At the still point, Simon suggested I write something for the piccolo instrument. The initial idea was to write a short étude, but this quickly grew into a more substantial piece exploring the range, technique and character of this wonderful instrument. Ascent was premiered online by Simon in August 2020.

Haiku 2

Haiku 2 is part of an ongoing set of piano pieces based on the work of a number of Japanese poets, and was inspired by Basho's famous haiku:

"A cloud of flowers. A bell rings. At Ueno or Asakusa?"

Haiku 2 was premiered by Graham Caskie in 2017. .

At the still point

A short piece for trumpet written as a gift for a colleague and keen amateur trumpeter, and inspired by a passage in T.S.Eliot's Burnt Norton.

At the still point was premiered by Simon Desbruslais, who then gave several more performances of the piece around the UK and on tour in China. This proved to be the start of a fruitful collaboration with Simon, leading to my recent piece for piccolo trumpet, Ascent.

Ellipse

Ellipse, for flute and harp, was written as part of a collaboration with the National Museum of Wales, linked to an exhibition of contemporary ceramics. The piece takes inspiration from the work of Ashraf Hanna, and in particular his piece Rhythm Vessel, which featured in the exhibition and can be seen below.

Ellipse was written for Lisa Nelsen and Gwenllian Llŷr, who gave the premiere in May 2015.

In these dark waters

A short orchestral work inspired by the work of the Japanese poet Maeda Ringai. Translated, the haiku reads "In these dark waters, drawn up from my frozen well, a glittering of spring". The piece was premiered in 2015 by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, conducted by Jac van Steen.

Shadow-Line

Shadow-Line, for solo viola, returns to a fascination with melody that characterised several earlier works. One long melodic line coils its way from start to finish, emerging from the viola's lowest note and returning there at the end. The final passage, a muted 'shadow' of the opening, completes a circle that isn't a circle, a return that isn't a return.

Shadow-Line is dedicated to the memory of Stephane Vallé.

Haiku 1

The first in a series of works inspired by Japanese haiku this piece takes its inspiration from a poem by Chiyo-Ni: "In field and mountain, nothing stirs, this snowy morning".

The piece is a gradual unfolding of pitches across the various registers of the piano, gathering into simple harmonic shapes that rotate and shift until they eventually melt into silence.

Songlines

Songlines was commissioned by the Spitalfields Festival and premiered by CHROMA. Scored for flute, clarinet and string quartet, the piece is built from simple melodic material that emerges from the flute and is then absorbed, elaborated and sustained by the rest of the ensemble to create musical textures of fluidity and proliferation.

Chasing Shadows

The title reflects two main ideas that lie at the heart of the piece; one is of trying to find or capture something fragile and elusive, while the second alludes to the concept of the 'shadow' in Jungian psychology, that unconscious part of every person where the most unpalatable, often violent, aspects of ourselves are hidden away and suppressed. These two ideas combine to create both the form and material of the piece.

Chasing Shadows, commissioned by the Allegri Quartet, was premiered in the Queen Elizabeth Hall. It was later awarded a prize by the Japan International League of Artists, and was performed and recorded in Tokyo. It has also been recorded by NMC - follow this link for more details.

On Shifting Ground

On Shifting Ground is a short piece that sets out to explore extremes of music within a compressed form, from the spacious, crystalline sound of the beginning, through frantic, propulsive energy in the middle and into fragile, delicate music at the end. The title was suggested by the opening section, in which a series of chords in rhythmic unison gradually dislocate, and in so doing create the energy that propels the music forward. On Shifting Ground was commissioned by the London Sinfonietta and premiered in the Isleworth Festival. It has been recorded by NMC - follow this link for more details.

John Cooney

Below are samples, recordings and further information about a selection of works.

Complete scores can be obtained by contacting the composer.