GAMELAN
two songs from Shakespeare's The Tempest
voice, chorus and Javanese gamelan
English Gamelan Orchestra/Neil Sorrell
Bloomsbury Theatre, London, 5 October 1983 *
Honeyed Thunder ca. 12’
concert work for Javanese gamelan
commissioned by the Southbank Gamelan Players for their 10th anniversary
Southbank Gamelan Players, Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, 24 July 1998
Karawitan Akbar (chorus part only; co-composer: I Made Pande Sukerta)
chorus and massed gamelan ensembles, including Sekaten and Gong Gede
occasional work commissioned for the opening ceremony of the 1990 Borobodur Festival
STSI Surakarta Ensembles and Chorus, Borobodur, Central Java, 2 June 1990
Kingston Bells – for carillon or Javanese gamelan slendro ca. 3’
commissioned by Hull City Council to celebrate the completion of the Hull Guildhall Bells
Carillon version: Guildhall Bells (programmed by Smith’s of Derby)
Gamelan version: Hull Gamelan Players & South Bank Gamelan Players
The Guildhall, Kingston-upon-Hull, 30 September 2006
The Tempest ca. 120’
music for Shakespeare's play
actors, dancers, chorus and Javanese gamelan
commissioned by Simon Fraser Centre for the Arts, Vancouver
Simon Fraser Centre for the Arts, Vancouver, 8-18 March 1989
numerous subsequent concert performances of excerpts, including Cheltenham Festival 1986, Queen Elizabeth Hall London, 1990 and Royal Albert Hall London (BBC Proms) 1998
Alec Roth’s doctoral thesis
New Composition for Javanese Gamelan (1986)
is published by the University of Durham: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/1240/
* “On Wednesday, the Bloomsbury Theatre resounded to the fascinating strains of the English Gamelan Orchestra, when the traditional gold and vermillion instruments were set in vibration by a versatile fifteen-piece ensemble including four Javanese musicians. Traditional Gamelan music in the first part of the concert, with its hypnotically haunting melodic and rhythmic ostinati, prepared the way for some more recent essays, most of which outstayed their welcome, notable one entitled “Time’s up!”. The exception was Alec Roth’s setting of a scene from Shakespeare’s “The Tempest”, in which he ingeniously and resourcefully evoked Prospero’s Isle with daring directness in one of the happiest East-West musical ententes I have ever witnessed.”
The Sunday Times, London (Felix Aprahamian), 9 October 1983
