Christopher Hobbs - Amy on the Beach

Biography

Christopher Hobbs

Christopher Hobbs, a pioneer in the field of Systemic Music in Britain, was born in 1950. He studied with Cornelius Cardew at the Royal Academy of Music and was the youngest member of the Scratch Orchestra when it began in 1969. In that year he also joined the improvisation group AMM. In 1970 he, along with John White, Hugh Shrapnel and Alec Hill, formed the Promenade Theatre Orchestra. After its disbandment in 1973 White and he continued as a duo. A pianist and percussionist as well as a composer, Hobbs has performed with a large number of individuals - Gavin Bryars, Michael Nyman, Steve Reich, John Tilbury, and Christian Wolff among others - and has written music for a large variety of ensembles and situations. He currently teaches at Coventry and De Montfort Universities in England.

Amy on the Beach

(by the composer himself)

Amy on the Beach is a systemic treatment of the piano miniature By the Still Waters by Amy Beach. The piece is played twice, the first time using a pattern based on the number thirteen, which allows certain notes of the original to be played but not others. On the second iteration another part is added to the first, played one octave lower, and using an expanding and contracting pattern based on the numbers fourteen to twenty-two. This is a “covert” system; it is not intended to be followed by the listener, but is instead a way of filtering the notes of the original in a way which is outside my personal choice.

The piece was written in February this year and is dedicated to Nicolas Horvath.