However, you'll hear a bunch of my mates on the recordings making my dots come alive. Thanks guys!
Influences
Aw heck. I hate this one. Still, here goes:
- Every sound I've ever heard
- The Beatles
- Yes and ELP
- Gershwin
- Bach
- St Saens
- Poulenc
- Brahms
- Rachel Portman
- Debbie Wiseman
- Howard Skempton
- Graham Fitkin
Sounds Like
CRITS AND FEEDBACK
General comments:
"Ingenious and industrious, full of ideas and craft... You have abundant talent and energy to focus it which only a halfwit would miss... Keep up the (very) good work. " - Howard Goodall
"Music that is meant to entertain - surely one of music’s primary fuunctions. It never outstays its welcome; and its unpredictability makes for intriguing listening. It is clearly as enjoyable for players and listeners alike." - David Inman
"Gorgeous music" - Audience member
Audience feedback:
String Quartet No3
"Thank you so much.. I enjoy it tremendously.. I'll come back for more! Greetings from Vienna, Austria - Kerstin"
Three Women's Poems from World War One
"Very moving... beautifully written..."
"Made a special impression... keeps going round in my head.."
Mass
"A brilliant Mass.. exciting and exhilerating.. I was just swept along.."
" Do carry on composing. We need more of these joyful musical experiences to enhance our lives..."
Cube Root
"How much I enjoyed the piece - as everyone else seems to have done!"
"This is wonderful modern music! - Stephan Egeling, Trio Lezard, Saarbrücken"
Three Brunel Crossings
"What a wonderful piece of music you have composed..."
(Counter)Point
"Definitely the wittiest contribution to the weekend..."
Concert at Tudeley, 1st February 2003 Review by Adrian Pitts (Sevenoaks Chronicle)
Prelude Fugue & Riffs
"...disarmingly eclectic, drawing on jazzy rhythms, complex imitative ideas, and a chord vocabulary not too distant from the Beatles’ Sgt Pepper album...."
Lace
"...Dunkin Wedd’s more serious abstract mood, exploring the relationship of space and pattern in lace-design through musical ideas...."
Gallimaufry
"...illustrating Dunkin Wedd’s fascination with the techniques and ancestry of the guitar. The opening movement (Fluent Guitar) sought out the colours of the instrument - Dunkin Wedd’s familiar ostinato technique producing some surprising and technically complex phrase endings. The Blues Boogie was jazz inspired, while the moving Elegy was performed with great lyricism and clarity of texture..."
Duologue
"...Dunkin Wedd produced some wonderful sonorities... erotic arching melodies matched by some sensual chords..."
String Quartet No 3
"Taking its lead from Browning’s ‘first fine careless rapture’ the opening movement danced, yet the ensemble was never compromised or ragged. The swift-changing sequences that are a feature of Dunkin Wedd’s music were well suited in the chorale-like second movement.....a sweet-toned muted cantilena melody.... music comes from the heart of the 19th century English tradition of Elgar and Vaughan Williams, with a passing nod to Richard Strauss, Dunkin Wedd’s melting chords firmly in reflective mood.
The Scherzo, wittily titled Canonballs showed Dunkin Wedd’s more humorous nature. Based loosely on the famous Canon by Pachelbel, Dunkin Wedd weaves a good number of well known tunes as a counterpoint: The Archers theme, Barbara Allen, London Bridge is Falling Down - to name a few. It ends with the solo ‘cello not bothering to complete the famous sequence of notes.
The last movement (Final Fling) is unusual as it is a pizzicato (plucked) one. This is vigorous, muscular music with plenty of exciting ostinatos that ends with a pizzicato version of the theme from the first movement."
- Adrian Pitts, 3 February 2003
Audience feedback:
"A fantastic feast of many courses... particularly enjoyed the guitar piece and the string quartet... The flute and harp piece had a particular freshness about it... colour and humour transferred onto the stave..."
"Particularly enjoyed the guitar piece..."
"Especially enjoyed the harp and flute piece... loved the jazz and humorous elements..."
"We really enjoyed the variety and humour..."
"The music I loved!"
"Such an interesting evening - it was fun!"
"Gorgeous music..."
Concert at Tonbridge, 1st February 2003 Review by Charles Vignoles (Kent & Sussex Courier)
String Quartet No 2
"...highlight of the evening... the composer comments ‘There’s Shostakovitch amongst the Gilbert and Sullivan’ and indeed this was the case. Fiercely energetic outer movements in jazzy complex time-signatures contrasted with a lyrical slow movement and the nautically flavoured Salty Dances... wit and sparkle as well as darker moments..."
Remember
"...haunting setting of Christina Rossetti’s Remember..."
Phyllida’s Fancy
"This exceedingly enjoyable piece fulfilled its brief admirably, being highly accessible to players and audience alike with its mood of celebration and romance laced with a few Dunkin Wedd stylistic hallmarks - look out for those deceptive false endings!"
Charles Vignoles, 10 March 2002
Concert at Tonbridge, 4th February 2001
Piano Trio
"... magical passage in the slow movement where the arpeggiated chords of the piano’s opening are taken over by the strings against a long-breathed cantilena on the piano."
Django
"... a substantial and technically demanding work, the first movement playing games with a 5/4 time signature without making it sound like 3 plus 2; quite a trick, Mr Dunkin Wedd."
Lace
"A fascinating and demanding exercise in musical form."
Mass
"... imaginatively serious - and consonant, not dissonant - music that is meant to entertain - surely one of music’s primary functions. It never outstays its welcome; and its unpredictability makes for intriguing listening. It is clearly as enjoyable for players and listeners alike."
".. listeners... musical cognoscenti all, were by turns absorbed, beguiled, amused, enthralled and above all entertained..."
Review by David Inman (Kent & Sussex Courier), 6 February 2001
Head Heart & Feet
"Infectious Head Heart & Feet... nostalgic and evocative... an affirmation of humanity... fanfare of impressive stature..." Review by Adrian Pitts (Kent & Sussex Courier)
"Clearly hugely enjoyed by all present... thought-provoking and with not the slightest hint of triviality... Head Heart & Feet did just what its composer intended - it appealed to all three." Tudeley Parish Magazine
"It was an unforgettable privilege for the Society, in the Millennium year, to be able to perform your work for the first time to a live audience who clearly enjoyed it" David Packer, Chairman, Tonbridge Philharmonic Society
Audience feedback:
"Certainly warmed the cockles of peoples' hearts.. such an achievement... look forward to the next inspirational event"
"Just a quick line to say how much I enjoyed, and how privileged I felt to be hearing your super composition... loved it all but especially the lyrical passages with such a feeling of Englishness. When is your next opus?"
"I really enjoyed your composition - it was great fun... I'm so glad I came.."
"Thoroughly enjoyed our evening... your skills are most impressive.."
"A wonderful evening... many many congratulations... a joyous exhilerating piece of music..."
"Music was wonderful... such a variety.. delightful dreamy woodwind section..."
"Vibrant, dreamy... enchanting! ... it was quite something."
"There followed what for many must have been the high point of the evening, Cube Root... highly entertaining, nay downright amusing, this was a piece of mature, well-crafted and polished writing betraying a detailed knowledge of the instruments' capabilities. Amusing yet not lightweight, jazzy and syncopated, yet far from trivial.... it would be a pleasure to hear it again. I would be difficult to say who enjoyed themselves more, players or audience... an encore would not have gone amiss!"
Review by David Inman (Kent & Sussex Courier), 4 July 1997
Audience feedback:
Cube Root
"How much I enjoyed the piece - as everyone else seems to have done!"
“Originality consists not in the conscious forging of a new idiom, but in the personal handling of a common tongue.”
- J A Westrup
Laurie Dunkin Wedd was born at Chiddingstone Castle, Kent in 1955. He studied piano and cello at school, and sang in the choir; as a teenager he played guitar and wrote material for folk and jazz groups.
Composition came naturally; even before he could read music he was writing it - with his elder sister as reluctant amanuensis! But he did not settle down to serious composition until the 1980s, when he studied with Peter Aviss and Barry Seaman.
His piece Dimitri’s Train won first prize in its category in the London Chamber Group Piece of the Year competition of 2003, winning best piece for string quartet and wind solo.
His works have been performed by ensembles such as the Cann Duo, the Bingham String Quartet, the Bebeto String Quartet, the Rivoli String Quartet, Kingston Brass, London String Soloists, Trio Lezard and The Cremone Trio.
Instrumentalists who have performed his work include Clifford Benson (piano), David Campbell (clarinet), Rena Rzaeva (piano), harpists Danielle Perrett, Anna Wynne and Luisa-Maria Ovett; Penelope Howard (violin) and Elizabeth Moore (cello). Choirs include The Sporgersi Singers, The Sackville Singers, Wimbledon Chamber Choir and the Occasional Choir; and singers such as Jane Manning; Sarah-Jane Dale; Dilys, Sarah and Emily Benson; Susan Legg; Fiona Wight; Philip French and Sandra Graham.
Performances have taken place as far afield as Germany and Azerbaijan.
His works include symphonic and choral music; songs; chamber music for piano, wind, brass and strings, and music for a film.
F L Dunkin Wedd is a member of the British Academy of Composers and Songwriters.
"Ingenious and industrious, full of ideas and craft... You have abundant talent and energy to focus it which only a halfwit would miss... Keep up the (very) good work. "
"I have listened to a great deal of music in my time, across a wide range of genres and from many parts of the world. I have been challenged, soothed, inspired, stimulated and, yes, sometimes bored or depressed, but it has never made me want to go to war."
- Chris Green, Chief Executive, British Academy of Composers and Songwriters
I am always flattered to receive a MySpace friend request, but I don't add everyone regardless: I think we should have a least a few things in common.
If you want to be my MySpace friend, any of these will help your cause:
- You are not a death metal band with 11,000 friends
- I'm a fan of your work
- You're a fan of my work - and you've sent me a fawning message to say so
(Obviously, the last of these is the most compelling...)
PS: If you think it's really cool to spell 'boys' with a 'Z', you are unlikely to become my friend...
List of Works (†=score lodged at the British Music Information Centre)
For voice:
The Leaden Echo (1989)
----------------------------
Manley-Hopkins poem for soprano & guitar, 3’.
- First performance: 15 Nov 1989 Jane Manning, Jane's Minstrels, Trinity Arts, Tunbridge Wells.
Clerihews (1992)
--------------------
Comic verses by E C Bentley, soprano & string quartet, 10’. - First performance: 12 Sep 1992, Dilys Benson & the Bingham String Quartet, Tudeley, Kent.
Flowers of Zen (1992)†
-------------------------
Haikus by Bashõ for soprano & piano, 3’.
Range: C to F
Three Women's Poems from World War One (1993)†
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For soprano & piano, 10’. - First performance: 27 March 1993, Dilys Benson & Lisa Smith, Portsmouth Music Club.
Range: Bb to A
A Slice of Wedding Cake (1995)†
--------------------------------------
Robert Graves poem for baritone & piano, 2’.
Range: C to E
The Pianist's Nightmare (1996)†
-------------------------------------
Comic song about the perils of the pianist, 3’.
Range: B to G
Diana Poems (1997)†
-------------------------
Poems by Michael Buckley, set for tenor & piano, 3’.
Range: Bb to G
Harp Song of the Dane Women (1998)†
---------------------------------------------
Kipling setting, soprano & piano, 3’.
Range: Bb to E
A Cavalier Poem (1998)†
-----------------------------
Suckling's Constant Lover set for soprano & piano, 3’. - First performance: 9 March 2002, Sandra Graham & Maggie Morgan, Tonbridge, Kent.
Range: C to F
A Hardy Triptych (1998)†
-----------------------------
Three Hardy poems set for baritone & piano, 7’.
Range: A to F
Oh They Have Robbed (1999)
----------------------------------
Anne Brontë poem for soprano & piano, 2’. - First performance: 9 March 2002, Dilys Benson & Clifford Benson, Tonbridge, Kent.
Range: C to E
Remember (2000)†
----------------------
Sonnet by Christina Rosetti for soprano & piano, 2’. - First performance: 9 March 2002, Dilys Benson & Clifford Benson, Tonbridge, Kent.
Range: C to Ab
Lest We Forget (2001)†
---------------------------
Poem by Mary Wedd for two sopranos & piano, 3’. - First performance: 9 March 2002, Dilys, Sarah & Clifford Benson, Tonbridge, Kent.
I Sing of a Maiden (2001)†
------------------------------
Setting of C15th carol for soprano & tenor, 3’. - First performance: 24 December 2001, Sandra Graham & Philip French, Tudeley, Kent.
Two Songs of Anomie (2002)†
-----------------------------------
In popular style, for soprano & piano, 5’
Range: E to G
Of Men and Buses (2004)†
-------------------------
An unserious song for soprano and harp, 3’. - First performance: 13 November 2006, Sarah-Jane Dale & Luisa-Maria Ovett, The Banqueting House, Whitehall, London.
Range: D to G
Of Men and Buses (2004)†
------------------------------
As above, arranged for soprano and guitar, 3’.
Arab Love Song (2004)†
----------------------------
Setting of Francis Thompson for baritone & piano, 2½’.
Range: G to G
Can Ye Sew Cushions? (2005)†
------------------------------------
Traditional song arranged for soprano & piano, 3’.
Range: D to G
Seven Clerihews (2005)†
-----------------------------
Arrangement of Clerihews (1991) for voice & piano, 4’.
Range: C to F
XL (2006)†
------------
A setting of A E Housman for baritone & piano, 3’.
Range: G to C
Autumn (2006)†
------------------
A setting of De La Mare for soprano & piano, 3’.
Range: C to F
The Escape (2007)
---------------------
A setting of Ivor Gurney for soprano & piano, 2’.
Range: C to F
Brancusi (2008)†
---------------
Vocalise for soprano or mezzo and pre-recorded musique concrète, 6’.
Range: F to B
For choir:
Mass (1998)†
---------------
Latin Mass for unaccompanied choir SATB, 18’. - First performance: 4 February 2001, Sporgersi Singers & Robin Morrish, Tonbridge, Kent.
Devotions (1998)†
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BCP texts SATB, soprano solo, & organ or piano, 10’. - First performance: 15 October 2005, The Occasional Choir & Adrian Pitts, Yalding, Kent.
And was there a lamb? (2003)†
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Christmas carol, SATB, 3’.
Vir Dolorum (2004)†
-----------------------
A setting of Isaiah Ch53 and original text, SATB, 5’.
At a Lunar Eclipse (2004)†
------------------------------
Setting of Hardy poem, SATB, 2’.
Modern Madrigals Book One (2004)†
------------------------------
Six humorous partsongs, SATB, 6’. - First performance: 2004, The Occasional Choir, Peter Westley, Tonbridge, Kent.
Miserere Nobis (2005)†
--------------------------
For upper voices, in six parts, SSSAAA, 6’.
Abraham & Isaac (2005)†
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Setting of Wilfred Owen, SATB & piano, 6’.
Quia Ventum (2005)†
-------------------------
Setting of Hosea 8:7, SATB & organ 3½’.
Love Conquers All (2006)†
-------------------------------
A choral piece in popular style, SATB& organ 3’. - First performance: 2006, St Luke’s Choir, Nancy Wolfe, Sevenoaks, Kent.
RUAH - Meditations on the Breath of God (2006)†
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Sacred texts, SATB & organ 8’.
Love, 1916 (2006)†
----------------------
Setting of May W Cannan. SMA & harp, with soprano solo, 4’. - First performance: 31 March 2007, The Thursday Choir, Sue Wight, Fiona Wight, Tudeley, Kent.
Modern Madrigals Book Two (2007)†
-----------------------------------------
Six MORE humorous partsongs, SATB, 6’ - First performance: 13 Oct 2007, Occasional Choir, Adrian Pitts, Sevenoaks, Kent.
Psalm 139 (2007)
--------------------
Setting from Tanakh, Koran and King James Bible. SATB, with soprano and baritone solos, 4’. - First performance: 29 Sep 2007, Tudeley Choir, Sandra Graham, Philip French, Tudeley, Kent.
Introit - Psalm 23 (2008)
--------------------
An introit setting the last lines of Psalm 23. SATB, 2’. - First performance: 22 Jun 2008, 10:15 - St Luke’s Church, Sevenoaks, Kent
For strings:
Bagatelle (c. 1971)
-------------------------
Duet for two guitars, 2’.
Suite for String Quartet (1991)
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Disco, Indian Take-away, Ragtime, Tango; 12’. - First performance: 12 Sep 1992, Bingham String Quartet, Tudeley, Kent.
Three Brunel Crossings (1994)†
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For string orchestra, 16’. - First performance: 14 Aug 1997, London String Soloists, Merton College, Oxford.
Paul Klee's Fish (1996)†
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Five ingenuous episodes for violin & piano, 4’.
Homenaje to Luis (1997)†
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An elegiac piece for string quartet, 12’.
Minerva Manoeuvres (1998)
--------------------------------
Evocation of a Swan Hellenic Cruise(!); string quartet, 4’. - First performance: 23 May 1998, Bebeto String Quartet, aboard MV Minerva.
Django (2000)†
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A jazzy duo for violin & piano, 10’. - First performance: 4 February 2001, Penelope Howard, Clifford Benson, Tonbridge, Kent.
String Quartet No 1 (2000)
------------------------------
Four movements, 14’.
Piano Trio (2000)†
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Township Stomp, Slow, Morrish Dance, Finale, 12’ - First performance: 4 February 2001, Clifford Benson, Penelope Howard, Elizabeth Moore, Tonbridge.
String Quartet No 2 “The Doorkey” (2001)†
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4 mvts (incl Salty Dances!), 20’. - First performance: 9 March 2002, The Rivoli String Quartet, Tonbridge, Kent.
String Quartet No 3 (2001)†
--------------------------------
4 movements, 20’. - First performance: 1 February 2003, Mancunian Strings, Tudeley, Kent.
Prelude Fugue & Riffs (2002)†
----------------------------------
For cello and piano, 16’. - First performance: 1 February 2003, Elizabeth Moore & Clifford Benson, Tudeley, Kent.
Gallimaufry (2002)†
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3 movements for guitar solo, 11’. - First performance: 1 February 2003, Raymond Love, Tudeley, Kent.
Duologue (2002)†
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4 movements for flute and harp 16’. - First performance: 1 February 2003, Anna Wynne & Rachael Osborn-Smith, Tudeley, Kent.
Like Water & Like Wind (2004)†
------------------------------------
A serial piece for string orchestra, 6’.
Afters (2008)
------------------------------------
For a solo violinist equipped with a bicycle horn, 4’. (A rewriting of Karl Aage Rasmussen's rewriting of Stravinsky's rewriting of Bach's rewriting of Luther's Vom Himmel Hoch. Hence the name...) - First performance: 9 May 2008, Stephen Bingham, Kings Lynn, Norfolk.
For wind & brass:
Trombone Quintet (1990)
-----------------------------
For trombone & string quartet, 18’.
Cube Root (1996)†
---------------------
For oboe, clarinet & bassoon, 9’. - First performance: 28 June 1997, Cremone Trio, Tudeley, Kent.
Sunset over the Weald (1996)†
------------------------------------
For brass quintet, 7’. - First performance: 3 Oct 1997, Kingston Brass, Southill Park, Bracknell, Berkshire.
Wedding Dance for Karina & Andy (1997)
-----------------------------------------------
For oboe or flute & guitar, 2½’.
Reverie (from Head Heart & Feet) (2000)†
------------------------------------------------
For flute (or oboe) & piano, 5’. - First performance: 4 Feb 2001 Sarah Benson & Clifford Benson, Tonbridge, Kent.
Dimitri’s Train (2003)†
-------------------------
* PRIZE WINNER Best Piece for string quartet & wind solo London Chamber Group 2003.
For Bb clarinet, two violins, viola and cello, 6½’. - First performance: 3 April 2004, David Campbell & The Bingham String Quartet, Benslow, Herts.
Hopje - A Dutch Suite (2006)†
----------------------------------
Four pieces for recorder & harpsichord, 11’.
For piano:
Lady Emily's Swim (1993)
-----------------------------
Piano version of music for Paul Carter film 10’. - First performance: 22 March 1998, Rena Rzaeva, Tudeley, Kent.
Habasambañera (1995)†
----------------------------
Piano four hands, 3½’. - First performance: 20 June 1996, Cann Duo, Sevenoaks Festival.
Piano Variations (1996)
---------------------------
On a well-known theme, solo piano, 7’. - First performance: 1 March 1997, Rena Rzaeva, Baku, Azerbaijan.
Lace (2000)†
---------------
Inspired by lace-making, solo piano, 6’. - First performance: 4 February 2001, Clifford Benson, Tonbridge, Kent.
Phyllida’s Fancy (2001)
--------------------------
A simple fancy for 2 pianos, 6’. - First performance: 9 March 2002, Maggie Morgan/Sandra Graham, Tonbridge, Kent.
For percussion:
Comment Chantent les Arbres (1999)
-------------------------------------------
For 4 players, 1 marimba, 3’.
For orchestra and chorus:
Head, Heart & Feet (1999)†
-------------------------------
Symphonic movement for orchestra & choir, 22’. - First performance 27 May 2000, Tonbridge Philharmonic Society, Tonbridge, Kent.
List of works as at March 2008
F L Dunkin Wedd - composer's Friend Space (Top 23)
Thanks for your friendship Lauri
<br />
<br />Very very Happy to meet you on myspace realy
<br />Your music is very interesting
<br />
<br />Salutation de Montreal Quebec canada
<br />Claude-Marie
Hi Dear Laurie, Thanks for accepting our request. We're honored to be on your friend list. Lots of Loves from Istanbul, AKADEMİ KLARİNET ENSEMBLE Feza Çetin, Sezgin Unan, Ecesu Sertesen, Ufuk Atar.
Dear Dunkin Wedd, Many thanks for your kind message and connection... Just listened and very much enjoyed your Mass excerpts. With jolly good wishes for a nice weekend accompanied by kind regards
Wow - I got the scores - thank you! It must be fate, because Brancusi is one of my favorite artists. I will be able to start learning them next month, looking very much forward to it. Cheers! Sue
The package arrived over the weekend - thank you so much! How kind of you; actually, you sent "Gloria" and the one I have taped on DVR is called "Vivaldi's Women" so now I've got both! I hadn't seen the one you sent me before, so that is perfect. I will continue to learn 'Men & Buses,' I promise - do you have something more Alto I could learn too? cheers - Sue
Hello and greetings from Kansas City, Missouri. I really enjoyed listening to your music especially the energy of the Prelude Fugue Riff. I wish you all the best.
Hi there! We've taken a bit of time off over the summer but are back into rehearsing this month. We've decided to put the performance back to after Christmas. We've all had other commitments, musical and otherwise which made us decide collectively that we would rather rearrange the date and perform well, rather than leave it in November and feel harried and possibly under-prepared. We'll let you know when the date is fixed - Your piece is a joy!
Laurie, thanks for the gift, such a lovely surprise, very good singing and music, grazie grazie grazie. It's nice to be back in your space and your beautiful music... Ciao, Claudio
