Biography

Tansy Davies rose to prominence on the British scene with a sequence of ensemble works for the Composers Ensemble (Patterning), the London Sinfonietta (Torsion) and The Brunei Ensemble (The Void in this Colour), all of which bear the hallmarks of her apprenticeship under Simon Bainbridge and Simon Holt. In her recent work, Davies has found an accommodation between the worlds of the avant-garde and experimental rock, between - in the words of one critic - Xenakis and Prince. Filled with sounds of cracking, slapping,
whipping and scraping, it is music that is utterly contemporary, inhabiting the same urban landscape as industrial techno and electronica. And while Davies is similarly fascinated by
the potential of 'looping' as a structural device (as in neon), there is none of the formal predictability of much commercial dance music. Rather, the skewed proportions of works such as her recent LSO commission Tilting attest to her keen interest in applying structural
principles found in the natural world, or the work of architect Zaha Hadid.
Davies has been commissioned by numerous world class ensembles and orchestras, including the London Sinfonietta, the Britten Sinfonia, the CBSO Youth Orchestra, the City of
London Sinfonia, BIT 20, the Northern Sinfonia, a large-scale multi-media work - Elephant and Castle - for the 2007 Aldeburgh Festival, the BBC Concert Orchestra as part of their Discovering Music series on Radio 3, and a large scale piece for the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Wild Card, for the Proms in 2010.
Her work is performed internationally, by groups including the Cantus Ensemble, Grup Instrumental de Valencia, the Tiroler Ensemble für Neue Musik, Musiques Nouvelles, the Melos Ethos Ensemble, the Orchestra of Filharmonia Baltycka, the Israel Contemporary Players, the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, the Orquesta Sinfonica de Chile, the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, and the Plovdiv Philharmonie at WMD/ISCM 2011 in Zagreb. In 2009 she received a Paul Hamlyn Award.
Recent performances include the critically acclaimed As with Voices and with Tears, a requiem
for choir, string orchestra and electronics, to commemorate Remembrance Sunday in Portsmouth Cathedral, with the London Mozart Players. This work was nominated for the South Bank Show / Sky Arts Award 2011.
Spring 2011 saw the release, on the Nonclassicallabel, of Troubairitz, the first CD devoted
entirely to Tansy Davies music, which has received great critical acclaim. A second disc, of
larger scale works, is being planned for release on the NMC label in 2012.
Future projects include a collaboration with Norwegian choreographer Ingun Bjørnsgaard,
and a piano concerto for the BCMG.
July 2011

NOTES

A fascination for the Tarot has led me to explore its labyrinths, in a musical adventure loosely based on the 'Fool's Journey', a metaphor for the journey through life, as depicted by
the images and archetypes found in a Tarot pack. I find the Tarot to be a useful guide to everyday life: its extremely flexible, as well as light, profound, linear, multidimensional, game-like and complex.
The twenty-two Major Arcana are represented here, though not necessarily in their numbered order. Mostly they appear in succession, but sometimes as many as three cards are played together. Some characters return again and again, underpinning other scenes, or creating dramas. Some things to listen out for:
The Fool: a relaxed chorale for strings, that can be heard nonchalantly floating in and out of
all kinds of situations throughout the piece.
The High Priestess and the Magician: a strident melody for high woodwinds, in dialogue with a macho brass bass line.
The Empress and the Emperor: a stream of plucked sounds and low trills, opposed by stubborn interjections from the brass and strings.
The Hierophant (one who explains or makes a commentary): a highly rhythmical proclamation from the woodwinds in ecstatic union, strengthened all the more by an energetic drum pattern.
The Lovers: two sinuous lines, from which, very high and very low utterances, trickle up and
down.
The Chariot: a fast flowing, and assertive (but often, discrete) line, that wraps itself around the
Strength cardo.
Strength: metallic surges, regal promenades, and laid back fanfares from the brass.
The Hermit: a softly spoken woodwind chorale, rising and falling, surging and retreating.
The Wheel of Fortune: excited explosions of chattering patterns and repeated notes.
Justice: A mercurial melody, heard mostly in the violins, but which takes many forms. Its true
nature is revealed as it gradually mutates, into an engine of grinding grooves: the power
behind a strutting and swaying orchestral machine.
The Hanged Man and Death: suspended, dreamy paragraphs, of plucked and bell-like sounds, going round and round in increasing circles. Death is an agent of transformation, and plays with time, with a ticking of bone-like sonorities.
Temperence and the Star: a slow-motion and serene lament in two parts, for vibraphone, harp and strings.
The Devil: a bestial dance for low woodwinds, whose rhythmical grunts, form irregular
patterns, that circle one another. He makes a few appearances.
The Tower (a tower stricken by a lightning bolt): sighs, and yearning horn cries give way to
things falling down at different speeds- floating, tumbling, running, and sliding downwards.
The Moon and the Sun: opaque and metallic sounds flutter across the landscape, as the Moon
illuminates new pathways throughout the piece. The Sun too casts its light in white noise
and the sound of wind; breathing life into many scenes.
Judgement: A passage of oscillations and vibrations for woodwind and horns, that grows into a slow, serious, and domineering anthem.
The World: Ecstatic and virtuosic interjections from the brass, that transform the heavy mood of Judgement, and grow into strange dances and joyful outbursts.
Wild Card was commissioned by the BBC.
Tansy Davies