Andrew Ford

About Andrew Ford

• Australian composer, writer and broadcaster

• Was born in England in 1957

• During his study at university in England, he met Sir Michael Tippett who encouraged him to follow his instincts as a composer rather than working with established musical systems.

• Migrated to Australia in 1983 to take up a teaching position in the Faculty of Creative Arts at the University of Wollongong.

• In 1992, he took leave from the university to be composer-in-residence for the Australian Chamber Orchestra for 2 years.

• In 1995, he retired from academic life and since then has presented The Music Show each Saturday morning on ABC Radio National.

• Ford's output as a composer is varied: from musical theatre to orchestral and chamber music to solo instrumental and vocal music.

• His style represents influences from a wide range of popular and art music styles as well as literary influences.

The Unquiet Grave

• A viola concerto (written for Patricia Pollett - violist, who gave the premiere performance in 1999.

• Based on an English folk song The Unquiet Grave which is quoted in full, played by the viola (soloist).

• Instrumentation / performing media:

• solo viola

• flute (doubling piccolo)

• oboe

• alto saxophone (doubling soprano)

• bassoon

• horn

• trumpet

• 1 percussionist (playing tubular bells, tam-tam, bass drum, vibraphone, marimba and crotales)

• harp

• strings

Musical Characteristics

• Much of the melodic material throughout the piece is derived from fragments of the song The Unquiet Grave (also known as 'Cold Blows the Wind My True Love').

• ​The folk song is quoted in full just before the end of the piece.

• The expression 'ruvido' (roughly) marked on the score is intended to portray the 'roughness and vibrancy' of the folk song style.

• Another influence from the folk song style is the frequent use of open strings and harmonics.

• The work shows an intimate understanding of contemporary string techniques which are layered in the string parts to create a kaleidoscope of tone colours.

• Harmonics are a feature of the piece (e.g. the cadenza is almost entirely made up of harmonics). Much of the harmonic pitches are derived from notes in the melodic line.

• Sections tend to start out simply (melodically and harmonically) then climax in a series of ascending figures which blur both texture and harmony. This techniques is used throughout and unifies the work.

• The tempo is manipulated so that the work appears to be gaining speed for much of its course.