Jack Gionis
Common Yew – Taxus baccata
with Rennie Sutherland (clarinet)
Right in the middle of the village where I grew up stands the old parish church – and around the edges of its churchyard is a row of towering Common Yew trees that drop their crimson berries over the street in autumn; the slow creak and rustle of their ancient, weathered branches twisting in the wind…
Whilst composing this piece, I wanted to create a soundscape that is both beautiful and haunting; two characteristics which I think apply to this species of tree. The instrumentation features a clarinet, trumpet, guitars and pianos in addition to field recordings and synthetic elements. The aim here was to make the music sound alive – so I asked the question: ‘if a Yew tree could breathe, what would it sound like?’
Southern Magnolia – Magnolia grandiflora
The Southern Magnolia tree that I wrote for is the only tree of its kind on the route. My aim was to write a piece that captured both its natural beauty and apparent loneliness within the gardens. With this in mind I gave the trumpet a slow, lyrical melody, around which I layered both instrumental and natural sounds to create a soundscape that I hope depicts the tree’s character. The list of sounds I used include gravel footsteps, piano string sounds and birdsong.
White Ash – Fraxinus americana
co-composed with Andrew Zhou
At several points in writing the music for the White Ash tree, we found the sounds we were recording and placing together pointed us towards some kind of ancient, mythological experience. Combinations of wooden, ceramic and metallic sounds began to evoke various elemental forms of earth, water, air and fire. Familiar sounds acquired abstract, narrative implications that led us to explore how we could transform the sense of dimension and space around a listener.
It was serendipitous, then, to discover afterwards the connection the ash tree has with folklore.
In Norse mythology, there is a mighty tree known as Yggdrasill that connected the ‘Nine Worlds’, home to all beings – living and dead. This all-encompassing tree reached high up to the heavens, across the cosmos and, with its roots, down into the underworld. Its wellbeing reflected the health of its inhabitants and the balance of the universe. It is speculated that Yggdrasill was an ash tree. Importantly, the tree was a mortal entity. So, to protect the tree was to protect life itself.
Hailing from Suffolk, Jack Gionis writes music for both electronics and acoustic instruments. Jack has written orchestral, chamber and solo works, and develops his own software and equipment in pursuit of multi-disciplinary creative projects. Jack spent a year as a member of the Aldeburgh Young Musicians before commencing his BMus (Composition) studies at the RCM with Errollyn Wallen.