'I’ve missed hearing things that have only existed in my head come through my ears': Dani Howard on composing through lockdown

Last Thursday was the first time in 16 months that I have been back in a concert hall working with an orchestra, and hearing a new piece – my Trombone Concerto for Peter Moore and the RLPO – performed in front of a live audience. It was an absolute dream! I’ve truly missed listening to rehearsals and hearing things that have only existed in my head come through my ears for the first time, and then of course into the ears of a full audience.

Despite inevitable first-night nerves, the RLPO always interpret my pieces in a way better than I could even imagine and Peter Moore truly rose to the occasion at the concert. But the journey to this point – with this Friday’s Radio 3 broadcast and RLPO’s subsequent stream of the concert to be available from 29 June – was a circuitous one in pandemic times, but not without its unexpected positives.

Under normal circumstances, not being able to leave the house for 10 weeks would have been more of a challenge but after lockdown with the diary emptied of concerts and touring, being stuck in a maisonette with a piano in Palma provided the ideal scenario to concentrate on two new commissions – one to create an immersive soundtrack for Antoni Gaudi’s architectural wonder Casa Batlló in Barcelona, and the other was to complete a trombone concerto for Peter Moore to premiere with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. Another commission from the Marian Consort was put on hold for a year. The four-month complete immersion on the Spanish island began to resemble Chopin’s Mallorcan sojourn.

Initially it was the Casa Batlló commission which solely consumed my time, with the deadline to record the music in Berlin last summer/autumn with conductor Pablo Urbina and some of the finest musicians from Berlin’s orchestras. We recorded 40 minutes of music and then worked on accommodating it in situ through the autumn for the delayed opening in May. The new installation and €30 million refurbishment is mind-blowing but we will have to wait for visitors to return to Spain to experience it in person.   

By late last summer, I could turn my attention to Pete’s Trombone Concerto, though with each month passing, I watched as the world premiere slipped later and later - finally to June 17 2021. Writing this work was a huge challenge, as it was the largest orchestral concert piece I have written to date, as well as being my first concerto, which as most can imagine is another challenge in itself! Fortunately, I lived for many years with a trombone player (for two years I lived with two!), and feel because of this I definitely gained an innate feel for the instrument, its capabilities, and what I was drawn to (and not drawn to!) within the instrument. Peter Moore was wonderful to work with, and while I would have loved more in-person sessions (rather than only via Zoom), it still worked really well as a collaboration.

The area I was most concerned about when starting this concerto was stamina. I am always very conscious of letting wind and brass players have enough time to breathe. However I have never needed to concern myself with something as long as 18 minutes, and ensuring larger gaps were included to make the piece playable. This was where the collaboration with Peter was amazing, and I was able to strike the right balance (I hope) with the amount of music, in conjunction with the difficulty of this music.

I had already written two previous pieces for the RLPO, one as a result of Classic FM’s competition. From the outset, due to COVID restrictions, I knew we would be limited on numbers of musicians on stage. However I was determined to have a full-size woodwind and brass section, which would mean a smaller string section. With the latest regulations, I was very fortunate to have an augmented string section than originally discussed for the premiere.

The first movement, Realisation, is very understated, and as the first performance marking of the trombone part suggests: play as if you are totally oblivious to your surroundings. We hear someone starting their journey, and getting on with their day-to-day life as usual, not realising their potential and need to shine. The movement moves into something more aware and focused throughout.

The second movement, Rumination, does just that. It begins with a long solo trombone cadenza, with multi-phonics, and the soloist is joined by the principal trombone of the orchestra, then second trombone, tuba, horns, trumpets and more to create a real extension of the soloist, and a huge brass feature. The movement features the trombone’s unique glissando in many instruments. We are later joined by woodwinds, and at the very end of the movement, hear the strings enter with intense glissandi to match what we’ve heard before. The whole movement moves in slow harmonic cycles, and eventually comes to a breaking point at the very end.

The third movement, Illumination, is supposed to be five minutes of pure light, joy and excitement. It is highly energetic, and continuous for the whole duration of the movement. This is where we truly see Peter’s virtuosity, the fast and rhythmic solos here certainly push the instrument, and I am so excited to hear this live.

I actually started writing the third movement first, and worked backwards. I knew this was where I wanted to get to for the ending, and I often find working this way really helps me structure the work better, and break down the ‘fullest’ elements to their smallest parts in order to effectively build up to this moment. The second movement took a lot out of me emotionally, and took a lot longer than I had foreseen. This first movement is filled with quirky moments that I hope make people smile, and as with all my music, I hope to create a moment of escape, and bring positivity to the listeners for the duration of the piece.

And after an 18 month gestation, Unbound again may falter in seeing the light of day at the Three Choirs Festival next month. This delayed commission for the Marian Consort was a god-send for a composer – it gave me a long time to ‘marinade’ the ideas.

The texts were chosen in collaboration with James Hardie, who is very knowledgeable around the literature of the Virgin Mary, (which was to be the theme of the commission), and he was hugely helpful in sourcing a whole range of texts for me to read and immerse myself in prior to selecting the final texts. What completely drew me in from my initial read, was the stanza below, from the Prologue to Chaucer’s The Wife of Bath’s Tale, and this became the glue that held the whole work together:

By God, if wommen hadde writen stories,
As clerkes han withinne hir oratories,
They wolde han write of men moore wikkednesse,

Than al the mark of Adam may redress!

Geoffrey Chaucer (1340s - 1400), The Wife of Bath’s Tale, Prologue, lines 692-696

The title of the piece makes a reference to the old Chinese practice of foot-binding of women, as a means of 'wikkedness' and control, and of course oppression of women. The 'unbound' title is a metaphor for this freedom and change (both that we have seen, and hope to see). I felt this encapsulated the essence of the combination of texts used.

Here’s hoping the Three Choirs Festival can go ahead too!

Dani Howard’s Trombone Concerto with the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall is broadcast on Radio 3 this Friday and will be available on demand from Tuesday 29 June.