MantovaMusica, Italy

In June 2024 I was invited to perform at the MantovaMusica festival. The festival’s theme was based on the idea of metamorphosis, and Leonardo Zunica, the artistic director of this festival, decided the Six Metamorphoses after Ovid by Benjamin Britten would be very appropriate. And, what he also wanted was some improvisations around the Britten. I was very excited about this and jumped at the chance because I could put into practice ideas in my PhD thesis (completed/gained 2023/4); some of which are improvising over harmonic forms. He also discovered that I play the aulos and this felt doubly appropriate because this is the instrument of the Greco-Romans and connects to the time of Ovid. It is the oldest double reed instrument in the world, and one that continues to fascinate me (and is also one of my PhD case studies).

The performance took place at the beautiful Palazzo Te and included two male dancers, Marco Bissoli and Daniel Rossellini from Cod Danza with choreography by Chiara Olivieri. I sent Chiara my recording of the Britten beforehand. In the performance I played the Britten from memory and added in my improvisations. I made this shape;

Britten: Pan, Phaeton, MM Improvisations on Phaeton then Niobe. Britten: Niobe, Bacchus, MM Improvisations on Bacchus then Narcissus. Britten: Narcissus, Arethusa.

My improvisations commented on what I had just played and then introduced the next movement.

I then improvised on my aulos (without dance) with the percussionist Francesco Pedrazzini. We had met briefly before the concert and made some decisions together. What transpired was very special. Music happened between us and we managed to deliver something meaningful to the occasion.

I’m so very happy this opportunity was given to me. This type of music making has become very important to me. It is an approach that defines where I want to go and how I want to proceed. And, it’s exhilarating and fulfilling. At my age there’s still time!

Performing Britten Six Metamorphoses after Ovid beneath the arches in the Loggia of the Muses at palazzo Te. I played while two dancers performed on the grass in the courtyard.

Covid Lockdown March 2020 onwards into 2021/22: 

This period has been an unprecedented experience. All professional performing work ceased. It gradually returned but with a different feeling.

However, opportunities presented themselves.

There has been time out, and with this space, time to invest in other things:

Improvisation is now a major part of how I listen, think, practice, and compose. This is because my experience in taking a Masters degree in Jazz Performance has changed my musical perceptions.

Lockdown has given me time to: 

  • Improvise with known models as a tool for structured improvisation

  • Improvise inside and outside known harmonic forms

  • Start a case study as part of my PhD with extensive improvisations on each of Benjamin Britten’s Six Metamorphoses after Ovid for solo oboe 

  • Learn and begin extensive study of the Ancient Greek Aulos as part of my PhD case study on this instrument and the music I’m inventing for it

Both case studies are part of my PhD that is due for completion in the next couple of years max. But for now here’s an outline of Aulos discoveries. 

A New Beginning: the Ancient Greek AULOS

What is an Aulos?

The Aulos, or double pipe is, according to archaeologists, probably the first known oboe in the world (at least the fact that it had a double reed makes it so) and was the most popular wind instrument of the Ancient Greco-Roman civilization. I’ve had a fascination with the instrument for a long time, noticing images of it on my travels to museums over the years. Some painted on ancient Greek vases and in frescoes, some sculpted in stone reliefs or in mosaics as floor decoration. 

I photographed this image during a visit to the Capitoline Museum in Rome years ago. It shows a player concentrated in the act of performing, cheeks puffed out and hands beautifully placed over the pipes. 

Current collection: Rome: Athenian Vase No; 213590 Date: 475-425 BC

There were many designs and types of aulos that developed throughout its lifetime trajectory finishing at about the end of the Roman Empire.  They played on many different occasions and in many different contexts; in paens (hymns of triumph and praise), dirges, and sacrifices, to marching to battle, in rowing, feasting, symposiums and dancing, and in private dinner parties.  Scholars think it may have existed from c. 2000 BC at least, and playing double reed pipes in pairs was known about in the ancient Near East as a pair of silver pipes from Ur now held in the University Museum of Philadelphia date from c.2600 BC. 

What was the sound of an Aulos? How did it play?

The aulos, as I have discovered in my exploratory beginnings to play it, is a sophisticated instrument and one that requires a lot of time to understand how it functions; how to blow it, hold it (the finger stretch is unusual), how to make it play relatively in tune or otherwise, and most importantly what type of reed works best. This is an extremely lengthy process, some reeds taking up to a year to make, and the reed images we have, and some of the archaeological finds, only give us a scant idea of what they were like.  Its basic sound has two opposing qualities. One is soft, mellow and flexible in pitch. The other is raucous, loud and wild sounding. These sounds are caused by changes in embouchure that exploit these tendencies. I have found that I look forward to playing it because it always surprises me. One of its obvious delights is the fact that it has two pipes and this encourages constant listening not only to the mix and pitching of the notes together, but how the pattern of the finger movement can influence the making of melodies and drones.

They sound approximately a fourth apart and each pipe has its own six-note scale. This allows for the resultant melodic lines not only to have drone effects but also two notes sounding together to produce intervallic relationships and automatic counterpoint. There are also microtonal tunings that arise partly around how the double reed is made and blown.

Its ancient sound represents I think the beginnings of what constitute an oboe sound today. It is a sound that is of course speculative, unknown and at the same time utterly unique. And with the help of an international community, at www.doublepipes.infoI have been able to find out. The few working auloi we have today are copies made from original instruments excavated in the early 20thcentury and held in museums across the world. This establishes the premise that the instrument itself, and the few copies of them that are being played today, is the guiding factor in revealing to us how it may have sounded. The contemporary ear when playing and listening to these instruments will possibly inflect the pitch and the tone differently to how musicians did all those years ago, but for my own interest the aural exploration of this instrument will reveal a new dimension to the general perception of oboe sound and its inner qualities. 

I have been able, with the help of the above community (thanks are particularly due to my mentor aulos player Barnaby Brown and fellow aulos player colleague Callum Armstrong), to buy an Austrian-made copy by Thomas Rezanka, of an aulos excavated in Egypt in 1969, that is dated c.400BC and housed in the Louvre in Paris.

Here is a little homemade video from 2021 of me playing and explaining my Louvre aulos:

(double click on the image to make it play)

More aulos sounds:

 Here is a high wild aulos improvisation:

Here is a combined oboe and aulos improvisation improvising one on top of the other: 

I have made some music through improvising and listening to how the instrument reacts and responds. I’m trying not to dictate outcome but letting it speak for itself. The tuning is particularly flexible and the pitch fluctuates between intervals. Playing ‘in tune’ is a relative concept. 

Here are some more sound files:

I made an aulos version of Pan, the first of Benjamin Britten’s Six Metamorphoses after Ovid:

And next is Pan on my oboe with an improvisation on the aulos over it:

And here is an improvisation on Pan with another improvisation on the aulos over it:

And here are some more images of this instrument to give an idea of what it looked like, who played them, and the settings in which they were played. All these beautiful pictures show a time when this instrument seemed to be everywhere, playing inside and outside for many an occasion by male and female players.

My aulos journey is continuing …

Etruscan painting c.470 BC Tomba dei Leopardi, Tarquinia

Marble relief of a satyr in a Dionysiac procession. Roman Sarcophagus c.100 AD from the Villa Quintiliana on the Via Appia south of Rome. British Museum.

Young man piping, courtesan dancing with castanets. Re-figure cup by Epictetus, c. 500 BC British Museum.

Further news:

A new recording from 2020/21: Harrison Birtwistle Chamber Works Nash Ensemble BIS-2561 at www.bis.se, which you can buy here.

In this CD is the new version of Pulse Sampler (1981/2018), originally for oboe and claves, now for oboe and percussion performed by Melinda and Richard Benjafield. Richard and I spent some sessions with Harry exploring the original material with improvisation. Some of the resultant ideas are incorporated into this new version. 

MM January 2022