scoring: for 8 players (Flute, Clarinet in B-flat, Trumpet in C, Horn in F, Trombone, Percussion, Violin, Cello)
duration: 9 minutes
composed: 1973
dedication: (see programme note below)
commissioned by The Globe Playhouse Trust
unpublished
status: Complete score survives in the Justin Connolly collection at the RCM Library.
First performed on 30 April 1973 at Southwark Cathedral, London, by the LSO conducted by the composer.
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Although the seven sections of this piece take as their point of departure the notion of the seven ages of man, 1 have chosen to deal with the idea in a way more apposite to music than to words. Shakespeare chose to treat the diversity of human experience in a 'linear' and successive manner; although he was perfectly aware that the child is father to the man, he ignored this 'contrapuntal' and simultaneous aspect. ln Phases/Phrases there are seven kinds of material, each dominant in one section but present in all the others, and the work is dedicated to the memory of an old and dear friend who, having traversed six of the ages, was in the end spared having to endure the seventh.
Justin Connolly
sources:
Title, opus number, scoring, commission: surviving score
Programme note, date/venue of performance, performers: original programme, with thanks to Libby Rice, archivist of the LSO.