Tom David Wilson ‘Wringhim His Demons’

Tom David Wilson’s new piece for the Scottish Clarinet Quartet, scored for four bass clarinets, was directly inspired by James Hogg’s novel ‘The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner’. The composer writes -

“The Brocken Spectre is but one instance in the book of the exploration of the idea of the doppelganger; the reflection which shows us a distorted vision – or maybe the truth – about ourselves, haloed by the rainbow colours of the spectrum. In my piece I make much use of reflections in terms of music being inverted and subject to retrograde. The iridescence of the rainbow is represented by passages in parallel, close ‘added sixth’ harmonies. However, I found the passages in the novel which described Robert Wringhim’s terror as he lay at night listening to the approach of demons culminating in his subjection to their rough abuse, to be most moving and it is this idea which gives my piece its title; Wringhim his Demons.”

‘Wringhim His Demons ‘ will receive its first performance at Abbotsford, Melrose, on 25th September 2015.

The quartet gratefully acknowledges the Clarinet and Saxophone Society of Great Britain for funding this commission.