Partials was written for organist Jeremy Cole for first performance in Wells Cathedral on 18 October 2018 as part of new music wells 78-18. In 2019, it was nominated for an Ivors Composer Award in the solo or duo category.

 

The piece is based on the harmonic series on C and uses an accompanying tape which gradually builds up the harmonics series, starting with the lowest possible note on the organ and slowly adding all of the harmonics/partials. The notes of the series have been raised or lowered in pitch to match the exact sounding pitch of all of the partials in the series - for example, the seventh partial, which is a B flat, is lowered by 31 cents and sounds as a B three quarter flat. The tape uses a sample library created using the organ in Leeds Town Hall and can be previewed here.

 

Partials requires a particular setup to perform - please get in touch for more information.