t e m p u s   f u g i t

Instrumentation:             3.3.3.3/4.3.3.1/Perc(3)/Str                   

Duration:                       6’

Performance details:      15.05.2004, Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham, Nottingham Symphony Orchestra, Derek Williams; cond.

Recording details:          as performance

Click here to hear excerpts             Click hear to see sketches

For details of hiring the sheet music, please contact David

Tempus Fugit is the Latin phrase meaning ‘time flies’ and the piece is based around the clock tick of the second hand. Tempus Fugit is in two sections – tattoo and fugue. The tattoo borrows ideas from African drumming techniques and prominently uses Clave and Charleston rhythmic patterns to build up around the ‘tick-tock’ rhythm. The music becomes more and more complex, giving the impression that the music is getting faster whilst maintaining a constant ‘tick-tock’ pulse. In the fugue the music is freed from the clock tick, and so has the liberty to get faster and faster and literally fly away!

Tempus Fugit was commissioned by the Nottingham Symphony Orchestra as part of the centenary celebrations of manned flight.