(b. 1973)
Tansy Davies was born in Bristol in 1973. In 1996 she was a BBC Young Composer, and subsequently studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and at Royal Holloway College. She rose to further prominence on the British scene with a sequence of ensemble works for the Composers Ensemble, the London Sinfonietta and The Brunel Ensemble all of which bear the hallmarks of her apprenticeship under Simon Bainbridge and Simon Holt. In her recent work, Davies has found an accommodation between the worlds of the avant-garde and experimental rock, between - in the words of one critic - Xenakis and Prince. Filled with sounds of cracking, slapping, whipping and scraping, it is music that is utterly contemporary, inhabiting the same urban landscape as industrial techno and electronica. And while Davies is similarly fascinated by the potential of 'looping' as a structural device (as in neon), there is none of the formal predictability of much commercial dance music. Rather, the skewed proportions of works such as her LSO commission Tilting attest to her keen interest in applying structural principles found in the natural world, or the work of architect Zaha Hadid. Davies has been commissioned by numerous world class ensembles and orchestras, including the London Sinfonietta, the Britten Sinfonia, the CBSO Youth Orchestra, the City of London Sinfonia, BIT 20, the Northern Sinfonia, a large-scale multi-media work - Elephant and Castle – for the 2007 Aldeburgh Festival, the BBC Concert Orchestra as part of their of their Discovering Music series on Radio 3, and a large-scale piece for the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Wild Card, for the Proms in 2010.
Tansy Davies Composition Timpani and Percussion Requirements
Between Worlds
Timpani + 2 percussion
Glockenspiel, hi hat, 2 sizzle cymbals, 2 suspended cymbals, 2 triangles, mark tree, 2 glass chimes (bunched), shell chimes (bunched), jingles (or sistrum), whip, vibraslap, egg shaker, waterphone, door bell (continuous ring), 5 metal bars of different sizes, grease proof paper, 3 temple blocks, 2 guiros (high and low), 2 geophones (medium and large), thunder sheet (very large), tam tam, bongos, tom-tom (dampened m/l), djembe, snare drum, orchestral bass drum
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Greenhouses
No Timpani + 1 percussion
Hi hat, suspended cymbal
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Hinterland
No Timpani + 1 percussion
2 roto toms, tin can, large log drum, thunder sheet, metal dustbin, large shaker, gourd, splash cymbal, orchestral bass drum
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Iris
No Timpani + 1 percussion
2 large log drums, orchestral bass drum, pedal bass drum, 5 cowbells, bongos, large tom tom, African rattle, snare drum, hi hat, high wood block, trash, thundersheet, 5 tin cans, pedal bin
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Nature
No Timpani + 1 percussion
Marimba, snare drum, orchestral bass drum, 5 temple blocks, 4 tom toms, floor tom, tam tam
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Neon
No Timpani + 1 percussion
Marimba, trash metal, orchestral bass drum, pedal bass drum, hi hat, sleighbells, snare drum, large log drum, bongos, wood block, tenor drum
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Re-greening
Timpani (2 players) + 4 percussion
1) 2 triangles (large and small), whip, 3 suspended cymbals, (sm, med, large), sistrum, snare drum, sizzle cymbal, 2 roto-toms, finger cymbals, 2) finger cymbals, glass chimes, 5 temple blocks. tam tam, bass bells (F#3, A3, B3), orchestal bass drum, hi hat, large thunder sheet 3) glockenspiel, 5 temple blocks, tam tam, 4) suspended cymbals x 3 (sm, med, large), bass bells (F#3, A3, B3), orchestral bass drum, marimba, bongos, finger cymbals
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Salt Box
No Timpani + 1 percussion
Marimba, trash metal, orchestral bass drum, small drum kit, congas, metal dustbin, thunder sheet x 2
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Spine
No Timpani + 1 percussion
5 octave marimba
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Spiral House (Trumpet and Orchestra)
No Timpani + 3 percussion
3 x orchestral bass drums, 6 cowbells, bongos, 4 car wheels, 3 x hi hat, 3 snare drum (small/large/piccolo), 3 x log drums, Taiko drum, metal dustbin, 6 wood blocks, tam tam, xylophone, 7 tin cans, rototoms x 4
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Streamlines
No Timpani + 5 percussion
Chinese opera gong, 2 roto toms, 2 Thai gongs, 2 tin cans, metal dustbin, splash cymbal, hi hat, orchestral bass drum, tom tom, 2 congas, 2 log drums, vibraphone, marimba, 2 x xylophone
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Tilting
No Timpani + 3 percussion + celeste
Cowbell x 3, log drum x 3, large metal dustbin, tin can, orchestral bass drum, hi hat, suspended cymbal, splash cymbal, sizzle cymbal, vibraphone, tam tam, celeste
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Wild Card
Timpani + 4 percussion
Marimba, vibraphone, sizzle cymbal, hi hat, cabassa, whip x 3, ocean drum, guiro, ratchet, large rainstick, wind machine, 5 temple bells, bongos, timbales, conga, snare drum x 2, pedal bass drum, orchestral bass drum, opera gong, tam tam
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