THE SCOTTISH NATIONAL JAZZ ORCHESTRA will give the premiere performance of THE ORCADIAN SUITE in Kirkwall on the final night of the St Magnus Festival.

The ORCADIAN SUITE has five composers – Tommy Smith (saxophone and director of the SNJO), Mario Caribe (bass), Don Paterson (guitar), Brian Byrne (piano) and Chris Greive (trombone). The Arts Journal invited each of them to describe their own sections of the new piece.

TOMMY SMITH: The Ring of Brodgar

I was talking to Glenys Hughes as part of arranging the SNJO’s Highland Tour in June, and she suggested a commission for an Orcadian Suite. I chose the five composers – the original list was Mario Caribe, Don Paterson, Chris Greive, Brian Byrne and Steve Hamilton, but unfortunately Steve had to pull out at short notice, and I have written one section myself — also at short notice!

I gave the composers some ideas on possible subjects like the Standing Stones, Skara Brae, the Ring of Brodgar and so on, but I didnt assign anything, I left them to chose, and nobody picked anything conflicting.

Steve had chosen the Ring of Brodgar, so I took that on – I once played a concert with my band there in the St Magnus Festival, and I remember rehearsing to an attentive audience of cows!

I had to write my section during the Highland tour, so it was back to the old-fashioned paper and pen method, which is advantageous in that you are forced to use your imagination even more when you don’t have a computer or a piano in front of you.

Mine is simpler than the other pieces, and of course, I had already heard the rest, because we began rehearsing them at the start of the tour. I had that overview, and I was able to do something different from any of the others. It is more spacious, and its not as impressive as theirs, but I think it works as part of a set of five.

We are still thinking about the final sequence — I suspect mine will be in the middle, and we will probably close with Brian’s, but well figure that out when we do the intensive rehearsal work.

MARIO CARIBE: Skara Brae

Skara Brae is a conglomerate of subterranean houses linked to each other dating back as far as 3100 BC.

It was uncovered when a storm ripped open a part of the coast and exposed the hidden ruins.

My piece has two basic moods, one sombre and opulent, the other mellow but still reflective.

The first mood features the low register instruments in the band, connecting with the epic proportion of the finding of the place and the harshness of conditions of living faced by the settlers,  and the second is played by the soprano saxophone and piano, bringing in more of the feel of daily life and  trivial affairs.

As with many other sites in Orkney I was inspired by the unimaginable time perspective Skara Bare brings to mind. It seems the islands have pieces of human history dotted all over the place – Brodgar and the ships stuck in Scapa Flow are two others that come quickly to mind. Snapshots in stone. (Hmmm … I think this will be title!)

Also the way the site was discovered is quite poetic, as if the guts of the earth were ripped opened to reveal a treasure hidden for thousands of years to give us an insight into how really insignificant we are compared to the big scheme of things.

DON PATERSON: Countryman 

‘Countryman’ is a kind of hymn for George Mackay Brown, the great Orcadian poet who died in 1996. GMB is too often described as a poet of simplicities, though that’s usually meant as a kind of compliment; he certainly had the great knack of allowing everything he described to stand in its own space and silence. But while most – not all – of his melodies were relatively simple, they all had great harmonic depth and complexity, and I think this is sometimes overlooked.

I guess I’ve had all that in the back of my mind, though it’d be highly presumptuous to say that I’d tried to capture any ‘spirit’ of his in the piece; even if I did, it would be a worthless claim – subjective in the extreme, and certainly beyond verification. And this isn’t ‘the way I hear his work'; I don’t believe poetry and music stand in a particularly close relationship to one another anyway.

Most of their supposed affinities are only apparent, with the lyric – a whole other art form in itself – responsible for conducting most of the false analogy in either direction. Words mean something; music means nothing, or at least nothing that might be apprehended in words. All I had in mind was George’s ‘vibe’ – celebratory, contemplative, a little melancholic, and a whole lot stranger than it’s often given credit for. Beyond that it’s a simple dedication, and a thank-you.

CHRIS GREIVE: Ocean – Liquid History

Inspiration from the Ocean in any part of the world is not hard to find and combining this with a sense of history as long and colourful as Orkney’s made writing this music a joyous task. My thoughts were streaked with the legends and ancient history of the islands as I set about putting in the duality of life that exists wherever the Ocean is such a close realm.

My piece is in three intermingled parts; Fish Swim Storm Brews / Provider / New Norse. The opening statements from the Orchestra describe the tranquil (playful) fish (flute + bass clarinet) darting about while a heavy storm brews (trumpets + trombones).

The second section describes the bubbling life and beautiful harvest that the Ocean provides with the woodwind and light trombones popping through the long sweeps of the flute. Later the mood thickens and brightens simultaneously before the piano takes the simple theme that brings home the sea harvest.

Finally the brass take a melody that explores the movement of a culture and the associated violence and upheaval that this causes. The opening theme is then allowed to sing us to the final note as a reflection of the Ocean as a witness to all that goes on.

BRIAN BYRNE: Dance on the Stones Of Stenness

The idea of stone circles fascinates me. They are thousands of years old and still we do not know what really went on there. I do believe they were a place where great ritual took place. As dance is one of the oldest forms of celebration I decided to write this piece with a vision of movement and dance on these mysterious stone circles.

To convey this image I’ve used different tempi, styles and moods that develop and link the piece. It begins slow, mysterious and dark, with a piano motif that is neither major nor minor. This is meant to give us a dark image of the stone circles as they are exposed to the elements. The opening cluster chords build to an almost fanfare like section that  welcome the people to the place of ritual and celebration.

Once they are in place they are forced to dance by the rhythmic swing section to follows, which is what I would describe as an “Orkney Strut”. This section then leads to the main body of the piece which is a feature for soprano saxophone. I thought it would be interesting to use a Celtic based dance form (slip jig, a 9/8 time Celtic dance) and merge it with a jazz “3” feel and add some jazz voicings.

This slip jig section develops into a 6/8 groove that allows the piano and saxophone to solo over backings from the saxes and trombones. This peaks to a free improvised soprano solo which is joined by the piano which eventually brings us back to the mysterious, dark opening motif signalling the end of the celebration. The piece ends with the sound of wind blowing around the Stones of Stenness.

The Scottish National Jazz Orchestra perform The Orcadian Suite at the Pickaquoy Centre, Kirkwall, at 8pm on Wednesday 25 June 2003.

© Tommy Smith, Mario Caribe, Don Paterson, Christopher Greive and Brian Byrne, 2003