Today’s voice…
What is a voice? A person singing, an instrument speaking, different voices coming together to form a single sound… A voice can take many forms. As part of our Giving Voice theme, each day in this morning reflection we explore a different way in which voice can be used. Today, we turn to a new voice in the composition of early music: artist in residence Patrick Ayrton.
We spoke to him in the spring as part of his introduction video. But why would a contemporary composer write music in the Baroque style? ‘It’s like cooking,’ he told us at the time. ‘I use a recipe that is hundreds of years old to make something fresh, but I add my own flavour.’
And that is exactly what Ayrton does. He does not begin by asking what music should sound like today, but instead takes a deep dive into the past. As an organist, continuo player, improviser and teacher, he knows the language of the Baroque from the inside out. He knows the rules — and that is precisely what allows him to play with them.
For Ayrton, improvisation and composition are therefore closely connected. To be able to play freely in a historical style, you first need to understand how that style works. Counterpoint, voice-leading, harmony and form are his tools. But a toolbox is not there simply to make everything exactly according to the instructions. Sometimes, you need to know when to leave the beaten track.
His inspiration, moreover, does not always come from yellowed scores. A poem can suddenly suggest a melody when read aloud. A musical idea might appear in the middle of the night and need to be written down immediately. And sitting at a harpsichord or piano, a new piece can emerge through improvisation. His composing thus retains something of the spontaneity of the moment — even when the music ultimately finds its way carefully onto the page.
In Astrophil & Stella, Ayrton takes the English Baroque as his starting point, drawing inspiration from the poetry of Shakespeare, Philip Sidney and others. But listen closely and you will hear that he does not confine himself neatly to the seventeenth century. Influences from Bulgarian folk music emerge, alongside sounds that come surprisingly close to the prog rock of Genesis and Yes. For Ayrton, the Baroque is not a museum piece behind glass, but material that can still be used to build something new today.
And perhaps that is the most interesting voice he brings to the table: not that of someone trying to imitate the past, but of someone entering into a dialogue with it. By composing his own music, Ayrton continually discovers how the music of Monteverdi, Schütz and Bach works from the inside — and what happens when he takes that knowledge and sets it free in his own musical imagination.
Curious to hear what that sounds like? Later today, Ayrton will perform Astrophil & Stella with his ensemble. And that is not all: this week, you can also hear him with The Italian Project and in a trio with Saskia Coolen and Rainer Zipperling.
