Orchestral music
NB: instrumentation to be added.
Tephra (1982) string orchestra
unfinished ...
3 movements; duration: 12 minutes
First perf: Western Youth Wind Orchestra, cond. David Asater, Belfast Festival at Queen's, 19 November 1982
First perf: Western Youth Wind Orchestra, cond. David Asater, Belfast Festival at Queen's, 19 November 1982
A Planxty for the Dancer (1983) See Programme note.
First perf: Ulster Orchestra, cond. Kenneth Montgomery, Belfast Proms, Ulster Hall, 11 June 1983. Commissioned by Belfast City Council.
A Planxty for the Dancer.mp3
Moon is our breathing (orchestral version 1989) - see also under Chamber Music listing
dedicated to Terry Black
See Programme note.
dedicated to Terry Black
See Programme note.
duration: to follow.
First perf. (orchestral version): Ulster Orchestra, cond. Simon Joly, March 1989. Chamber ensemble version commissioned by Colman Pearce for Carroll's Summer Music, 1985.
First perf. (orchestral version): Ulster Orchestra, cond. Simon Joly, March 1989. Chamber ensemble version commissioned by Colman Pearce for Carroll's Summer Music, 1985.
Colours (1989)
This piece separates out the four songs (non-vocal) from Moon is our breathing.
Colours (orchestral version).mp3
Out of the Night (1991) See Programme note.
duration: 7 minutes
First perf: Ulster Orchestra, cond. Yan Pascal Tortelier, Binghamton, New York State, 25 January 1992. Commissioned by the Ulster Orchestra Society Ltd. with the financial assistance of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland for the Ulster Orchestra's USA Tour, 1992.
First perf: Ulster Orchestra, cond. Yan Pascal Tortelier, Binghamton, New York State, 25 January 1992. Commissioned by the Ulster Orchestra Society Ltd. with the financial assistance of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland for the Ulster Orchestra's USA Tour, 1992.
Out of the Night.mp3
Ecce Orfeo (1996) See Programme note.
Toccata: La morte d'Orfeo
Madrigale: Ecco Orfeo
Madrigale: Ecco Orfeo
First perf: Ulster Youth Orchestra, cond. Takuo Yuasa, Lakeland Forum, Enniskillen, 15 August 1996. Commissioned by the UYO, with ACNI funding, for its concert tour of Enniskillen, Dublin and Belfast, 15-17 August 1996.
"I liked the arrangement of the first half, where two related pieces by David Byers – commissioned by the UYO, with assistance from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland – sandwiched the Four Dance Episodes from Copland’s Rodeo.
"Byers’s Toccata: La morte d’Orfeo and Madrigale: Ecco Orfeo draw on material from Monteverdi’s seminal opera L’Orfeo; they skilfully apply quasi-Renaissance parody techniques to a strongly late-20th-century idiom. The pieces are well-tailored to a youth orchestra and have that rugged directness, allied with a wide expressive range, which is a hallmark of much of Byers’s music."
Martin Adams, Irish Times, 19.08.1996
"Byers’s Toccata: La morte d’Orfeo and Madrigale: Ecco Orfeo draw on material from Monteverdi’s seminal opera L’Orfeo; they skilfully apply quasi-Renaissance parody techniques to a strongly late-20th-century idiom. The pieces are well-tailored to a youth orchestra and have that rugged directness, allied with a wide expressive range, which is a hallmark of much of Byers’s music."
Martin Adams, Irish Times, 19.08.1996
First perf: RTÉ National
Symphony Orchestra, cond. Gerhard Markson, Sonorities Festival Closing
Concert, Whitla Hall, Queen's University, Belfast. Commissioned by
Sonorities and supported by the National Lottery through the Arts
Council of Northern Ireland. Broadcast live on RTÉ Lyric FM and on BBC
Radio Ulster.
'David Byers’s ten minute piece, Crooked Lymbeks, was a world première, commissioned for this Sonorities Festival. Modal in feeling, the work harked back to medieval times and once again the strings' [of the RTÉ National Symphony of Ireland] precise control over tonality made a special impression. …'
from vacuumtunes.co.uk
from vacuumtunes.co.uk
Sounding the City: the River Lagan (2002) orchestra with brass band See Programme note.
dedicated to Thierry Fischer
dedicated to Thierry Fischer
duration: 8 minutes
First perf: Ulster Orchestra, Laganvale Brass Band, cond. Thierry Fischer, Waterfront Hall, Belfast; Opening Concert of the 40th Belfast Festival at Queen's, 25 October 2002. This was the third part of a composite four-part celebratory work which also included movements by Elaine Agnew, Stephen Gardner and Brian Irvine.
First perf: Ulster Orchestra, Laganvale Brass Band, cond. Thierry Fischer, Waterfront Hall, Belfast; Opening Concert of the 40th Belfast Festival at Queen's, 25 October 2002. This was the third part of a composite four-part celebratory work which also included movements by Elaine Agnew, Stephen Gardner and Brian Irvine.
Sound file to follow.
The Mountainy Singer (2005) Concertino for piano and string orchestra
dedicated to Adilia Alieva
dedicated to Adilia Alieva
First perf: Adilia Alieva, piano, Mikkeli City Orchestra, cond. Rauf Abdullayev, Mikkeli, Finland, 17 February 2005.
See Programme note.
The Mountainy Singer.mp3
Laganvale Flourish (2008) brass band