Daniel Davis Stone Skipping
PROGRAMME NOTES
In the year that the world celebrates Beethoven’s birthday, I wanted to celebrate his music. This work is inspired by the tonalities of a set of chamber music works composed by Beethoven, and also by the strong attacks that characterise his Third Symphony. Stone Skipping tries to recreate an image of an action that we have all done at some point in our life: step in front of water, for example, a lake, pond, river or ocean; grab a stone; and throw it to see how many times it jumps on the water before it finally drowns. The combination of the strong attacks in Beethoven’s Third Symphony and the image of a stone skipping on the water made me think about this idea of having three elements together; not only in life, like the stone, the air and the water; but also in music, like an attack, resonance and decay. This work is a journey in the perspective of the stone. It hits the water, it flies, and at the end of the journey it goes to an unknown place.
© Pedro Freitas
Daniel Davis born 1990
Daniel initially studied composition with Sérgio Azevedo, António Pinho Vargas and Luís Tinoco. In 2014, his work ...from the last breath was premiered by the Gulbenkian Orchestra. In 2016 he was offered a place to embark on a PhD at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama with Julian Philips, Richard Baker and Julian Anderson. In 2019 he worked with composer Michel van der Aa as part of the Aix-enProvence Festival. During 2020 Daniel is also a composer in the World New Music Days in New Zealand. danieldaviscomposer.com
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