Enid Luff's Page

I have always loved the natural world, and a lot of my music is inspired by it, but not in the sense of running away from every day reality. As well as composing, I have formerly taught piano, given classes in aural skills, and played for dancing. Now in my seventies I compose, and enjoy listening and playing more and more; for example, tonight, playing Bach's Three part Invention in E flat major seemed full of the most extraordinary magic.

MY LAST PERFORMANCE was on Sunday March 8th at:
The Red Hedgehog, 255 Archway Road, London (near Jackson's Lane Theatre), when Frances Lynch sang my setting for unaccompanied solo Soprano of a poem called "The Water Diviner" by the Anglo-Welsh poet Gillian Clarke. This was during an event called ROLE PLAY: WOMEN AND MUSIC, presented by Forum London Composers' Group, and running from 3 to 6pm. The song explores in depth the expressive potential of the soprano voice (and is about as far as you can get from a Bach three-part invention, without departing from the voice itself). Frances is the Artistic Director of the Electric Voice Theatre.

About my previous work:

My "About the Wind", for flute and piano (hear it on this page, see "My Music") is included in the
recent CD release by Composers of Wales, "Ariel", featuring Catherine
Handley, flute and Andrew Wilson-Dickson, piano, of works by members
of Composers of Wales. (This disc received, by the way, a "rave
review" in The Musician, who said: Heavenly album - Gorgeous duo flute
and piano - pace and drive - melodic sweetness - Premier league
status"). Enquiries via www.cc-cw.org.

Recent performances of my music include:

On Friday November 21st, 2008, in an evening concert at 7-30pm,
"Lamentation", for wind ensemble, was played by the New Wind Chamber Group at the Regent Hall, Oxford Street, London, as part of the London New Wind Festival. This was its second performance, exactly a year after the first, in the same hall, by the same ensemble. I was honoured that the London New Wind Festival chose to repeat my piece, and delighted at the warmth of its reception. The piece is rather dark and troubled, being a lament for our ailing planet - a theme which was echoed in the colouring of the other pieces throughout the
programme.

Two of my recent compositions follow a path marked out by this
piece, towards the use of greater forces, with the richer textural
possibilities offered by larger groups. One of these is "They that go
Down to the Sea in Ships", for string orchestra, which follows step
for step the kaleidoscopic images behind the text of the Biblical
Psalm 107, forming a powerful narrative.

During the summer of 2007, "Lament for the Ashes of Language", for soprano, clarinet Bb and piano, was sung by Sylvia Strand, soprano, with Graham Jones, clarinet, and Andrew Wilson-Dickson, piano, in Trinity College Chapel, Carmarthen, on June 12th, 2007, as part of the Trinity Festival. This poem is a setting of a powerful poem by Gillian Clarke, about the loss, destruction and waste caused by war.

During the Bangor New Music Festival in March 2007, The Footprints of the Storm, for violin and piano, was played by the brilliant young violinist and violist Matthew Jones, violin, with Michael Hampton, piano, in a recital sponsored by Cyfansoddwyr Cymru/Composers of Wales, in the Powis Hall, University of Wales, Bangor, on Friday, March 16th. This piece was formerly on the spnm short-list.

Also in 2007, "Viola Lullaby", for Solo Viola, was played by Philip Heyman at Trinity College, Carmarthen on May 13th, and "About the Wind", for flute and piano, was played at the Wales Millennium Centre on July 13th, by Catherine Handley, flute, and Andrew Wilson-Dickson, piano.