Riding East

for string orchestra

James Wilson

Bigger Tress Near Warter Or/Ou Peinture Sur Le Motif Pour Le Nouvel Age Post-Photographique

Bigger Trees Near Warter is David Hockney’s largest work to date. It measures more than four and a half by twelve metres. The painting is made up of fifty panels

joined together to form a whole. Its subject returns Hockney to his native Yorkshire with a view of a landscape near Warter, west of Bridlington, just before the

arrival of spring when the trees are coming into leaf. In the shallow foreground space a copse of tall trees and some early da&odils stand on slightly raised ground.

An imposing sycamore is the composition’s central focus. Another, denser copse, painted in pinkish tones, is visible in the background. A road to the extreme left

and two buildings to the right of the composition o&er signs of human habitation. The painting’s extensive upper zone is dominated by the intricate but stark

pattern created by the trees’ overlapping branches, which are clearly delineated against the winter sky.

Due to its massive scale and technical complexity the painting took Hockney six weeks to complete. Following on from preliminary drawings undertaken out of

doors, the artist produced a sketched grid of the entire composition to guide the process. Working in stages, Hockney sought directness and spontaneity by

painting en plein air (‘in the open air’), a method that evokes the practice of innovative, nineteenth-century French landscape painters such as the artists of the

Barbizon School and the Impressionists, but inevitably limited the number of canvases he could work on at any one time. As they were worked on the individual

panels were photographed and the photographs made into a computer mosaic, to allow the artist to chart progress on the composition as a whole as he only had

space to display six to ten canvases together in his small studio in Bridlington. The canvases were variously reworked, transported back and forth from the studio

to the site for subtle modifications that would enhance and strengthen the complete composition.

Hockney produced Bigger Trees Near Warter for the Summer Exhibition of the Royal Academy, London, in 2007, where it occupied the end wall of Gallery III.

Following the close of the exhibition, once the rest of the works had been removed, this painting remained in place. Two digital photographic renderings of the

work on exactly the same scale as the original were then hung on the two walls flanking it. Presented simultaneously on three walls, the vista seemed to engulf the

viewer, creating the e&ect of a cloister.

The painting’s alternative title indicates that Hockney saw the conjunction of a method of painting out of doors and in front of the subject (called in French ‘sur le

motif ’) with the techniques of (digital) photography as central to his project to produce a landscape painting in oils on a very large scale. The experimental

combination of traditional and state-of-the-art methods has characterised much of Hockney’s practice over the last twenty-five years. Yet his engagement with the

formal and emotive qualities of the landscape itself is also a striking feature of Bigger Trees Near Warter.

Having painted in California in the late 1990s landscapes inspired by Yorkshire, in the early years of the twenty-first century Hockney thus came to shift his

attention more emphatically to the scenery of his home region through direct engagement with it. He has continued to visit Yorkshire on a regular basis

throughout his career, and now lives there part time, drawing inspiration for all his later landscapes on the countryside within a thirty mile radius of Bridlington.

These paintings are more naturalistic than those of the 1980s inspired by the panoramas of California, though retain touches of their vivid colouring. In them,

Hockney focuses particularly on trees. In the Woldgate Woods series of paintings, produced in 2006, for example, Hockney charted seasonal changes in a specific

area of woodland in nine works each made up of six canvases. ‘[Trees are] like faces,’ he has explained, ‘every one is di&erent. Nature doesn’t repeat itself ... You

have to observe carefully; there is a randomness.’ (Quoted in Higgins, p.12.)

Hockney gifted Bigger Trees Near Warter, and the two digital reproductions of the work, to Tate following his seventieth birthday.

Alice Sanger (2009)

String Orchestra

Order of performance: A B C D E F G H I J

The ensemble consists of 19 parts: 10 violins, 4 violas, 3 ‘celli and 2 double basses.

All sections are to be played ad libitum and are not to be conducted.

The beginning of each section is marked with an arrow, corresponding to the downbeat of the conductor, indicating the start of a new section and also the end of the previous section.

At the end of each section, the performers should immediately move onto the next regardless of where they are in the bar.

The double basses are written in octave transposition, with exception to the harmonics, which are written as they sound, marked "suono reali".

Accidentals only a&ect the notes they precede. Notes without accidentals are always to be understood as natural. Accidentals are carried through to tied notes.

Duration: c.15 minutes

Violin 4

Violin 6

Violin 8

Violoncello 3

Contrabass 1

p f p ppp fp

Tempo 1

ad libitum (q = c.118)A

f p ppp f p ppp f

f p ppp fp

mf cresc. p morendo fff cresc. ppp morendo

fff ppp mp p

con sord.

3

33

3

33

Riding East James Wilson

(b. 1991)

c.1'30''

con sord.

33

3

33

3

con sord.

3

33

3

33

arco sul pont. nat. pizz. arco sul pont. nat. pizz.

3 3

suono reale, senza vibr.

Long caesura of optional length determined by the performer.

Short caesura of optional length determined by the performer.

3 3 3 3

Vn. 1

Vn. 2

Vn. 3

Vn. 4

Vn. 6

Vn. 8

Vn. 10

Vc. 3

Cb. 1

Cb. 2

fff ppp mp p ppp fff ppp mp p ppp fff ppp mp p ppp fff

Tempo 2

ad libitum (q = c.146)B

fff ppp mp p ppp fff ppp mp p ppp fff ppp

fff ppp mp p ppp fff

fff sempre

f p ppp f p ppp f

p ppp f p ppp f p

p sempre

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3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3c.1'30''

3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3

con sord.

33

3

33

3 3

con sord.

33

3

33

3

pizz.

pizz.

3 3 3

33

3 3 3

Vn. 1

Vn. 2

Vn. 3

Vn. 4

Vn. 5

Vn. 6

Vn. 7

Vn. 8

Vn. 10

Cb. 1

Cb. 2

ppp mp p ppp mp p ppp mp p ppp

Tempo 3

ad libitum (q = c.176)C

ppp mp p ppp mp p ppp mp

ppp mp p ppp

ppp mp p ppp mp p

p ppp p ppp p ppp p ppp p ppp p ppp p ppp p ppp

p sempre

p ppp p ppp p ppp

p ppp p ppp p ppp p ppp p ppp

f p ppp fp

ppp mp p ppp mp p ppp

ppp mp p ppp

3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3

3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3

3 3 3 3 3 3

con sord.3

3

3 3

3

3 3

3

33

3

3 3

3

3 3

33

c.1'30''

con sord.

con sord.

con sord.

3 3 33 3 3 3

3

con sord.

3

33

3

33

3 3 3 3

Vn. 1

Vn. 2

Vn. 3

Vn. 4

Vn. 5

Vn. 6

Vn. 7

Vn. 8

Vn. 10

Vl. 2

Vl. 3

Vl. 4

Cb. 1

mp p ppp mp p ppp mp p ppp mp

Tempo 4

ad libitum q = c.155D

mp p ppp mp p ppp

f sempre

f p ppp f p ppp f p ppp

ppp p pp p pp p pp p pp p pp p

p sempre

p pp p pp

p pp p pp p pp

f p ppp f p ppp f p ppp

p pp p pp

p pp p pp

f p ppp

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3 3 3 3

3 3 3

con sord.

con sord.

3 3 3 3 3 3 33 3 3

c.1'30''

c.1'30''

c.1'30''

3

3

3

3 3

3

33

33

3 3 3

con sord.

3 3 3 3 3 3 33 3 3

sul G

sul G

con sord.

Vn. 1

Vn. 2

Vn. 3

Vn. 4

Vn. 5

Vn. 6

Vn. 7

Vn. 8

Vn. 9

Vn. 10

Vl. 1

Vl. 2

Vl. 3

Vl. 4

Cb. 1

p ppp p ppp p

Tempo 4

ad libitum (q = c.155)E

p sempre

ff fff mf p pp ff fff mf p pp ff fff mf p pp ff fff mf

ff fff mf p pp ff fff mf p pp

ff fff mf p pp ff fff mf p pp

ff fff mf p pp ff fff

ff sempre

ff sempre

ff fff mf p pp ff fff mf p pp ff fff mf

ff fff mf p pp ff fff mf p pp

ff sempre

ff sempre

ff sempre

ff sempre

p ppp p ppp

3

33 3

3

3 3

3

3 3

3

3 3

3

3 3

3 3 3

3

3

c.1'30''

3 3 33 3 3 3

3

3 3 3 3

3

33

3

3 3

3

3

3

3 3

3

33

33

3 3 33 3 3 3

3

(sul G)

(sul G)

(sul G)

(sul G)

Vn. 1

Vn. 2

Vn. 3

Vn. 4

Vn. 5

Vn. 6

Vn. 7

Vn. 8

Vn. 9

Vn. 10

Vl. 1

Vl. 2

Vl. 3

Cb. 1

ppp sempre

Tempo 4

ad libitum (q = c.155)F

ppp sempre

fff mf p pp fff mf p pp fff mf p pp fff mf p pp

fff mf p pp fff mf

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fff sempre

f p ppp f p ppp f p ppp f

f p ppp f p ppp

fff mf p pp fff mf p pp fff mf p

fff mf p pp fff mf p pp fff mf p

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ppp sempre

3

3 3 3

3

3 3

3

3 33

3

3 3

3 3

3

3

3 3 3

33

3

3 3

33

33

3

3

33 3

3

3 3

3

3 3

3

3 3

3

3 3

3 3 3

3

3

c.1'30''

con sord.

3

3

3

3

con sord.

3 3 3

sul G possibile

sul G possibile

sul G possibile

Vn. 1

Vn. 2

Vn. 3

Vn. 4

Vn. 5

Vn. 6

Vn. 7

Vn. 8

Vn. 9

Vn. 10

Vl. 1

Vl. 2

Vl. 3

Cb. 1

fff sempre

Tempo 4

ad libitum (q = c.155)G

fff ppp mp p ppp fff ppp

fff mf p pp fff mf p pp fff mf p pp fff

fff sempre

fff mf p pp

fff mf p pp fff mf p pp fff mf

fff mf p pp fff mf p pp fff mf p pp fff mf p pp

fff mf p pp fff mf p

p ppp p ppp p ppp

p sempre

fff mf p pp

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3 3 3 3 3 3

3

3

3

3 3

3

33

33

3 3 33 3 3 3

3

3

3 3 3

3

3 3

3

3 33

3

3 3

3 3

33

c.1'30''

3

33

3

3 3

con sord.

con sord.

sul G possibile

sul G possibile

sul G possibile

3 3 3 3

Vn. 2

Vn. 4

Vn. 6

Vn. 8

Vn. 10

Vc. 2

Vc. 3

Cb. 1

fff ppp mp p ppp fff ppp mp p ppp fff ppp mp

Tempo 1

ad libitum (q = c.118)H

ppp f p ppp fp dim.

f p pppf

pppp f

pfff ppp p fff ppp

p fff ppp p fff ppp

p sempre

p fff ppp p fff ppp p

p sempre

fff ppp mp p ppp fff ppp mp p ppp

3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3c.1'30''

c.1'30''

con sord.

3

33

3

33

con sord.

33

3

33

3 3

pizz.3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3

pizz.

pizz.

3 3 3

pizz.

33

3 3 3

Vn. 2

Vn. 4

Vn. 6

Vn. 8

Vn. 10

Vc. 2

Vc. 3

Cb. 1

ppp mp p ppp mp p ppp mp

Tempo 1

ad libitum (q = c.118)I

f p ppp fp

p f p ppp fp

mf p fff ppp mf p fff ppp mf p

mf p fff ppp mf p fff

mf p fff ppp

mf p fff ppp

ppp mp p ppp mp p ppp

3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3

con sord.

3

33

3

33

con sord.

3

33

3

33

c.1'30''

pizz. 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3

pizz. 3 3 3 3 3 3

pizz.

3 3

pizz.

3 3

Vn. 4

Vn. 6

Vn. 10

Vc. 1

Vc. 2

Vc. 3

Cb. 1

f p ppp f p ppp f

Tempo 1

ad libitum (q = c.118)J

p sempre

p fff ppp p fff ppp p fff ppp p fff ppp

p fff ppp p fff ppp p

ppp morendo mf cresc. p morendo fff cresc. ppp morendo

p fff ppp p fff ppp p

mp p ppp fff ppp mp

con sord.

33

3

33

3

pizz.

pizz.3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3

c.1'30''

pizz.

3 3 3

nat. pizz. arco sul pont. nat. pizz. arco sul pont. nat. pizz.

3 3

pizz.

3 3 3

suono reale, senza vibr.

3 3 3 3