Sonors – Opus 17 (1972)

Sonors presents to young players avant-garde techniques common in the music of our time, but without the problem of difficulty which is familiar in most modern music.

To many people it will seem strange as the orchestra is used in many new and unusual ways. ITs title gives the clue to the concept of the work; it is like a painting, and explores the many permutations of colours of sound. There are no melodies as in conventional music, just patterns of sound sometimes slowly changing and blending, at other times violently opposed. The orchestra is shown up in a new light like a huge paintbox capable of creating a multiple collage of bands and widths of sound. When one listens to this piece one should not link it to the music of the past because it does not speak the same language. One should listen to the moments as they come and let the sonorities pass by in the overall mosaic, and be lost in the atmosphere of sound and sonority.

Paul Patterson, 1985