Camouflage was jointly commissioned by BBC Radio 3
and Tŷ Cerdd for the 90th anniversary celebrations of the
BBC National Orchestra of Wales in 2018. The work was
premiered by the orchestra under Jac van Steen at
Hoddinott Hall, Cardiff on the 28th of March in 2018 and is
dedicated to the memory of a fine piccolo player who sadly
is no longer with us.
According to the Oxford Dictionary one definition of the
word camouflage is ‘the natural colouring or form of an
animal which enables it to blend in with its surroundings.’
Examples of this are numerous in nature, with prime
examples possibly being the patterns on a leopard’s skin or
the colours on the bittern’s feathers. This piece essentially
deals with masking musical ideas into the orchestral
textures, allowing them to resurface at various points within
the course of the work. The repeated two-note idea at the
opening and later the ascending scale are gradually
concealed within thick blocks of orchestral textures
constructed of layers of identical ideas, similar to a pattern
found in a typical camouflage. Further concealing is
achieved by sustained chords that gradually moves from
one sectional to another. Towards the end the main musical
material is clearly revealed on the trumpets only to
disappear into a blanket of ascending and descending scales
that eventually disintegrates into a closing playful solo in
the piccolo part.