It’s a strange title, but it does make sense. I’m fascinated by the German Romantic notion of music as some kind of living organism, animated by the inexorable drive or ‘will’ of the sounds which make it up (der Tonwille). It’s like the way that genes blindly but powerfully shape the development of the bodies of which they are part. In this extract, a little way into the piece, the strong, bright ringing sounds of the opening are just beginning to multiply and evolve into something with a life and an energy all its own. The piece was written for Matthew Schellhorn, who gave the premičre in St Martin-in-the-Fields, London, in November 2004.

To hear an excerpt from 'The Will of the Tones' go to the listening page on my website: http://jeremythurlow.wordpress.com.

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