The Sky Engine is a new community oratorio, commissioned by JAM, written for Brookland and St Nicholas Primary Schools on Kent’s Romney Marsh, the choristers of Canterbury Cathedral, an orchestra made up of the London Mozart Players and community players playing side-by-side, opera singers Rebecca Afonwy-Jones and Julian Close, and narrator Kudzanayi Chiwawa. The libretto, by children’s author Timothy Knapman, tells the story of an ambitious inventor who attempts to solve the climate crisis by creating a machine that can draw energy from the sky. Unfortunately, things go horribly wrong and it’s left to the scientist’s daughter, Flora, to put things right.
We estimate 160 performers will take part in the work's first performance at the JAM on the Marsh Festival on 14 July. As a composer, it’s always a special privilege to be asked to write a piece, but to create something on this scale that brings together local and professional musicians, alongside opera singers and a narrator, has been an exciting challenge. The overarching philosophy behind the score of The Sky Engine is that all the musicians involved play a meaningful and integral part in bringing Timothy Knapman’s wonderful story to life.
However much one might try, the ghost of Benjamin Britten (and particularly Noye’s Fludde) is never that far away when embarking on a community project of this scale but there are, in fact, a wide variety of conscious and unconscious influences on the piece. Orff’s Carmina Burana – with its clarity of vocal lines and repetitive instrumental accompaniments – was often in my mind, as was the democratic pattern-based music of a piece like Terry Riley’s In C. The Sky Engine’s apocalyptic subject matter brought to mind John Tavener’s The Apocalypse, a piece whose bold gestures had such a profound impact on me when I was a teenager. Few composers can deny the impact of Bach. The influence of the aria ‘Aus Liebe will mein Heiland sterben’ (Out of love my Saviour wants to die) from the St Matthew Passion, with its haunting flute obbligato, cast its spell on the music for The Sky Engine’s heroine, Flora. Coming back down to earth, even my affection for the music of the Ska-infused band Madness made its way into the score!
The Sky Engine features an array of colourful characters, with the singers and musicians called upon to bring the many different parts to life. As well as Flora (sung by a mezzo soprano) and her father (sung by a bass), the primary school choirs become the chorus of animals while the Canterbury Cathedral choristers portray the Bluebird of Happiness in one scene. During the interludes, our bass soloist steps out of character to be the voice of the earth, underpinning the ethereal chorale-like music sung by the choir.
At the heart of the story is the Sky Engine itself and much of the music has a machine-like quality based on propulsive percussion rhythms and motoring ostinatos. As mentioned above, there are nods to a variety of different musical styles but the music is unified by key themes embedded in the piece. The hymn tune Picardy (traditionally sung to the words ‘Let all mortal flesh keep silent’) is given new lyrics by Timothy Knapman and performed at crucial moments in the story – this is a melody with an almost apocalyptic quality perfectly suited to this story. The sky has its own leitmotif, a lyrical descending melody, which is mostly heard when sung by Flora but can also be heard in a more strident version as screamed by the saxophone in the Prologue. A Morse code rhythm sounds out a persistent warning, underpinning some of the choruses and arias.
Throughout the piece, our local community musicians play side-by-side with members of the London Mozart Players. The strings are often called upon to provide long sustained chords that comment on the drama but at other times become part of the machine music with rapid pizzicato motifs. The woodwind and brass also contribute to the machine music with their own independent repeated patterns and assume a variety of different roles, at one point announcing the animals. The harp, piano, electric bass and two percussionists help propel the music forward and all the instrumentalists come together in the middle of the piece to evoke a mighty storm.
I have so enjoyed writing this piece and hope the music draws the audience into the world of this modern fairy tale. We would love it if this first performance at JAM on the Marsh inspires other groups and festivals to take on this work and bring diverse communities of musicians together.
The world première of The Sky Engine takes place at 7pm on 14 July 2023 at St Nicholas Church, New Romney, Kent. Tickets are available via www.jamconcert.org.
Richard Peat studied with Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Nico Muhly, Rhian Samuel and Paul Max Edlin, completing his composition doctorate in 2007. His music has been broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and performed by leading artists including the London Sinfonietta, the Kreutzer Quartet, Onyx Brass, Icebreaker, Martyn Brabbins, Nicholas Cleobury, Michael Bawtree and Stephen Layton. The Choir of Selwyn College Cambridge and Ely Cathedral Girls’ Choir, conducted by Sarah MacDonald, have recorded a full-length CD of Peat’s choral music for release in 2022. His music is published by Encore Publications.