Performed by Psappha Ensemble (Ben Powell)

Commissioned by Psappha Ensemble

Hallé St Peter's, Manchester

19 May 2022

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Discrete Features is an intuitive, rapt piece that unconsciously chants something to itself under its breath. A hyperreal, elemental tonality and sympathetic resonances, emerging from a combination of the sostenuto and sustain pedals, create a kind of unsettled finitude. Its bare octave melodies and askew ornamentation add up to a piece that takes being unserious very seriously.