Gavin Higgins: Rough Voices for large ensemble or orchestra [Printed Music for Hire]

Rough Voices was commissioned by Radio 3 for the 2020 BBC Proms – a strange festival in the middle of the pandemic where orchestras played to empty halls across the country. As I was writing the piece I came across the poem ‘Tough’ by Tony Walsh (born 1965, aka Longfella) – a battle cry for the working-class – and his words resonated with the music I was composing:

     They don’t like it when we make it despite all their ifs and cuts
     They don’t like it when we take it as our right to shake things up
     They don’t like it when rough voices start demanding better choices
     But it’s tough, we’ve had enough and we are coming

Being from a working-class background myself I know how life changing music can be; and so I wanted to write an anthem for those communities. As the number of people living in poverty continues to rise and working-class voices are marginalised, it’s more important than ever that we are heard. As such, Rough Voices is a rallying call to arms: we’ve had enough… and we are coming! The piece starts with a scream – of anger, frustration – that seems to interrupt a chorale played on strings. The ‘interruptions’ move into an insistent, incessant procession that drives relentlessly onwards. The ‘scream’ returns at the climax of the work, though now in a righteously indignant tone, before the chorale reappears, changed somewhat with echoes of the rhythmic pulse that dominated much of the piece. © Gavin Higgins