Banchory Ears Pete Stollery

Commissioned by Woodend Arts Association, this is a concert version of the music I composed to accompany the Banchory Faces photography exhibition in September 2003. For the exhibition, I decided to go out to various parts of Banchory in Aberdeenshire, Scotland and take ‘sonic photographs’, which I could then develop in the studio to provide the sound environment for the exhibition. For this concert version, I have tried to adapt the soundscape so that the sounds are no longer accompanying visual images, but creating images in the listeners’ minds.

Sonic photographs were taken at various places in and around Banchory including the Bridge of Feugh, Banchory Primary School playground, Scolty Hill, High Street, Scott Skinner Square, Woodend Barn, old Railway Yard.
I am indebted to Mrs Bertha Forbes, a local historian, for her recollections of sounds in Banchory from the recent past and for allowing me to use excerpts of the interview in this piece.

Banchory Ears was premiered at Woodend Barn, in November 2004, as part of Upbeat! and is due for release on Far Afield from Webbedhand Records in 2005.

  • Year of composition: 2004
  • Duration of the submitted work: 9:46
  • Production: home/uni

Linked project

Also part of Webbed Hand Records.

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