A quick walk through the movements of ‘Seven Ages of Man’

Origins

Starting off the album is Origins. Emulating the emergence of life ‘out of nothing’, a simple unaccompanied soprano saxophone gradually builds and is joined by first the rhythm section, and finally, in a momentous harmonic shift, This is a movement of contemplation, evoking the wonder of the process by which inorganic matter gave rise to organic life, ultimately resulting in something as profound and complex as a human being.

Gestation

This sense of wonder continues in the second movement Gestation. Although the growth and development from infancy to old age is quite an evolution, this is nothing in comparison to the progression from the DNA of a single fertilised cell to a new-born baby. Unsurprisingly, growth is again a big feature of the music but this time in a more active, high energy movement which ends in a state of triumphant excitement at the moment of birth.

Infant

After the intensity and energy of Gestation, Infant is deliberately more reflective. It takes the form of a lullaby, turning away from Shakespeare’s infant, ‘mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms’ to a softer more sympathetic take. Emotionally, it exists from the standpoint of the parent, concentrating on the tender love felt for this new, precious, delicate being. It’s a rose-tinted view certainly, though tinged with a parent’s anguish too. There’s a simple ‘lifelong’ theme that makes an appearance after the vibraphone solo and this melody is reprised and developed in some of the later movements.

Schoolboy

Schoolboy, which is led by the soprano sax in the form of a Scherzo, is a positive, joyful and energetic take on that responsibility-free period of our lives. Evoking the playful, mischievous side of childhood, the more classical and rhythmically irregular tutti outer sections contrast with the joyous groove-based soloing of the sextet in the movement’s central section.

Lover

This movement is about adolescence, a time of emotional growth and imagination, but with a good measure of angst. It starts with a dreamy, romantic theme in the strings moving into a febrile, mercurial section in which the soprano takes the theme, later followed by solos from vibraphone and piano. Moving into a kind of coda the sax takes the lead again, but symbolically underlining the transition from adolescence to adulthood, now in the tenor instead of the soprano. Here the romantic theme returns but changed, undertaking a more troubled guise which builds before reaching an affirmative resolution when the theme re-emerges in the cellos and the energy dissipates as the music draws to a close.

Soldier

The focus of Soldier is the challenge of now finding one’s way in the adult world as we move past the adolescence of Lover. It’s fast paced, tense and more hard-edged than any of the music that has preceded it. Programmed elements infuse the acoustic textures in the extended tension-building introduction before the tenor sax drives the music into the groove of the main section with soloing contributions from both piano and vibraphone.

Judge

In the life portrayed in my ‘Seven Ages’, the middle age in Judge is a time of relative ease and contentment. The earlier challenges of the adult world that were experienced in Soldier have been surmounted, and what is left is an appreciation of the good things in life and the life-changing experience of parenthood. The ‘lifelong’ theme from Infant re-occurs and is given a more expansive treatment here as we hit the highwater mark of life’s arch form and the work’s structure.

Pantaloon

As we move into Pantaloon the ease of Judge is unfortunately left behind. This movement is perhaps the closest to the spirit of the Shakespeare. It’s a ternary form piece in which the utterances of the bass clarinet in the outer sections attempt to convey some of the semi-humorous irritation associated with the realisation of one’s declining physicality. However, as we move into the middle section, we experience the individual’s dawning awareness of their own mortality with a heartfelt lyrical theme in the tenor sax as they come to terms with this new reality.

Old Age

The final movement: The anguish of the Pantaloon is now gone and has been replaced with both a feeling of resolution and a childlike simplicity. Past memories come and go with the emergence of thematic fragments from earlier ‘ages’ (Schoolboy, Infant and finally briefly Pantaloon) until we ultimately transition to a final statement of the ‘lifelong’ theme in the piano and tenor sax. After the energy of a last extended coda, the movement gradually subsides and life through the music gradually ebbs away.