“Below my window in Ross, when I’m working in Ross, for example, there at this season, the blossom is out in full now […] and looking at it, instead of saying ‘Oh that’s nice blossom’ […] I see it is the whitest, frothiest, blossomest blossom that there ever could be, and I can see it. Things are both more trivial than they ever were, and more important than they ever were, and the difference between the trivial and the important doesn’t seem to matter. But the nowness of everything is absolutely wondrous.”

— Dennis Potter, acclaimed British television dramatist, speaking in an interview in March 1994, knowing that he has a few weeks to live.

During the period in which this music was made, my thoughts kept returning to Dennis Potter’s words, posted on a wall in my parents’ house. This composition celebrates the details and qualities of the ‘everyday’; in this case, everyday sounds generated by everyday objects and events. By expanding the moments captured in the source recordings, this music is made of new ‘present tenses’ inspired by both the obvious and the more hidden qualities of those everyday experiences.

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The Nowness of Everything was realized in 2009 at the composer’s studio and at the Electroacoustic Music Studios of City, University of London (England, UK) and premiered on March 16, 2010 at City, University of London.

Premiere

• March 16, 2010, Sound Studio Concert, Performance Space — College Building — City, University of London, London (England, UK)