Will Gregory (Goldfrapp)
Eastnor Castle Estate, Ledbury, Herefordshire

Composer Will Gregory‘s Sonic Journey was created in response to a personal journey taken by foot on the Eastnor Castle Estate. Leaving from the Obelisk set in the Malvern Hills, the route runs straight down the hill. If you keep pace with the tempo of the music you will encounter the various moods and fluctuations of the walk in sync with what you hear. The view of Eastnor Castle that appears as you clear the trees on your left marks the final stages of the piece.

The Obelisk was erected in 1812 by the 1st Earl Somers of Eastnor Castle as a memorial to his son who fell fighting at the Siege of Burgos. The music is in part an imaginary cortege of survivors come to comfort the Earl for his loss, and also a response to the spell cast by the surroundings.

About the composer: Will Gregory is a composer, producer, keyboardist and woodwind player. He studied music at York University, going on to tour as saxophonist with Tears for Fears. He worked with artists as diverse as Peter Gabriel, Tori Amos, London Sinfonietta and Portishead before teaming up with Alison Goldfrapp at the end of the 1990’s. He has written a number of works for silent film, including The Passion of Joan of Arc, and He Who Gets Slapped as well as BBC Radio 3 commissions for its Baroque Remixed series. His opera, Piccard in Space, premiered at QEH London in 2011.