Pete Stollery: dulax [download]

Dulax was commissioned by and composed for Alan Carr, who gave the first performance on 2 November 2014 at Glenbuchat Hall, Aberdeenshire as part of the sound festival 2014. The piece forms part of the Aberdeen Harp Book, a collection of pieces for lever harp players of an intermediate standard. Pieces from the Aberdeen Harp Book can be downloaded from the sound festival website.

Dulax is the name of Alan Carr’s house in Glenbuchat. The name derives from the Gaelic Dubh leac which can be translated as “hill slope.” Using a simple cipher, I translated the letter names of the house name into the notes D, C, E, A and D, which are not only the first five notes of the piece, but also the harmonic underpinning of each of the five short sections of the work.