'The Troubles of an Automaton, or The Table and The Chair' was performed on 30 May 2019 by Jordan Wright Murray at his Guildhall School of Music and Drama Recital. The piece was commissioned by Jordan earlier in the year after he came across another piece 'The Yellow Wallpaper, an Accompanied Reading'. The commission request was for a similarly-scored piece for Percussion and Narrator.
'The Troubles of an Automaton, or The Table and The Chair' is written for Cimbalom or other instruments, three Gongs, Bass Drum and Narrator
Text: Clementina Maria Black (1853-1922) / Edward Lear (1812-1888)
The Cimbalom part may be played on a chromatic hammered dulcimer or hackbrett or any other instruments. The Gongs will ideally be 3 bossed/tuned gongs, non-specific pitches: high, medium, low.
The Bass drum will ideally be an orchestral bass drum.
The narrator may choose one of two texts:
A: The Troubles of an Automaton (Excerpt) by Clementina Maria Black
B: The Table and the Chair by Edward Lear.