Banshee (1994)

‘Banshee’, for oboe and percussion, was commissioned by and written for Melinda Maxwell, my good friend and superlative oboist and Richard Benjafield, the equally extraordinary percussionist in 1994. The impetus for the piece will have come from the chapter on the Banshee in ‘The Book of Imaginary Beings’ by Jorge Luis Borges, which had been the source for other pieces of mine written around that period, including my small ensemble piece, ‘Lilith’. Borges says of the Banshee that, “She is less of a shape than a mournful screaming that haunts the Irish night and the Scottish Highlands. Beneath the windows of the visited house, she foretells the death of one of the family. She is held to be a token of pure Celtic blood, with no mixture of Latin, Saxon, or Danish. The Banshee has also been heard in Wales and Brittany. Her wail is called keening.” ‘Banshee’ lasts about 10 minutes and is a tour de force for both players.

– SH
24 October 2022