Peter Broderick 'Music for Falling from Trees' album

In late 2008, Adrienne Hart contacted me about scoring her new work, FALLING FROM TREES. In Adrienne's words, "The piece is set in a psychiatric hospital and centered around one man's struggle to retain his identity in the most extreme of circumstances." There are four dancers in the piece. One male playing the patient, and three female hospital workers. I had been making music for a variety of film projects, but the thought of scoring a dance was very exciting to me. I was on tour at the time, so I wasn't able to start writing the music until I had a break in early January. The dance premiered on January 21st, so I had about three weeks to create the score. I camped out up in the top of my father's barn with some minimal recording equipment, my violin and viola, and an old broken piano.

Given the time constraints, I approached the music in a very open way. Rather than sit down and try to compose something, I just set up a microphone and started playing. After coming up with a couple of themes on the piano, I started recording, using those small themes and improvising around them. Most of the sections have a small core that is composed, and then the rest is improvised. Luckily for me this method seemed to work. I would work all day and then send a sketch over to Adrienne, and every time her response was positive. So in this way we worked very well together. I give my hugest thanks to Adrienne for trusting me to create the music for her wonderful work.

Adrienne told me from the beginning she was looking for a score of piano and strings. So I decided to take this literally and make a rule not to use any other instruments. In the script it called for the sound of a ticking clock. I made this sound by tapping on the body of the violin with my fingernails. The sound of an electric shock given to the patient is depicted by a quick, distorted piano chord. And all other droning and bass tones were made by extending and processing violin and/or piano tones, etc. Thank you very much for listening.

Peter Broderick press quotes
“Broderick creates emotive soundscapes comparable to the works of Michael Nyman, Max Richter, and Harold Budd. Esteemed company for sure, but he is that good.” – Other Music

“If this is what Broderick is capable of accomplishing at the age of 21, one can only imagine what's in store. Based on Home, it'sbound to be lovely.” – NPR

“The deep, wintry melancholy that hangs over the piece showcases a formidable compositional talent…” – Boomkat

“Spectral Folk for fans of Bon Iver” – NME

“This is a magical album… everything is so powerful, so artfully placed… we stumble on moments that recall the magnificence of Simon and Garfunkel at their peak, or David Pajo at his most ambient" – Sunday Times - 5 Stars ***** (CD of the Week)

“it slips into a niche somewhere between Sigur Ros and Art Garfunkel, then demands you admire its impeccable artistry. On the second listen it sounds like a future classic. And it only gets better after that.” – MOJO - 4 Stars ****

"A precociously talented, classically trained multi-instrumentalist… His songs involve fragmentary impressions, reactions and daydreams… an absorbing, meditative treat." – The Independent – 4 Stars ****

“Meticulous and compelling folk carvings… these songs, a hybrid of classical and folk, are delicate but have got guts, recalling Bon Iver."– Uncut - 4 Stars ****

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Peter Broderick - Music for Falling from Trees