A Wanstead Fringe concert brings daughter and father composers together on a work inspired by Epping Forest, to be experienced by the audience walking through Wanstead Park. Marissa Landy explains
Fabled Forest is a unique opportunity to step right into your local forest and hear a brand-new album inspired by, and dedicated to, that very place. Written for marimba, vibraphone, harp and piano, the pieces are performed by a wonderful group of professional musicians.
Fabled Forest is also the first musical collaboration between me and my father, electroacoustic composer Leigh Landy. I’ve lived in Wanstead for more than five years and was previously the theatre programmer for the Wanstead Fringe. I love the festival and am incredibly proud of how much it has grown, so this project feels particularly special. The concert brings together two very different musical styles. My own compositions are interwoven with transition pieces created by Leigh from sounds recorded in the forest, alongside original words I have written to guide the audience through the landscape. The result is curious, slightly mystical and raw.
I’ve been composing for theatre for around five years, as well as writing music for audiobooks and arranging works for choirs and ensembles. Fabled Forest has given me the chance to do something different: to compose an album without the usual restrictions of a commission or production. It brings together a range of my musical influences and styles in one contemporary classical work.
Leigh has been an internationally recognised electroacoustic composer for decades, with works commissioned and performed around the world, alongside an academic career teaching and researching in the field. He was delighted when I began composing in 2018, but until now we had never actually worked together. Our approaches are very different. I work predominantly with acoustic instruments, while Leigh creates music through recorded and electronic sound, which made it all the more interesting to see what would happen when we combined the two.
I decided to create Fabled Forest for Epping Forest because of the deep connection I’ve developed with it since moving here. It was this forest that really made me fall in love with nature, and I’m adamant that for as long as I live in London, I want to live close to it. The music follows a journey into the forest: approaching it, passing beneath the canopy and discovering the different paths within. Some are joyful; others are stranger and a little more eerie. Writing for this combination of instruments has been a dream. Marimba, vibraphone, harp and piano create an extraordinary sound together, sometimes delicate, sometimes percussive and unlike any ensemble I’ve worked with before.
Live musicians, immersive sound design, brand-new music and a journey through the landscape that inspired it: Fabled Forest is an invitation to experience Epping Forest in a completely new way.
For more information on Wanstead Fringe events, visit wansteadfringe.org
