Totnes School of Piano
Exeter Rondels
REPORT ON THE PERFORMANCE OF MUSIC FOR THE EXETER RONDELS
The performance took place in the nave of Exeter Cathedral on the afternoon of August 15th, 2025. The music was conceived as a promenade along the 31 Exeter Rondels - exquisite tapestry cushions placed on the long stone benches either side of the large space. The rondels, one by one, illustrate local and national history from the 5th century to the 1980s. The music, 31 miniatures scored for three flautists and some additional percussion and drones, was played by the flute trio Flute Cake. Most of the pieces are solos, but there are some duets and a few trios too. Each piece is played "to" its equivalent cushion; thus the performers slowly move up one side of the nave and down the other - a journey that takes c.80 minutes. There was a short composed piano interlude half way played by myself.
Everything went according to plan. The trio brought considerable dedication and commitment not only to the music (which they played superbly) but also to the sometimes complex choreographies which got them round the route they had to take - taking instruments, music stands and scores with them. As I hoped and anticipated, the sound of the flutes in a huge cathedral space was quite beautiful.
The music was designed for audiences to come and go as they wished - no sitting in rows. However, a number of people turned up specifically for the event and stayed all the way through, moving around with the performers. Others were casual visitors to the cathedral, many of whom stayed for considerable periods and moved around too.
I had excellent cooperation from the Dean, the cathedral Events Team and, above all, from Diana Symes - the Chair of the Company of Tapisers at Exeter Cathedral. She and one of her team sat stitching new tapestries throughout the performance adding very special depth and interest to the event.
In summary, I couldn't have wished for a better event. However, I am glad that I arranged for the entire 80 minutes to be recorded a week or so before the performance. I did not want any media presence in the performance itself, but it would have been a shame to lose all the music in one performance. We now have an audio record. Also, I am wondering whether another performance might be arranged next year in a local arts centre with large screen slides of each of the cushions.
Sam Richards
TESTIMONIALS
There was lots of space, physical and musical. Things plopped into and out of my consciousness. The bass flute was particularly grounding. I liked the undemonstrative, gently purposeful nature of the progression around the cathedral, and that the piano was played because it was simply in the way at that point. Enjoyed the not-flute that the small percussion offered by way of an ear-break.
I like long-form work and was glad to enter the kind of drift that it engenders. I moved to different locations to listen, mainly to get away from people talking - including the Cathedral sound technicians and one of the Cathedral guides who were oblivious to the performance.
Having just visited Rennes Cathedral (French city twinned with Exeter) I couldn’t help but compare. Rennes was silent. Quite full of people, but hushed and reverent, worshipful, respectful. Exeter Cathedral by contrast felt like a very busy, active place with lots of different things going on all over the place. I noticed the beep of the ticket payments machine and groups of visitors continuing conversations brought in from outside for the entirety of their visit. At first I thought the quiet, beautiful persistence of the flutes would win eventually. But they didn’t. Although quite a few people listened faithfully, many would have been barely aware. I was surprised that a total transformation of the space did not occur. I think many staff/volunteers at the cathedral could have changed what they were doing to model a listening state, but my impression was that they were just getting on with their busy schedules and greeting/supporting visitors. Despite my enjoyment and the reviving experience, my memory of it is quite a jumbled one.
Finally, I had never noticed the Rondels before. I will return to read them fully from end to end. I’m glad to learn that if you want to draw attention to something through music you simply have to place the music next to the thing. The music itself appeared entirely abstract. However, I think I gained a new sense of time from the work, sensed the age of the stones of the building, sensed the thousand years of care for fabric and folk, sensed something of an unfathomable depth of need for whatever this space does for us as we sit between the women at the centre, stitching it all together in close work, and the women making their way around the edges, breathing sounds to fill the whole.
Thank you for bringing this music to Exeter in August.
Emma Welton - audience member
Sam Richards' music for the Exeter Rondels is fabulous! Listening to it in Exeter Cathedral, played by the wonderful "Flute Cake" trio and the composer himself, was a special treat. I observed that people who came just to visit the Cathedral became spellbound by the music and stayed to the end.
Karan Braun - audience member
Sam Richards’ Exeter Rondels performance at Exeter Cathedral was an enjoyable, stimulating and educational experience. The music, while being experimental, exploited the technical facility of the beautifully played flutes and, along with the well placed percussion and piano interlude, made for an engrossing and exciting listen. Most importantly this contemporary piece was always at one with the traditional setting of the cathedral both sonically and aesthetically, no mean feat! The physical movement of the players within the cathedral space provided an added layer of engagement with both the setting and the audience who followed the ensemble throughout the performance. Interestingly, along with the people specifically there for the performance there were many visitors to the cathedral who stopped, listened and appeared to enjoy the experience.
Richard White - audience member
Anyone visiting Exeter Cathedral last Friday (15th August) between 2pm and around 3.30 would have been in for pleasant surprise. Sam Richards' Music for ExeterRondels was quite an occasion, where three flautists (Sophie Brewer, Jennifer Campbell and Ruth Molins) under the heading Flutecake, accompanied by Sam with drones and occasional piano, took varying positions around the nave of the building, creating wonderful textures of sound.
You could call this 'a happening' but it was wonderfully laid-back occasion, with a roving audience, relaxed atmosphere and generated by the tapestry cushions arrayed on stone benches on both sides of the nave. The acoustics were fantastic - how could they have known so much about sound distribution so long ago? - and you could hear the music very clearly from every part of the nave. I was fascinated and couldn't bring myself to leave until the 'performance' ended, entranced by the range of sound being projected by flute, bass flute, piccolo and occasional percussion. I'm not a musician but I thoroughly enjoyed the entire event and felt so privileged to be experiencing this work in a building 'custom-built' to celebrate music and the human voice.
Steve Spence - audience member
It was a very special privilege to 'sit and stitch' during the performance of your Rondel Music. Thank you so much for all the time, energy and inspiration you have given into composing a unique 'soundscape' for the Rondels. The three flautists were amazing and their performance was uplifting. The music cast a tangibly serene, calm atmosphere - encouraging so many to sit and really listen...
It was very special indeed - a triumph! I do hope you'll find more opportunities for people to hear and reflect on this composition.
Diana Symes - Chair of the Company of Tapisers of Exeter Cathedral
It was a really lovely performance combining a beautiful sense of an occasion with respect to the Cathedral, The Exeter Rondels, history gone by and the people who created them and still are! Such a beautiful flow of music, performance and movement walking past the tapestry cushions on either side of the Nave, Created by Sam Richards and performed by the wonderful Flute Cake. I would love to see, hear and move with it all again!
Rosalind Lacey - audience member
The music was like the cushions to me: colourful stitching into a strong weblike fabric. It was lovely that the slow stitching by the two women was in a parallel way part of the performance. The three flutists interpreted Sam Richards music in a magical way both strongly and delicately. Thank you to everyone who gave us such a beautiful time in Exeter's cathedral.
Ruth Clarke - audience member
I just wanted to write an appreciation of the wonderful Exeter Rondels performance today. The flautists were superb, great control, delicacy, and expression in such an exposed environment, and they sounded so beautiful in the vast expanse of the cathedral. I particularly loved the piccolo 'jig' ( about No 10 or thereabouts) followed by the flute trio and then a gorgeous solo number. The final 'rondel' was sublime, the one with the 'music box' was delicious, and your drone pieces by some miracle quite hauntingly effective.
The piano 'interlude' was lovely, it worked and fitted, when by rights it should have sounded out of place - I was hoping you might go a bit bananas and improvise there , but we can't have everything....
I really liked the motif throughout of repeated intervals, mostly thirds but often tones, at least once fourths, and frequently trills - I am sure there is much I missed, but it was so easy just to look around, listen, and let it all soak in. I was pleased to hear many Shostakovichian echoes in some of the melodic lines, I think he would have loved this work.
Thank you, and your fellow performers.
Quentin Thwaites - audience member
Sam, you are an insightful and original composer, and Jennifer, Ruth and Sophie my thanks to Flute Cake, a woodwind ensemble that seizes the metal of song. Your extraordinary 80 minutes performance of this visionary music at Exeter Cathedral was truly very, very special. I appreciate that this music was scored, but like the Cathedral's tapestry cushions themselves, these scores were graphically rich in detail. They also required the musicians to instantly come to their own conclusions: (a) of the composer's running themes and ideas (b) continually draw on their own musical creativity - if not instant composition, certainly audial visioning. This is not a skills base that is usually required of musicians working from a composer's score; Flute Cake rose to the occasion like regular improvisers. I applaud you.
Finally, a fascinating by-product of the concert was, being able to watch how individual audience members seemed drawn to examine the tapestry cushions themselves. Surely this has to be a real positive for the cathedral.... the cushions truly were a work of art.
Steve Day - audience member
There is always something magical about performing Sam's music. Although the essence will always remain, it will never be the same twice and it is never meant to be. It is a moment in time and that could not be more relevant than creating this particular piece in such an historic building, responding to the history of the existing rondels, all while a new rondel is being created right in front of our eyes. It was like the performance was really alive and breathing and will live on long after we've left the building. A truly magical experience and an honour to be part of it.
Sophie Brewer - Flautist and member of Flute Cake