In 1999 I had a song performed by the Ensemble Aleph at the Bath Festival as part of an SPNM event. The ensemble was a mixed one with wind, piano and percussion. My use of percussion was quite conservative but I was rather impressed with some of the things that were done by the other composers (particularly the one who called for the vibraphone to be played with a bow!). I was at that time writing some pieces for wind ensemble and decided to re-write them with added percussion part. Still thinking about Vibraphones, I started thinking about a brand new piece using one. I am a great admirer of Percy Grainger and his extensive use of tuned percussion, including one fascinating piece called the 'Lonely Desert Man sees the Tents of the Happy Tribes'. This was one of a group of pieces I heard in archive recordings made by Grainger himself. The result of all this was 'Slacking', though it could just as easily been called something like 'Lazy Days' but I rather liked the extra connotations of the word 'Slacking' the idea of taking it easy when you should be working, taking illicit days off work.
There work has no strict programme, it takes the form of a series of dialogues, or conversations between the instruments, fragments of melody are swapped, embroidered and extended. The middle section is dominated by the accompanying glissandi on the Vibraphone and when the opening material returns it is overlaid by corresponding glissandi in the wind.
Robert Hugill