The piece ‘Surrey Bells’ is rooted in a clear mental picture, namely that of church bells ringing over a rural valley in Surrey on a bright winter morning. Martin Lloyd Howard transforms this scene into an instrumental composition which has a spacious and reflective atmosphere, allowing the listener to experience the sense of distance present in it. Rather than describing the countryside with words, the composition uses the characteristics of the guitar to suggest an environment which extends beyond the immediate sound.
Because of the two sets of bells exchanging messages across the valley, the central part of the piece has one guitar sounding more remote and reverberant while the other sounds more clearly, thus creating a contrast between things that are near and those that are far away; the way in which the guitars interact produces the effect of a musical conversation and makes it seem as if the sounds are travelling over an open landscape.
It is obvious that a great deal of freedom is exercised in the way the piece is handled. Rather than follow the strict precision which is characteristic of the classical tradition, Howard presents both the writing and the playing as smooth and organic. The fact that this quality is so effective is due to the fact that the piece is intended to convey a certain environment rather than simply conform to a strictly defined structure; the performance therefore becomes an integral element of the atmosphere and allows the imagined bells to appear natural within that setting.
The effect in ‘Surrey Bells’ is obtained by turning a straightforward visual and geographical idea into a vivid instrumental scene. The different relationships between the guitar sections contribute to the depth of the piece without making it too strong, and the fact that one section is kept at a distance increases the feeling of space. It is a calm and carefully thought out composition which invites the listener to enter the landscape mentioned in the title, finishing with the image of the bells resounding over the Surrey countryside.
