The Concept 

Full as Deep is a piece for violin inspired by the fascinating history and the modern spectacle of Undershaft in the City of London. Adjacent St. Helen’s Bishopgate and the Gherkin, this place opens to layers of deep history and at the same time, evokes futuristic anticipation. Thinking about Thomas Tallis’s architectural sonority in his 40 part motet, Spem in Alium, I wanted to explore layers of colour on the violin. This piece is written for 4 violins, based on a theme reminiscent of a motet – the lines interweave with one another, expressing its own colour – sometimes contrasting and moving in different directions, and at other times coming together as one. As St.Helen’s was William Shakespeare’s parish church in the 1590s, the title refers to Shakespeare’s words about a deep beauty from within: ‘The canker-blooms have full as deep a dye' (Sonnet 54).