works

Vocal Music

Three Paul Verlaine Songs 2009 12'
Editions BIM, Switzerland

For mezzo-soprano, viola and piano

Words by Paul Verlaine (in French)

1st perf: Adrienne Murray (mezzo), Sarah-Jane Bradley (viola) with the composer (pno), 2010 Lionel Tertis International Viola Festival and Competition, Isle of Man Bank Concert Hall, Erin Arts Centre, Isle of Man, 23 March 2010.
'La Lune Blanche' 2008 4'
Manuscript with composer

Words by Paul Verlaine
Two cristal baschet and soprano

1st perf: Ensemble Hope (Anne Elisabeth Petit, sop, Frédéric Bousquet, cristal, Marc-Antoine Millon, bass cristal), Espace Noriac, Limoges, 13th November 2008 (also 14th, 15th and 16th).
'And so beyond the stars soar high' 2002 5'
Manuscript with composer
Words by Malcolm Miller
Sop, mezzo, bar, pf.
1st perf: Anya Szreter (sop), Ruti Halvani (mezzo), Giles Chaundy (bar), Malcolm Miller (pf), Regent Hall Summer Festival, London, 30 July 2002.

''...... which demonstrated radiant textures.''
Tempo New Music Magazine.
Three Sonnets to Delia for baritone and piano 1993 12'
Stainer & Bell Ltd. London

Three poems by Samuel Daniel.
Commissioned by Josik Koc and Rebecca Holt with funds provided by South East Arts.
1st perf: Jozik Koc and Rebecca Holt, Wigmore Hall, 18 June 1993.
Five Rondos for soprano, baritone and piano 1989 17'
Stainer & Bell Ltd. London

Poems by Ursula Vaughan Williams.
Commissioned by the 1989 Greenwich Festival.
1st perf: Amanda Roocroft (sop), Omar Ebrahim (bar), Roger Steptoe (pf), Blackheath Concert Halls, 16 June 1989.
An Elegy on the Death and Burial of Cock Robin 1988 8'
Stainer & Bell Ltd. London

Countertenor and 11 solo strings.
Commissioned by James Bowman as part of a recording on the Meridian label.

Commercial recording on Meridian Records:
James Bowman, Downshire Players of London, Peter Ash (cond).
1st public perf: Nicholas Clapton, Thomas Tallis Society, Philip Simms (cond),
18 June 1989, Greenwich Festival, London.
Two Folk Songs 1986 7'
Stainer & Bell Ltd. London

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Baritone and violin
1st perf: Charles Naylor (bar), Tina Gruenberg (vln), Purcell Room, London,
27 August 1986.
The Bond of the Sea for bass baritone and piano 1983 13'
Manuscript with composer

Text by Joseph Conrad
Commissioned by Mark Wildman with funds from the Greater London Arts Association.
1st perf: Mark Wildman, Geoffrey Pratley (pf), Wigmore Hall, London,
22 April 1983.
Another part of the forest 1983 8'
Manuscript with composer

Scena for 4 voices (sop, contralto/mezzo, ten, bass-bar).
Taken from 'As You Like It', Shakespeare.
1st perf: English Echoes (Dinah Harris, Jean Rigby, Andrew King, Robert Dean), Stuart Hutchinson (pf).
Six Chinese Lyrics Set 2
for countertenor or contralto (mezzo) and piano		 1983 9'
Stainer & Bell Ltd. London
Classical Chinese texts translated by Robert Kotewall and Norman L. Smith.
1st perf: Timothy Wilson (ct), Hilary Punshon (pf), Fairfield Hall, Croydon,
31 January 1984.
1st broadcast perf: BBC Radio 3, Timothy Wilson (ct), Malcolm Martineau (pf).
Five Chinese Lyrics Set 1
for soprano and piano		 1982 9'
Stainer & Bell Ltd. London
Words from the Tang dynasty and translated by Helen Waddell.
1st perf: Fiona Dobie (sop), David Owen Norris (pf), Oxshott and Cobham Music Society, Surrey, 21 October 1982.
1st London perf: Paula Bott (sop), Steven Naylor (pf), Purcell Room, 13 April 1983.
1st broadcast perf: BBC Radio 3, Fiona Dobie, David Owen-Norris, 9 July 1984.
The Looking Glass for soprano, oboe and piano 1980 15'
Manuscript with composer

Cycle of four songs to words by Ursula Vaughan Williams.
Commissioned by the Hunt Trio with funds from the Arts Council of Great Britain.
1st perf: Lesley Garrett (sop), Gordon Hunt (ob), Jean Anderson (pf), Purcell Room, 30 June 1980.
1st commercial recording: same artists, Phoenix Musica Britannica, DGS 1001.

''This ideally balanced ensemble made a strong impact with Steptoe's 'The Looking Glass'.... both dramatic and lyrical, through which runs the thread of moods in reflection.''
The Daily Telegraph, 2 July 1980.

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''The main work of the second half, perhaps, indeed of the entire concert, was the first performance of 'The Looking Glass' by Roger Steptoe and Ursula Vaughan Williams, a cycle of songs for soprano, oboe and piano illustrating four different aspects of reflections, ''mirrors, attitudes, persoanlities and life''. Musically both more specific and more accessible than that may sound, the work has a strange magic in its sensitive word-setting, its sympathetic and exciting opportunities for extremes of vocal expression and technique, its delightfully idiomatic oboe writing, its testing and colourful piano part.''
Hilary Finch, The Times 1 July 1980.

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Aspects for high voice and piano 1978 16'
Stainer & Bell Ltd. London

1st: Beryl Korman (sop), Philip Thomas (pf), Purcell Room, London, 17 May 1978.
1st broadcast perf: Martyn Hill (ten), Roger Vignoles (pf), BBC Radio 3, 3 March 1982.

''The promise shown by Roger Steptoe's String Quartet was confirmed in the sure vocal lines and fluent piano accompaniments of his 'Aspects', a song-cycle on poems by Ursula Vaughan Williams. The technical ressource of Charterhouse's Composer-in-Residence was again shown to be at the service of a senstive mind.''
Felix Aprahamian, The Sunday Times 21 May 1978.
Five Songs for tenor and piano 1976 15'
Manuscript with composer

Poems by Shelley and Keats.
1st perf: Nicholas Johnson (ten), Roger Steptoe (pf), British Music Information Centre, Stratford Place, London, 16 November 1977.
1st broadcast perf: BBC Radio 3, Kenneth Bowen (ten), Paul Hamburger (pf), date unknown.

''Thursday's lunch-hour concert (St Bartholomew's Festival) offered Kenneth Bowen accompanied by Jennifer Tavener in songs by three English composers. Between a group of Vaughan Williams and Britten he (Bowen) introduced an impressive song cycle by Roger Steptoe.''
The Sunday Times, 9 July 1978