review
There’s a review of the another timbre CD posted at the All About Jazz site. This is my first jazz review.
Latest
Revue & Corrigee
Tim Parkinson has written an article about British-based composers Matteo Fargion, Laurence Crane, Bryn Harrison, John Lely, Markus Trunk and me for the French magazine Revue & Corrigee. Tim writes about the article:
I’’m going to describe the work of six composers in Britain at the moment whose music I like. To me it’s just that: music that I like. And why I like it is a question for self-analysis, rather than joining the stylistic or aesthetic dots. And only six because it’s impossible to be comprehensive. How can I be? There’s so much good music out there, and of course there are always things I don’t know. So this is a personal view.
There’s some more information at the Revue & Corrigee website
from scratch
Jennie Gottschalk has posted an interesting review of the From Scratch project which I was involved in with Basel Sinfonietta at the Sound Expanse blog. She touches on the influence of the Scratch Orchestra on the pieces played in the concert, in light of various discussions in relation to the project. From my point of view, it wasn’t really an issue. When the project was first suggested, it was an opportunity for composers of different generations working in a similar area to make orchestra pieces. I wasn’t aware of the Scratch Orchestra referencing until much later (I’m not sure any of us were), and certainly well after my piece had been formulated. I guess it is a convenient way of grouping the composers together - Michael co-founded the orchestra, Christian had a relationship with it, Jürg knew of it, and Tim and I know and play the work of these three composers, and in some sense our work is a response to that (as it is everything else we know…).
There’s also a nice review by Scott Mc Laughlin at The Journal of Music.
things whole and not whole (again)
Here’s an extract from the rehearsal with Basel Sinfonietta in Martinskirche, Basel, the day before the first performance. You can see the way the players respond to each other’s cues, and the range of sound selections they made. They were absolutely wonderful to work with, and really explored the possibilities for making sound within the piece’s framework. Thanks to Angharad Davies for filming this.
things whole and not whole (on radio)
The Huddersfield performance can be heard on BBC iPlayer for the next couple of days (UK only I think). The programme also has the pieces by Jürg Frey, Christian Wolff and Michael Parsons, as well as some other bits from hcmf. I have a short chat with Robert Worby before the excerpt that they play, and then there’s some discussion afterwards. Not a great radio piece given the visual aspect of the performer interaction, but you’ll get a sense of it. Let me know what you think….I could do with some comments below. The programme can be heard at the iPlayer website.
Yesterday Swiss radio station DRS broadcast the Basel performance on their Neue Musik im Konzert programme. I couldn’t find a link to hear it online though. More information on the DRS page.
things whole and not whole (on TV)
An excerpt from my piece for Basel Sinfonietta was broadcast on the Swiss TV programme Was Lauft on 9 November. They filmed bits of the second half of the concert, which included my piece and Christian Wolff’s Spring Two. The programme also had a feature on Mike and the Mechanics as part of an 80s revival tour, and he sat behind me on the plane home as it turned out. The performance will also be broadcast on DRS2 on 28 December, with the Huddersfield performance going out on BBC Radio 3 as part of Hear and Now on Christmas Eve. Given its late start, it’s entirely possible that this might usher in Christmas for some people. What a worrying thought.
last distribution study
The final distribution study is being performed today at the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich. Olaf Nicolai commissioned twelve composers to write pieces to be performed by the Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart on the steps of the museum on twelve Sundays in 2011 through his project Escalier du Chant. I decided to make one piece for each month. All of the pieces involved distributing copies of the scores to visitors who could then take them away and perform them elsewhere. In the earlier pieces, this involved passing limited-edition copies of the score to other people as part of a sequence, with individual, personal performances initiating this exchange. The later pieces have followed this principle, but are more open with regard to the copying and distribution of scores. For each piece, performances are tracked via submissions made to the project website, with maps showing where the pieces are performed.
There’s some documentation at the website we made for my piece, as well as further information about the whole project, together with some recordings, at the Escalier du Chant site.
If you’ve been given a copy of one of the scores, please do follow the instructions and perform the piece, then distribute the score. Although it puts a time limit on the updates, I’m going to let this run indefinitely to see what happens.
things whole and not whole
I’ve been working with Basel Sinfonietta and conductor Manuel Nawri over the past few weeks as they prepared for the first performances of the orchestra piece I made for them, things whole and not whole. The piece uses rules pertaining to bird flocking, building on research by Craig Reynolds in the 1980s. The players set up chains of interdependent cues, and have to source all the sounds themselves, based on specific criteria. The rest of the programme included new pieces by Tim Parkinson, Michael Parsons, Jürg Frey, and Christian Wolff. Here are some pictures of the rehearsal in Basel:
imperfections on the surface are occasionally apparent
Edges Ensemble gave a lovely performance of my piece imperfections on the surface are occasionally apparent on Monday at hcmf. It was a carefully choreographed event, with pieces by Tim Parkinson, Michael Parsons, Christian Wollf and Stefan Thut being played without a break. They are a great group, all students in Huddersfield, organised by Philip Thomas. I took some pictures.
