Cool Britannia

Started by Mandryka, February 01, 2021, 02:59:48 AM

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Mandryka

#20
For me Skempton is interesting primarily because of the relation to Crane.  Crane seems to me the more interesting composer, and Fox even more interesting. And Walter Zimmermann even more interesting than Fox.

What do you think of this stuff? I know a musician, composer, serious composer with an international reputation . . . who reckons Mark R Taylor's the bee's knees when it comes to piano music today: "Mark's harmonic vocabulary is so  dense and complex  . . .   his expressive world so dark . . . some of the most original and powerful piano music of the present time. "

https://www.youtube.com/v/4dveuNusNQg&ab_channel=Anothertimbre
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foxandpeng

Quote from: vandermolen on February 15, 2021, 06:15:57 AM
Here are two for starters, whose music I greatly admire. Robin Walker for works like 'Great Rock is Dead' which has an, appropriately granitic, monolithic power. (which reminded me a bit of the Icelandic composer Jon Leifs) and Philip Spratley's (great name) Symphony No.3 'Sinfonia Pascale':

This is a great thread, Mandryka! I will get exploring ☺. I need to prod Robin Walker if he is anything like Jon Leifs, although I listened to his SQ 2 in the car last week, which seemed like the SQ for Silence and Megaphone! I had to do more knob twiddling than a teenager's late Saturday evening with the Emmanuel films.
"A quiet secluded life in the country, with the possibility of being useful to people ... then work which one hopes may be of some use; then rest, nature, books, music, love for one's neighbour — such is my idea of happiness"

Tolstoy

T. D.

Quote from: foxandpeng on May 15, 2021, 12:20:08 PM
This is a great thread, Mandryka! I will get exploring ☺. I need to prod Robin Walker if he is anything like Jon Leifs, although I listened to his SQ 2 in the car last week, which seemed like the SQ for Silence and Megaphone! I had to do more knob twiddling than a teenager's late Saturday evening with the Emmanuel[le] films.

:laugh:

Mandryka

#23


The first thing I want to say about this is that Finnissy is an excellent pianist, the best of the British bunch IMO. More timbre.

The second thing is that the CD gives a glimpse into the variety of music which was happening in Britain in the last 20 years or so of the last century. Finnissy still unable to quite shake off the vestiges of new complexity - his music still has a lot of notes - but it has started to acquire a sort of lyricism, and he's a master of contrats, this period may well be his most interesting. Skempton's music is sparse and IMO owes a huge debt to Feldman and Cage. Skempton is about sounds, letting sounds resonate. There's also sense of closure in Skempton - not CPT cadences probably, but still that sense of coming safely and securely to an end . Finnissy plays Skempton better than anyone else on record. Newman's explicit quotations are fun, and Weir - well I haven't managed to get into her music yet I'm afraid.

But basically this is a valuable recording I think, a glimpse into yesterday's leading edge in this sceptred isle. More than that, there are some piano masterpieces here I think - Finnissy's  Stanley Stokes for example.
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Mandryka



Strangely moreish music, this sequence by Oliver Leith, I mean, it is kind of impossible to stop listening when you start. It's a bit like Angelo Badalamenti/Twin Peaks music with some cool percussion providing spice, a triangle here and there sort of thing. And than percussion stops it from being smug and pompous. Worth a listen - nice ambient relaxing music, with a disturbing edge.
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Mandryka

#25
Quote from: Mandryka on May 20, 2021, 09:27:09 PM


Strangely moreish music, this sequence by Oliver Leith, I mean, it is kind of impossible to stop listening when you start. It's a bit like Angelo Badalamenti/Twin Peaks music with some cool percussion providing spice, a triangle here and there sort of thing. And than percussion stops it from being smug and pompous. Worth a listen - nice ambient relaxing music, with a disturbing edge.

And the new one is seriously good, this guy's the real deal.





http://www.anothertimbre.com/oliverleithmehollywood.html
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T. D.

Quote from: Mandryka on May 23, 2021, 04:41:49 AM
And the new one is seriously good, this guy's the real deal.





http://www.anothertimbre.com/oliverleithmehollywood.html

Agreed, after reading your previous post I listened to the clips from the new one and was impressed.
Much (most?) of the Another Timbre catalog seems to consist of quiet solos/duets or ambient-type music, which I'm pretty full up on these days, so I'm pleased to see the chamber works with relatively large ensembles.

Mandryka

Buy it NOW!

(On the other hand, the new one from James Weeks seems a bit disappointing.)
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Mandryka

http://www.richardemsley.com/index.php/barrett-article/

Essay on Richard Emsley by Richard Barrett. I'm very much enjoying some long solo piano pieces on soundcloud, e.g. For Piano 13.
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Mandryka

#29
https://www.jtilbury.com/howard-skempton/

Above is a link to four CDs by John Tilbury of solo piano music by Howard Skempton. I've just downloaded the third, largely because of the comments by Skempton about two of the pieces on it.


The CD is a revelation, that's the only word for it. Much much more interesting than any Skempton piano I've heard before - including Tilbury's commercial CD on Sony. Howard Skempton has a serious following here in London, and I've met composers who rate his music very highly indeed. These recordings by Tilbury are helping me to finally see why.

I'm coming to the conclusion that Tilbury really flowered around 2010 - all the recordings I hear from him from around that time are exceptional.

(I'm not convinced that the sound quality really justifies flac - these recordings are fine, but not SOTA!)
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Mandryka

#30
Quote from: Mandryka on February 01, 2021, 03:04:40 AM
And here's one for starters -- James Clarke -- new complexity maybe, but this guy's got soul and he's got brains. Three recordings, all fabulous IMO, especially the first two


              

And there's the Arditti recording of his third quartet, and other music on his soundcloud. This guy is so impressive not just for the freshness and fecundity of his ideas, but also for their concision. I am going to make a big claim - James Clarke is a great composer.

https://soundcloud.com/james-clarke-01
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Mandryka

Bryn Harrison is a prof at Huddersfield. I think his music is pretty cool, and in fact I think his writing is cool too.

http://www.brynharrison.com/


This morning I'm listening to  Dead Time, played by Wet Ink. This music seems very much in the same vein as Bernhard Lang's - I mean, I expect there's something in the processes which produce the near repetitions and articulations which is technically different from Lang's monadologies, but as a listener it kind of has a very similar effect. Like it. It's on a CD called Smoke, Airs, but here's a concert recording, which I haven't heard


https://vimeo.com/449315887
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Mandryka

#32
David Gorton is a biggish cheese in the London academic music world, and a cheese of lesser size in the global world of composition. His music I think is made in the "classical music" mode - there's not much (if any) indeterminacy, no unusual instrumental techniques. He doesn't seem to have a strongly original voice: everything is comfortable and familiar if you're used to modern classical music. However, it is lovely stuff, very accessible and a great pleasure to hear. He has a few CDs in his honour, I'm enjoying this one a lot



https://www.ram.ac.uk/people/david-gorton

I want to add something. The pianist Zubin Kanga, who plays on that disc, is a name to look out for. He's got chops and soul. I'm going to see him in concert in London's Cafe Oto soon, with the interesting and challenging Neil Luck.
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vandermolen

Quote from: Mandryka on October 06, 2022, 12:48:07 AM
David Gorton is a biggish cheese in the London academic music world, and a cheese of lesser size in the global world of composition. His music I think is made in the "classical music" mode - there's not much (if any) indeterminacy, no unusual instrumental techniques. He doesn't seem to have a strongly original voice: everything is comfortable and familiar if you're used to modern classical music. However, it is lovely stuff, very accessible and a great pleasure to hear. He has a few CDs in his honour, I'm enjoying this one a lot



https://www.ram.ac.uk/people/david-gorton

I want to add something. The pianist Zubin Kanga, who plays on that disc, is a name to look out for. He's got chops and soul. I'm going to see him in concert in London's Cafe Oto soon, with the interesting and challenging Neil Luck.
Love the CD cover image, combining the picturesque lighthouse and UXB!
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

Mandryka

Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Mandryka

Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Mandryka

#36


This is the longest piece by Laurence Crane I've heard  - three movements, totalling almost an hour. For electronics and voice and keyboards, with field recordings. It features one familiar Crane trope -  songs made up of conventionally inappropriate lists, like in Tour de France Statistics. But after the long and for me slightly boring first movement, I thought that there are some fresh and original ideas here, most strikingly the way he harnesses field recordings of the sea to produce a disturbing, threatening vibe. This is not just decorative music, it aspires to be more interesting than that. And in fact, it really seems to be quite thought provoking, though I'm not sure what thoughts it actually provoked. Ineffable is the word for it. It would be an excellent concert.


Juliet Fraser in fine fettle.
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

premont

#37
Quote from: Mandryka on May 25, 2023, 12:10:38 AM.. it really seems to be quite thought provoking, though I'm not sure what thoughts it actually provoked.

A common experience, I think, also for me.
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Bachtoven

I like Steve Elcock's music.


lunar22

Although Steve Elcock has made his name through Martin Anderson taking to his early symphonies, I actually tend to prefer the chamber music (apart from the 4th symphony). Particularly "An outstretched hand" and the Piano quintet