GMG Classical Music Forum

A thread for all the cool living composers from Das Land ohne Musik who don't deserve a thread of their own.

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


(https://static.qobuz.com/images/covers/hc/ch/frflidxm3chhc_600.jpg)       (https://static.qobuz.com/images/covers/37/03/4032824000337_600.jpg)        (https://img.discogs.com/GC494z43DxOE1dnpmh3Up0VlVwM=/fit-in/600x526/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-5411033-1392710035-8395.jpeg.jpg)

Simon Emmerson is a music professor in Leicester. Sentences and Five Spaces on this CD are gorgeous - he has a sense of space and calm which I like very much. Chamber sized music.

(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/617MZtM5qBL._AC_SY450_.jpg)

(https://www.teuthida.com/productImages/misc4/21042.jpg).    (https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/Y23tanGP1MmXQIrJSahTBOXrdlho4tvhWcfwPyHeptAUUVh7RvbwsEDYSJDGebHqZ9MMDPp7khc4mHKw9Nqy4I3KzqecLsAu9J6lJ657gR7MD1IYos-C)

James Saunders does two things. One is write very quiet music, but it's quite complex, rich textures, we're in a much less ascetic world than, for example Antoine Beuger and Jürg Frey - I love it when I'm in the mood. The other is write modular music - the performers assemble the modules in any way they want. The two CDs above have become great favourites of mine. He's been played at Donaueschinger and Darmstadt, and indeed the performances have been recorded and commercially released - the one at Donaueschinger is a favourite. (2007 vol. 2)

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':

(http://john-croft.uk/images/fhr87-digipak-cover-sm-137-1.jpg)

I'm not sure if John Croft is British, I note he got his first degree in New Zealand, but he seems to work in the UK. What I find impressive is a seriousness, a sensuality and a feeling of the other worldly: pregnant silences, unexpected harmonies and timbres. The effects he uses are often not unfamiliar - Luigi Nono, Jonathan Harvey, maybe most of all Klaus Huber (because of the seriousness) all come to mind. But somehow the way he uses them is very impressive.

Cassandra Miller is Australian, she works in London and so I'll put her here as an honorary Brit. I just want to make a note of links to papers I'm reading which discuss her music.

The composer's music Bel Canto
https://vimeo.com/444187045


James Weeks, Along The Grain
https://www.jstor.org/stable/43932618?read-now=1&refreqid=excelsior%3A2603605a641f2e6ddb96362d27b08121&seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents


Bernhard Lang's Cuts'n Beats
https://www.borealisfestival.no/2006/cutsandbeats.pdf

Martin Arnold's Piece Touchee
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnDagpv4kUk&ab_channel=Jujyfruits

Cassandra Miller is very active in London, where she works, and is one of those composers who has a sort of local cult. Most of her music is available on Another Timbre, but I just found an extraordinary piece for string orchestra, descending glissandi, relentlessly descending glissandi, on this interesting CD on bandcamp and spotify



(https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a0051817059_16.jpg)

She enjoys writing music which is based on found music, which he meticulously transcribes, her scores are micro-detailed and very technically demanding I'm told.

Probably my favourite pieces by her have been O Zomer and Philip The Wonderer (for Philip Thomas) -- here he is

https://www.youtube.com/v/FYiiilacMIs&ab_channel=continuummusic

Very often her work is based on found music. In the Tracery series a piece of found music is used initially as the basis of a meditation, where a singer spontaneously responds to what she hears -- she has a singer working with her, Juliet Fraser. These improvisations are recorded and then processed. Here's Tracery: Rocking and Swaying, which is based on a Ben Johnson quartet, introduced by Juliet

https://vimeo.com/267404968

In the introduction Juliet Fraser explains the evident connection to Pauline Oliveros's work. I note that, as far as I know, Oliveros's meditations were NOT performance pieces, and inded Fraser denies that what she's doing in Tracery is performing. I don't know what I think of this.

Cassandra Miller's doctorate.

http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/id/eprint/34998/1/FINAL%20THESIS%20-%20Miller.pdf

(https://laboiteamusique.eu/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/0809730861123.jpg)

Have only listened to the big piece here but it's quite attractive music, in a vaguely post-new complexity-ish way. Pace sounds good to me here but I don't have very good speakers.

Quote from: amw on March 21, 2021, 10:56:21 PM
(https://laboiteamusique.eu/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/0809730861123.jpg)

Have only listened to the big piece here but it's quite attractive music, in a vaguely post-new complexity-ish way. Pace sounds good to me here but I don't have very good speakers.

Noted, it's just after a weekend of Frey and Wolff I can't possibly listen to that sort of stuff today.

(https://www.teuthida.com/productImages/misc4/23279.jpg)

Started to explore Keith Rowe's The Room Extended. It's four CDs and I'm dipping in fairly randomly, at the moment CD 2, which has some evocative "hauntological" episodes - a sampled track of traditional music with all sorts of electronic grunting and groaning over it, really magic for me, that sort of thing. Does anyone know this music?


https://www.squidco.com/miva/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=S&Product_Code=23279

Quote from: Mandryka on March 15, 2021, 06:55:15 AM
Cassandra Miller is very active in London, where she works, and is one of those composers who has a sort of local cult. Most of her music is available on Another Timbre, but I just found an extraordinary piece for string orchestra, descending glissandi, relentlessly descending glissandi, on this interesting CD on bandcamp and spotify



(https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a0051817059_16.jpg)

She enjoys writing music which is based on found music, which he meticulously transcribes, her scores are micro-detailed and very technically demanding I'm told.

Probably my favourite pieces by her have been O Zomer and Philip The Wonderer (for Philip Thomas) -- here he is

https://www.youtube.com/v/FYiiilacMIs&ab_channel=continuummusic

Very often her work is based on found music. In the Tracery series a piece of found music is used initially as the basis of a meditation, where a singer spontaneously responds to what she hears -- she has a singer working with her, Juliet Fraser. These improvisations are recorded and then processed. Here's Tracery: Rocking and Swaying, which is based on a Ben Johnson quartet, introduced by Juliet

https://vimeo.com/267404968

In the introduction Juliet Fraser explains the evident connection to Pauline Oliveros's work. I note that, as far as I know, Oliveros's meditations were NOT performance pieces, and inded Fraser denies that what she's doing in Tracery is performing. I don't know what I think of this.

Thanks, these look interesting. I have and enjoy 2 of Miller's Another Timbre recordings. Will definitely try the piece for string orchestra, as I particularly liked the Duet for Cello and Orchestra. So much of AT's catalog is solos and duets that (non-Feldman-like; that sonic genre is also over-represented) pieces for larger ensembles seem rare and exotic.
A bit sceptical about the collaboration with C. Palestine (teddy bears and all), but it surely won't be run-of-the-mill.  ;)

Tim Parkinson works at the Samuel Beckett Research Centre in Reading.

In the early years of this century, two of his pieces were recorded for Wandelweiser, one for piano, and one for solo cello

(https://img.discogs.com/DuSY66anExmVPTwxvelafkelXIo=/fit-in/300x300/filters:strip_icc():format(webp):mode_rgb():quality(40)/discogs-images/R-1526424-1323475426.jpeg.jpg)     (https://img.discogs.com/ZKrSSLn7cuscLlU4JVau1NfK8Tg=/fit-in/300x300/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(40)/discogs-images/R-3745044-1342634765-4831.jpeg.jpg)

They are both have a sort mosaic structure familiar from, for example, Christian Wolff's Long Piano. And being Wandelweiser they are quiet. However they have a certain magic about them, as a sort of exploration of sound possibilities- somehow he has the knack of making music which draws me in.

In fact I liked those Wandelweiser recordings so much I decided to by a recent release of piano music played by Mark Knoop, I'll comment later if I have any ideas about it.

(https://i1.sndcdn.com/artworks-000598318562-en1r4r-t500x500.jpg)

This is my main reason for posting. My copy of the Wandelweiser piano CD (which is by Philip Thomas) sounds OK but is very low bitrate MP3. Does anyone have a good rip they can let me have?



https://allthatdust.bandcamp.com/album/piano-music-2015-16

https://www.philip-thomas.co.uk/tim-parkinson-piano-piece-piano-piece/

I noticed just now that he has a couple of electronic CDs on bandcamp, which I haven't heard. The clips sound a bit too many notes and too cheerful for me!

Quote from: T. D. on March 22, 2021, 09:08:53 AM
Thanks, these look interesting. I have and enjoy 2 of Miller's Another Timbre recordings. Will definitely try the piece for string orchestra, as I particularly liked the Duet for Cello and Orchestra. So much of AT's catalog is solos and duets that (non-Feldman-like; that sonic genre is also over-represented) pieces for larger ensembles seem rare and exotic.
A bit sceptical about the collaboration with C. Palestine (teddy bears and all), but it surely won't be run-of-the-mill.  ;)

This is certainly worth a listen - I like Juliet Fraser's voice very much. Plus Minus Ensemble is a Mark Knoop thing.

(https://img.discogs.com/FOR3pbQ5J-kooyG7-Tm0xEGW9dA=/fit-in/600x600/filters:strip_icc():format(webp):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-14857313-1582925908-6594.png.jpg)

Essay by Philip Thomas on Laurence Crane

http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/id/eprint/28879/3/Performing%20Laurence%20Crane_repository.pdf

James Clapperton is one of these shadowy figures who hasn't put much on record, but is well respected here both as performer and composer by the world which revolves around Huddersfield. In fact his reputation is international, including performance collaborations with Radulescu, Walter Zimmermann and (I'm told) Sciarrino. What I want to point out is this excellent recording of Clapperton's own music - good music, good sounding piano too. Streaming so easy to hear.

(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81rLGIgakLS._AC_SX425_.jpg)

I'd always been indifferent towards Howard Skempton's piano music, which I had got to know mainly through John Tilbury's famous recording. And yet, today, I found a YouTube playlist which is a revelation - the pianist is someone called Raymond Chapman Smith, and the programme was given at the American Contemporary Music Ensemble - here's one of the pieces

https://www.youtube.com/v/7TuGEz08zTk&ab_channel=ACMENewMusicCo.Archive

Much more thoughtful and much less wilful than Tilbury in the same music, more nuanced too, even given YouTube sound. Chapman Smith makes Skempton appear like a Laurence Crane avant la lettre. (Which, of course, he is!)

(https://images-eu.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81T4u9Ko9LL.__AC_SY445_SX342_QL70_ML2_.jpg)

Oh I forgot to mention, this is another Skempton recording which has caught my attention - just don't expect a bolt from the blue - Skempton's music isn't like that!

Quote from: Mandryka on May 15, 2021, 08:51:50 AM
I'd always been indifferent towards Howard Skempton's piano music, which I had got to know mainly through John Tilbury's famous recording. And yet, today, I found a YouTube playlist which is a revelation - the pianist is someone called Raymond Chapman Smith, and the programme was given at the American Contemporary Music Ensemble - here's one of the pieces

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TuGEz08zTk

Much more thoughtful and much less wilful than Tilbury in the same music, more nuanced too, even given YouTube sound. Chapman Smith makes Skempton appear like a Laurence Crane avant la lettre. (Which, of course, he is!)

Interesting. I've only heard two CDs worth of Skempton's piano music, both by Tilbury, who I expected to be "the last word". Neither was terrible, but they wound being sold/donated and I gave up on Skempton. Perhaps I should revisit.

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

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.

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:

(https://d1iiivw74516uk.cloudfront.net/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJwcmVzdG8tY292ZXItaW1hZ2VzIiwia2V5IjoiNzkzOTc3Ni4xLmpwZyIsImVkaXRzIjp7InJlc2l6ZSI6eyJ3aWR0aCI6OTAwfSwianBlZyI6eyJxdWFsaXR5Ijo2NX0sInRvRm9ybWF0IjoianBlZyJ9LCJ0aW1lc3RhbXAiOjE0MDE5ODI1NDl9)

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.

(https://f4.bcbits.com/img/0020824164_10.jpg)

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.

Quote from: Mandryka on May 20, 2021, 09:27:09 PM
(https://f4.bcbits.com/img/0020824164_10.jpg)

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/_wp_generated/wp60a2a4a2_05_06.jpg)

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

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/_wp_generated/wp60a2a4a2_05_06.jpg)

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.

Buy it NOW!

(On the other hand, the new one from James Weeks seems a bit disappointing.)

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.

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!)

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


(https://static.qobuz.com/images/covers/hc/ch/frflidxm3chhc_600.jpg)       (https://static.qobuz.com/images/covers/37/03/4032824000337_600.jpg)        (https://img.discogs.com/GC494z43DxOE1dnpmh3Up0VlVwM=/fit-in/600x526/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-5411033-1392710035-8395.jpeg.jpg)

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

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

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://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b27303d2e52bc0823d15f33c67f9)

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.

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://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b27303d2e52bc0823d15f33c67f9)

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!

Potentially useful Chris Newman resource

https://www.soundexpanse.com/rs20-newman/

Old paper by Tim Parkinson on his favourite British composers

https://www.wandelweiser.de/_texte/texts-parkinson.html

(https://f4.bcbits.com/img/0031654764_10.jpg)

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.

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.

I like Steve Elcock's music.

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

Virginia Anderson's paper on Joh  White and British experimental music

https://www.academia.edu/3551278/_John_White_and_the_alternative_British_experimental_aesthetic_