La ciudad es la obra fundacional de la Orquesta Experimental de Instrumentos Nativos. Compuesta por Cergio Prudencio, sobre el poema homónimo de Blanca Wiethüchter fue estrenada en el Paraninfo de la Universidad Mayor de San Andrés el 9 de mayo de 1980.

La ciudad fue escrita originalmente para una orquesta formada en secciones, con un número permanente de ejecutantes para cada grupo instrumental. Posteriormente se hizo necesario interpretar esta misma partitura con una orquesta más compacta, para lo cual se dispuso que los músicos alternen diferentes instrumentos, según su disponibilidad, en forma rotativa. De esta manera se dan momentos de convergencia donde todos tocan un mismo instrumento, y otros
momentos donde los músicos se dividen en dos, tres o más grupos, según la necesidad. La implementación de esta forma de interpretación es muy práctica, aunque será importante remarcar
el cuidado del balance en cada circunstancia de la obra. La sección de percusión se mantiene con cinco intérpretes fijos.
Respecto de la partitura original de 1980 la práctica de interpretación de esta obra ha llevado a algunas modificaciones, como por ejemplo la utilización de una sola tropa de mohoceños, en vez de dos; la disposición de los músicos en escenario como consecuencia de la rotación instrumental; el metrónomo para la parte de percusión 5º de la estructura E en adelante. Todos estos cambios apuntan al mejor objetivo sonoro de la obra, lo mismo que a su funcionalidad.
Asimismo, cabe mencionar que la partitura no representa aspectos interpretativos que se han ido estableciendo también en la práctica de años, y que forman parte de una suerte de tradición oral inherente a la obra. Esta partitura es fiel a ella y a la escritura original.

Dirección: Cergio Prudencio
Grabación: Cantus Producciones

LA CIUDAD Blanca Wiethüchter

Estás hecha
de luz y de montaña,
de jirones de piedra
y ríos que te trenzan
al descender.

Estás hecha
de nombres caídos
de barrios desalentados
de feos monumentos
que buscan tus raíces
más allá de toda certidumbre

Eres oscura
y constante en tu destierro.
instantánea
en la violencia
cuando descubres tus calles
para desvanecer un falso sueño.

Ciudad de laberintos,
te escucho:
sola en los abismos,
distinta
en los silenciosos hombres
que vienen solidarios
a recobrar sus muertos

Y camino la tristeza
de tu dispersa soledad
y apenas me explico
el mutismo
en la intimidad de la montaña
que se complace
en guardarte velada.

Pero es cierto,
tu memoria es un grito.
Una razón degollada y sorda.
Un árbol en lo oscuro
que espera el secreto
de un metal escondido.

(de Travesía, Ediciones Altiplano, La Paz 1979)

Hay que caminar sonando

La ciudad (1980) Cergio Prudencio

Tatjana Kozlova-Johannes (1977): Pöörisvool [Eddy Current] for flute and piano

Talvi Hunt (piano)
Katrin Szamatulski (flute)

Karl Erik Laas (sound engineer)

Recorded in August 2022 at Arvo Pärt Centre in Laulasmaa.

Tatjana Kozlova-Johannes // Estonian Music Information Centre
https://www.emic.ee/tatjana-kozlova-johannes

Tatjana Kozlova-Johannes (*1977): Pöörisvool for flute and piano (2012)

Voix Céleste for organ solo

I
II 
III 
Estonian bagpipes: Katariin Raska, Ulvi Võsa, Karolin Vetevoog, Kaisa Kuslapuu, Mari Meentalo, Kerli Kislõi
Premiere recorded by Estonian Classic Radio, 01.05.2023
Be it lines of force or a forgotten contact between the earth and our bodies, the essential point of support.. Earth veins as vital paths with oscillating and resonant intersections? 
Following the events of last February in Southern Turkey and  Western Syria, the earth once again showed also its destructive power, the effects of which are also echoed in this work.
a review by Simon Cummings: https://5against4.com/2023/05/30/estonian-music-days-2023-part-3/

Earth Veins for 6 estonian bagpipes (2023)

commissioned by Ircam-Centre Pompidou and SWR for the 100 years anniversary of György Ligeti

1st performance: ManiFeste (Philharmonie de Paris), 19th June 2023, SWR Vokalensemble, cond. Yuval Weinberg, electronics IRCAM: Robin Meier

Duration: 18'

"then white light / no longer disguised as matter". Louise Glück, End of Summer

“Iridescence” for choir and electronics (2023) is a search for a musical metaphor of light - a radiating sound object, a choir emanating light, inspired by “Lux aeterna” by György Ligeti, one of my lighthouse composers. The title comes from the interviews with Ligeti who used this term to describe sound surfaces of changing colours in terms of harmony and timbre which appeared immediately as a perfect concept to my composition referring to the optic, light-based phenomenon of iridescence in nature.

The voices of the choir are constantly moving in a circle from the highest frequencies down to the lowest pitches and returning, gradually expanding the micro-polyphonic sphere, densifying, enriching, transforming it towards its utmost limits. The only form of sound in the piece is a pure wave, like a simple breath in and out which becomes slower and longer along the organic evolution of the entire sound body. The only text material used, pronounced without consonants and therefore accessible only for the singers, is a phrase from Richard Brautigan's poetry “Star Hole” (“I sit here on the end of a star”) which, like a mantra, is repeated infinite times adding a melancholic, nostalgic, lightly apocalyptic dimension to the lux aeterna theme:

I sit here
on the perfect end
of a star,
watching light
pour itself toward
     me.

 

The light pours
itself through
a small hole
in the sky.

I'm not very happy,
but I can see
how things are
     faraway.

Richard Brautigan


Justė Janulytė © Éditions Salabert/Universal Music Publishing Classical

"Iridescence" (2023) for choir and live electronics (Robin Meier, IRCAM), excerpt

In my boundless turmoil (در التهابم از حد بیرون) 
For Ekmeles vocal ensemble - 6 voices
on a poem by Nima Yushij

Sound Plasma festival for alternative intonations 2023 Tallinn

Recorded by Klassikaraadio / Estonian Public Broadcasting
Sound engineer Teet Kehlmann
Recording location and time: Sept 28, 2023 House of the Blackheads, Tallinn

In my boundless turmoil

The Devil Inside
An opera in two parts by Stuart MacRae, with a libretto by Louise Welsh.
Recorded for BBC Radio 3's Hear and Now on 16th February 2016 at the Royal Northern College of Music. 
Ben McAteer - James
Nicholas Sharratt - Richard
Rachel Kelly - Catherine
Steven Page - Old Man / Vagrant
Music Theatre Wales Ensemble conducted by Michael Rafferty.


The Devil Inside Part Two

The Devil Inside Part One

Commissioned by Drake Music and Brighter Sound as part of their Emergent Scheme. 

T-4 makes reference to the Nazi euthanasia programme T-4, which is estimated to have killed between 300,000 and 1,500,000 disabled people. The work was composed in response to the theme ‘disability and the environment’, I wanted to avoid highlighting how disability connects to global warming or destruction of the Earth, because ultimately with the rise of Fascism as an ‘intellectually viable idea’ the disabled will not live long enough to see the World end. 
I drew a big parallel with the Nazi eugenics efforts with the British austerity measures, not to suggest that the Tories are fascists, but more to highlight how simple it is to kill us off. The two big elements that particularly fascinate me are the ideology and the simplicity of it all. The Nazis wanted to get rid of the disabled because we are ‘useless eaters’ – people who take in more than they contribute to society. This ideology was remarkably simple and saw parents, doctors, and others in the community to willingly ‘donate’ disabled people to the programme because they were burdensome. What fascinated me was how the rhetoric just said we were a burden, unlike the Judeophobia which had to develop magnificent conspiracy theories of Jews conspiring with Communists, Blacks, Romas and other unmentionables to destabilise Germany – Jews had to be made non-human, disabled people  were not human enough. 
The parallel with the current austerity measures in Britain is as fascinating as it is terrifying. The Tories quite simply are reducing how much they give to the disabled – as to not be a burden on tax payers – and it has killed 190,000 people since 2010. There is no Tory rhetoric against the disabled, no mainstream politician is called for sterilisation, but that does not stop us being killed off. 
Because of all of this, as a composer I had to respond somehow. The work quite simply works like a ‘requiem’ to those killed, and the electronics constantly trigger names of those killed by T-4 so you can individually hear names (the names came from the Holocaust Memorial Archive, most T-4 patients were not named, the names I do have were of people who were Jewish too) and then over 160 names of people killed by austerity said at once, in a big nameless boom. 



Performed in Destination Sound, as part of DaDa Festival 2018

Performed by Anik Stucki (Violin), Joseph Lunn (Alto Trombone), Gunda Baranauskaite (Cello), Ben Lunn (Conductor/Kinect), Kris Gjerstead (Electronics)

Image by Wilhelm Werner, a victim of T-4

T-4 (2018)

New London Chamber Choir
London Sinfonietta
James Weeks, conductor

The Freedom of the Earth

Here are some excerpts of recordings of some of my compositions. I've concentrated on music which is not (yet?) available on CD or shared by others on YouTube, and which I haven't placed as downloadable material on my website (richardbarrettmusic.com).

Politeia (from CONSTRUCTION, 2011) for 13 instruments

‘A Radical Optimist’ – Aleksandra Line, Mūzikos Saule
‘BEN LUNN puts his beloved birthplace Sunderland on the musical map’ – Linton Stephens, BBC Radio 3
‘His work extends the palette of sounds that can be brought into contemporary classical music, redefining both modern composition and concert-hall inclusion.’ – Alan Morrison, Rhinegold.co.uk 

Powerful, poignant and deeply moving, Lunn’s composition certainly represents the spirit of Disability History Month 2018 and our current struggle for justice. – Gemma Nash, Disability Arts Online

‘Ben’s music is intricate and complex with unusual harmonies, making it challenging and exciting – well worth making the effort as the effect created was magnificent’ – John A. MacInnes
Ben Lunn has forged himself a unique position within the new music landscape. As a composer, Lunn’s music reflects the material world around him, connecting to his North-Eastern heritage or how disability impacts the world around him or his working-class upbringing. Alongside this, he has become renowned for his championship of others, which have seen him creating unique collaborations with musicians from across the globe and developing unique concert experiences and opportunities for others. He has won accolades from the Scottish Music Awards in both 2023 and 2020 for his work with Hebrides Ensemble and Drake Music Scotland, and in 2024 was shortlisted for the RPS Awards for his concerto History Needs… composed for Nicholas McCarthy. In 2022, Ben Lunn became the first North-East composer to be selected for the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Composer Scheme which sees him paired with Music in the Round. 

Lunn’s music has been described as ‘Evocative’, ‘Restrained Otherwordliness’, ‘Chilling’, ‘sophisticated and most importantly obsessive’ or ‘produces…glorious roaring sounds’ and ‘desolate monotone’. He has also been referred to as a ‘Composer of life music’, as well as ‘like Beethoven but drunk’ or a ‘real barn-stomper’.

Ben Lunn studied at the Royal Welsh College of  Music and Drama under the guidance of Peter Reynolds, and also the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre with Marius Baranauskas. He has also received mentorship from composers Param Vir and Stuart MacRae. Since graduating from his Master’s Lunn relocated to Airdrie, where he currently resides; working as conductor, musicologist, teacher and composer. In September 2021, Ben Lunn started his PhD at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland where he is exploring the impact of political ideology on composition – discussing Hanns Eisler, Alan Bush, Isang Yun, Luigi Nono, Jian-er Zhu, and reflecting upon his own work.

Lunn’s work has been featured in many leading international festivals including Sound Festival, Crossroads International Festival, Vale of Glamorgan, London New Wind Festival, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Druskomanija, DaDaFest, Arēna Festivals, Leeds Leider+, Zilele Muzicale Aniversare, HASS FEST, Durham Brass Festival, Toronto Contemporary Music Lab, Second Movement’s Rough for Opera, and Occupy the Pianos. He has had the privilege of working with leading international ensembles and soloists including Royal National Scottish Orchestra, Orkestris Sinfonia Concertante, Hong Kong New Music Ensemble, N.A.M.E.S, Sofia Soloists, Ensemble 360, Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra, Quadra Quartet, Hebrides Ensemble, Digital Orchestra, SONO Ensemble, Lomond Brass, Lotte-Betts Dean, Eegeru, Grace Maria Wain, NOYO, Orkest De Ereprijs, Ensemble Proton Bern, Red Note Ensemble, Ensemble Synaesthesis, Music Theatre Wales, Lore Lixenberg, Ligeti Quartet, ÖeNM, Ensemble X and Y, Nikolai Matsov, Rolf Hind, Stephanie Lamprea, Francoise-Green Duo, Garth Knox, Lore Lixenberg, Ember Septet, 5K Brass, Zubin Kanga, Martynas Levickis, JVLMA, and Jauna Muzika. 

As musicologist, Lunn’s specialities focus on Baltic Music, Horaţiu Rădulescu, Political Ideology and composition, and Composing and Disability. He has had the honour of lecturing at some of the world’s leading academic institutions including Fordham University, Mozarteum, RWCMD, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Jazepa Vitola Latvijas Muzikas Akademija, Komitas Conservatory, Durham University and Amsterdam Conservatoire. His articles have been published across Germany, UK, US, Russia, Lithuania, and collected by the Arvo Pärt Centre. He has also written for the Music Information Centre of Lithuania and Latvia. He was featured in the recent Policy Press book Lived Experiences of Ableism in Academia in which he contributed a chapter. He has also produced documents offering unique insights into how to make the concert experience more accessible Concerts from my point of view, as well as advising concert promoters and organisations to make their work more accessible for disabled artists, What we need to thrive. He has also worked closely with Making Music UK on a new document to assist amateur ensembles. 

In 2021, Ben helped found the Disabled Artist Network, an organisation which is bridging the gap between the professional world and disabled artists. Ben is chair of the Musician's Union's Scottish and North of Ireland Regional Committee and is chair of the North Lanarkshire Trades Council. He also contributes to the Morning Star and Culture Matters.

T-4 (2018)

BEN LUNN

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