Beyond Pythagoras is the result of a five-year collaborative project between composers Paulina Sundin and Monty Adkins, exploring a new method for developing harmony in electroacoustic music inspired by the writings and techniques of William A. Sethares. The project emerged from Sundin’s exploration of Sethares’s writings from the early 90s which formalised the relationship between the notes of a tuning system, the partials of a timbre, and their relationship to sensory consonance. Sethares’s work facilitates the construction of bespoke microtonal scales from an analysis of instrumental sounds whilst retaining a coherent sense of consonance. As author Luca Turin wrote of Sethares’s work, “Physics had built a prison round music, and Sethares set it free.”

The works on display here, realised over a four-year period, present a dynamic and dramatic exploration of Sethares’s thinking. From the formal rigour of ‘Emergence’, to the intricate harmonic development of ‘Splintered Echoes’, these pieces demonstrate a detailed and colourful sense of sound design allied with a meticulous structural balance – immersive, patient, timbrally rich, and often quite elegant, with intricate interplay between the acoustic and electronic sound sources.

Beyond Pythagoras

Splintered Echoes

HCR18 | Monty Adkins, Paulina Sundin & Jonny Axelsson: Splintered Echoes [excerpt]

Founded in 2009, Huddersfield Contemporary Records (HCR) is a label devoted to new music. Based at the University of Huddersfield, and established in partnership between CeReNeM (the Centre for Research in New Music), Huddersfield University Press, and hcmf//, HCR features both established and emerging artists at the cutting edge of music making, including diverse innovations in instrumental composition, electronics, and free improvisation. HCR releases have been recorded and produced both in-house at the university and with a broad selection of professional partners, including hcmf//, ZKM, and Radio Bremen, and have attracted exceptional press attention for a label of its size. HCR produces outward-facing compilations, internationally contextualised but centred on new music in the UK. The label develops concept-driven releases, typically featuring a single performing artist and multiple composers, often drawing on the resources of CeReNeM’s industry partnerships and its international research network.  
 
Since 2015, HCR has been exclusively distributed by NMC Recordings.

HCR18 | Monty Adkins, Paulina Sundin & Jonny Axelsson: Splintered Echoes [excerpt]

HCR: Huddersfield Contemporary Records

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