Isolarion: Rituals Of Resonance

Part of the audio from "Somewhere in the Distance (Lost in the Horizon)" premiering at Donaueschingen Festival 2021

Somewhere in the Distance - Crackling Fire Embers

Commissioned by Shizuoka Concert Hall for Tokyo Philharmonic Choir and first performed on 08/02/2014 conducted by Kazuki Yamada.
1. In Spring, The Dawn
2. In Summer, The Night
3. In Autumn, The Evening
4. In Winter, The Early Morning

The setting is in the original Japanese, but here is a translation of the text:

In spring it is the dawn that is most beautiful. As the light creeps over the hills, their
outlines are dyed a faint red and wisps of purplish cloud trail over them.
In summer the nights. Not only when the moon shines, but on dark nights too, as the
fireflies flit to and fro, and even when it rains, how beautiful it is!
In autumn the evenings, when the glittering sun sinks close to the edge of the hills
and the crows fly back to their nests in threes and fours and twos; more charming still
is a file of wild geese, like specks in the distant sky. When the sun has set, one’s heart
is moved by the sound of the wind and the hum of the insects.
In winter the early mornings. It is beautiful indeed when snow has fallen during the
night, but splendid too when the ground is white with frost; or even when there is no
snow or frost, but it is simply very cold and the attendants hurry from room to room
stirring up the fires and bringing charcoal, how well this fits the season’s mood! But
as noon approaches and the cold wears off, no one bothers to keep the braziers alight,
and soon nothing remains but piles of white ashes.




Unseen Seasons

For 12 harmonicas and 1 percussionist (bass drum and bell plates), performed by the Percussion Workshop at Darmstadt, August 15th 2014. 

Remember The Golden Age?

Violin(s) - Carolin Widmann
Piano - Simon Lepper
Date: 17/10/11
Venue: CNDM, Madrid

Six Movements:
1.Dancing through the thunderous night
2.Azure flashes falling
3.Through suspended mists of white
4.Seeking realms forever bright
5.We hear the timeless calling
6.And here at last, we flow like light

Learning Self-Modulation (2011) - Madrid

Ensemble: Flute, Clarinet, Glockenspiel, Piano, String Quartet

Commissioned by Britten Sinfonia for their 'At Lunch' series in 2009

Venue: West Road, Cambridge
Date: 15/12/09

Noctilucence (2009)

Clear Night (2007/08)

flute - Audrey Milheres
piano - Joseph Houston

Recorded at LSO St Lukes, London

Heaven's Chimes are Slow (2010)

Premiere performance by Octandre Ensemble (Audrey Milheres, piccolo; Corentin Chassard, Cello; Joe Houston, piano; Christian Mason, bells and electronics)at Villa Concordia, Bamberg, 12.08.19

I wandered for a while...

Performed on 12.08.19 at Internationales Künstlerhaus Villa Concordia
Scordatura Cello - Corentin Chassard (Octandre Ensemble)

Bird learning to fly

This present moment used to be the unimaginable future...

Eternal Return

Christian Mason (b.1984) is a London-based composer whose music has been described as ‘astonishingly inventive and powerful’ (The Strad) and as ‘music of atmosphere and hallucinatory powers… that seems extemporised yet deep down is highly organised’ (Classical Source). Mason is enjoying a prolific career with an array of exciting projects and commissions including a flute concerto for Noemi Gyori and Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège, premiering in April; two Hölderlin song cycles for Lotte Betts-Dean (mezzo), Thorwald Jørgensen (theremin) and Explore Ensemble, performed as part of a residency at Schloss Mediale Werdenberg in May; a residency (2023/24) at Musikdorf Ernen, Switzerland, which will see a new chamber piece and several other works  presented during the festival in August; a new duo with electronics for Patricia Kopatchinskaja and Joonas Ahonen, composed as part of residency at the SWR Experimentalstudio Freiburg during 2024; a ‘concerto grosso’ for Elinor Frey and baroque ensemble Il Gardellino; and a new CD ‘Time Space Sound Light’ recorded by Octandre Ensemble for release on Winter & Winter in March 2024.

Major projects from last season include Invisible Threads, a 70-minute performance installation – for the Arditti Quartet, Neue Vocalsolisten, Gareth Davis and Krassimir Sterev – which premiered at Witten festival in April 2023, with a second performance at Eclat Festival in Stuttgart on the 1st of February 2024; The Singing Tree, an environmental cantata setting texts by Paul Griffiths, for BCMG, Neue Vocalsolisten and Finchley Children’s Music Group, conducted by Michael Wendeberg at Birmingham Town Hall in May 2023; In Unknown Elements… In Endless Transmutation…, a sound installation celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Ernst von Siemens Musikstiftung, which was presented at the Boulezsaal Berlin and Tonhalle Zürich. In France, Christian concluded his two-year residency with the Orchestre National d’Auvergne, with the premiere of Voix Terrestre for string orchestra, enhanced by an hour-long radio portrait by France Musique.

2022 saw the completion of Time and Eternity, an orchestral cycle in three parts premiered respectively by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra (with Christian Thielemann), the Konzerthausorchester Berlin (with Christoph Eschenbach), and the hr-sinfonieorchester (with Michał Nesterowicz). Past commissions include pieces for Philharmonia Orchestra (with Anu Komsi), Münchener Kammerorchester, Orchestre National de France (Alla Breve), and Lucerne Festival Contemporary Orchestra (at Donaueschingen Festival); ensemble pieces for Ensemble Recherche, the CONNECT project (London Sinfonietta, Ensemble Modern, Ensemble Remix, Ensemble Asko-Schönberg), Lucerne Festival (Ensemble Intercontemporain), BBC PROMS (London Sinfonietta); and chamber music works for Arditti Quartet (Paris Philharmonie), Ligeti Quartet, Britten Sinfonia and ‘Nouveaux Horizons’ festival at the Grand Théâtre de Provence in Aix; solo/duo works for Carolin Widmann, Jean-Guihen Queyras, Momo Kodama, Midori, Mieko Kanno, Jack Adler-McKean (tuba) and the Orléans Concours International (Brin d’Herbe).

A 2015 winner of an Ernst von Siemens Musikstiftung Composer Prize, Christian is a visiting teacher of composition at the University of Cambridge, and mentor for the LSO Panufnik Young Composers Project, the Philharmonia Composers’ Academy and the Hong Kong Composers’ Scheme (2023/24). He has been a resident artist at Eton College, Villa Concordia, Civitella Ranieri and at SWR Experimental Studio in Freiburg. In 2012 he was awarded the Mendhelssohn Scholarship and received a British Composer Award. Christian completed a Ph.D at King’s College London with George Benjamin and worked as Composition Assistant to Sir Harrison Birtwistle. He previously studied at the University of York. He is a founding Artistic Director of the Octandre Ensemble and plays the Theremin. His works are published by Breitkopf & Härtel. His works are recorded on the London Sinfonietta Label, LSO Live, Col Legno, Winter & Winter and nonclassical.

Christian Mason

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