Name: Gruppenspiel (2018) [Extract: Cadenza] by Desmond Clarke
Duration: 2 min 5 s
Description: For three improvising soloists and improvising ensemble with video score. Premiered 5th January 2019 by the Northern Contemporary Collective, Leeds, UK.

awesome - energetic, playful and great tones

The Japanese concept of ma relates to the idea of time and space (in particular negative space), where the lack of something is as important in giving context and value as the material elements. This can be seen frequently in visual art (where empty space is as important in a work as the paint itself) and travel (where the rest stops on the Tōkaidō road between Kyoto and Edo (Tokyo) organise the journey). In music, rests are frequently used to contrast between the ambient sound of the space and musical material. Though often represented in western art music by silence due to the artificial silence of the concert hall, the reality is that to truly explore the idea of ma, the performer should be responding to the sounds in the environment around them, reacting and integrating their sounds into the time and place they are in.

Where we are now invites the listener to hear not just the composed music, but also the environment of the space created by the electronics, and how the players relate their sounds to this environment. The solo flautist in particular will use environment to influence their performance, responding to the sounds in relation to their realisation of composed material and guiding their improvisations. The piece is split into three distinction sections, separated by two sections of free improvisation in the flute, supported by aleatoric playing in the orchestra. During the composed sections, the flautist will move through the space, whilst becoming static during the improvised sections in order to organise the journey similar to the rest stops on the Tōkaidō road. By movin through the space, the flautist can not only explore their relationship with the environment, but also play with the space between them and the fixed orchestra.

Where we are now was composed in collaboration with flautist Naomi Perera after we were awarded the Terry Holmes Composer-Performer Award for 2022/2023. This piece would not have been possible without Naomi, and the piece is dedicated to her, as well as to Terry Holmes for giving us the opportunity to create this work together. The piece was premiered in the Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall on Wednesday 15th February.

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Flutes - Naomi Perera
Conductor - John Stringer
Electronics - Jake Adams
University of York Chamber Orchestra

Where We Are Now

Field recordings were taken in Sardegna, April 2014.
Music sample from Colder.

Cortile

Grip (string quartet)

successful day playing around with delays + finding a balance with the flexibility/fragility of these dyads !

interlude i

Performed by EXAUDI at Exposure 2023, Milton Court. 

Premiered at and commissioned by the Norfolk and Norwich Festival 2022.

score: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EzOcKKEIpiuy6A7KJAcvdnwgzMBzUeV9/view

LIVING ON ICE-CREAM AND CHOCOLATE KISSES

Technicolour Yawn (vomit rainbows) performed at Bang on a Can LOUD Weekend 2023.
Performed by: Kathryn Vetter (prepared bass clarinet), Laura Martinez (prepared soprano saxophone), Luciano Medina (drum kit), Iwo Jedynecki (accordion), Carina Yee (violin), and Sam Zagnit (double bass). Conducted by Nick Photinos

Technicolour Yawn (vomit rainbows)

Digital smoke - Malary

originally written for mechanical organ, re-recorded on synth.

lungs

A song cycle setting three poems by August Stramm: 'Vernichtung', 'Frage', and 'Schrei'.

Despite being very difficult to translate, I immediately found August Stramm’s poems extremely evocative, emotive, and powerful. Most importantly, their abstract style and often frantic pace cried out to be set to music.

In this song cycle, I have tried to capture the vulnerability of a man who was not a natural soldier, and who despaired of war; who was horrified by what he saw, and was moved to capture his thoughts in poetry.

Workshopped and performed by the Helsinki Chamber Choir, as part of the Tenso Young Composers Workshop in Mechelen, May 2017

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August Stramm

August Stramm (1874-1915) was a German poet and playwright who is considered one of the first of the expressionists. He served in the German Army and was killed in action during World War I.

Vernichtung-Frage-Schrei

Dafina Zeqiri - Dream, Playing by Peter Sheppard Skaerved

For three improvising soloists and improvising ensemble with video score. Premiered 5th January 2019 by the Northern Contemporary Collective, Leeds, UK.

Gruppenspiel (2018) [Extract: Cadenza]

Composer, oboist and visual artist based in York, UK.

Contemporary classical and electronic music.

https://www.instagram.com/des_r_clarke/

Gruppenspiel (2018) [Extract: Cadenza]

Desmond Clarke

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