Geoffrey Gordon's Tiger Psalms (commissioned by Fulcrum Point New Music Project) blends three otherwise unrelated Ted Hughes texts which--as he was wont to do--explore the human experience (not always favorably) through the prism of the wild, natural world. In this case, the Tiger, the Wolf and the mythical Phoenix. The composer has separated the stanzas of the Tiger poem, and inserted the Howling of Wolves, followed by And the Phoenix Has Come, so that the return to Tiger Psalms unifies this text and emphasizes the transformative power of these words. The work is scored for mezzo soprano and seven instruments, divided into two sets of three instruments, blending with the keyboard, to create three distinct sound worlds for the mezzo soprano soloist to inhabit. The (muted) trumpet, clarinet and bass define the Howling of Wolves, while the flute (piccolo), viola and mallet percussion (along with, primarily, celesta rather than piano) define the Phoenix. The third sound world--all seven instruments together--defines the Tiger. Color, along with melody, is perhaps the most important element of this work. 

"In an era of reflexive Neo-Romanticism and vacuous pop-influences, there are not many young composers today who dare to write uncompromising 12-tone music. Not only does Geoffrey Gordon adhere to a fairly tough and astringent serial style in his Tiger Psalms, but the composer also makes the music sing magnificently. Like Alban Berg, Gordon’s modified serialism brings an individual and communicative style to his tone rows. These three songs for mezzo-soprano and chamber orchestra, written to poems by Ted Hughes, are bracing and pungent stuff, scored with a striking ear for colors and unusual timbral contrasts and combinations... this is a very impressive and significant world premiere by a composer we should be hearing more from.” 
— Lawrence A. Johnson, Chicago Classical Review 

This is the world premiere performance of Tiger Psalms, featuring Fulcrum Point New Music Project, soloist Julia Bentley and conductor Stephen Burns, from March 22, 2011, at the Harris Theatre, Chicago. 


Tiger Psalms

This is the studio recording, on the Signum label, of Geoffrey Gordon's double concerto, Saint Blue, commissioned for the English String Orchestra and soloists Simon Desbruslais and Clare Hammond, through funds provided by Arts Council England. Inspired by the works of Russian visual artist and visionary, Wassily Kandinsky, Saint Blue (scored for trumpet, piano and strings) is divided into two contrasting sections, with the second essentially embedded in the first—a kind of sonic exploration of the sacred and profane—in a fairly straight-forward A-B-A design. The first section is a reaction to Kandinsky’s 1911 All Saints I (part of the Stadtische Galerie’s permanent collection in Munich), and features the soloists and full string orchestra in a shared expression of this colorful masterpiece. The contrasting B section draws the orchestra’s principal double bass into a trio with the trumpet and piano soloists, creating a kind of extended, jazz-infused cadenza, after Kandinsky’s In Blue (1925; part of the Kunstsammlung Museum’s collection in Dusseldorf). An animated return to the tutti string orchestra and some (evolved) thematic music from All Saints I, concludes Saint Blue. 

"Geoffrey Gordon’s Saint Blue, inspired by two Kandinsky paintings ('All Saints 1' and 'In Blue', well worth a web search), is by far the best work on this engaging disc; a taut and exhilarating single movement concerto, wonderfully played by soloists Simon Desbruslais and Clare Hammond."

–Chris Achenbach
Classical Ear (UK): 30 April 2018

"Geoffrey Gordon's Saint Blue is inspired by two Kandinsky paintings, All Saints I and In Blue and constructed as 'a sonic exploration of the sacred and profane,' with the trumpet deployed first as an instrument of heavenly summons, then as the bluesy soul of jazz in this complex, richly-satisfying work."

-Kate Wakeling
BBC Music Magazine: January 2018

Saint Blue (double concerto for trumpet, piano and strings after Kandinsky)

Listen to extracts from three characteristically fiery works by Danish composer Carl Nielsen: the Flute and Clarinet Concertos and the Aladdin Suite.

Recorded live in London's Royal Festival Hall, the album will be available from 3 March 2017.

01 Flute Concerto | I. Allegro moderato

Recording  in The Banff Centre of Arts, Alberta. Canada. August 2018

My Residencies in The Banff Centre was located in the Leighton Artists´ Studios Independent Residency area. A sacred places offer to delve into our work as well the option to engage within the Banff Centre community. A unique experience I will keep in the bottom of m heart !

Audio engineers: Henry Ng , James Clemen-Seely and Albert Picknell

Recording in grand piano concerto Steinway & Sons

La maja y el Ruiseñor. E. Granados. The Banff Centre of Arts and Creativity, Alberta. Canada.

World premiere performance by Friction Quartet on March 29, 2019.

Recorded live at the Center for New Music in San Francisco.

Abaciscus:
noun
1. (Archaic) One of the tiles or squares of a tessellated
pavement; an abaculus

The movement titles for the first three movements refer to mosaics
found primarily in the Villa Romana del Casale and the Piazza Vittoria
de Palermo in Sicily, and date from the early 4th century. The title for
the fourth movement comes from the Daphni Monastery in Athens,
circa 1100 AD.

The sacred and profane elements, taken together, are of particular
interest, and form the philosophical framework for this piece. (Musical
references to the Beach Boys’ California Girls and the Viderunt Omnes
of Pérotin are designed to underline this point.)

Commissioned by Third Angle Ensemble

ABACISCUS: IV. The Angel Before St. Joachim

ABACISCUS: III. Bikini Girls

ABACISCUS: II. Orpheus

ABACISCUS: I. Circus Scene

US/UK composer Geoffrey Gordon’s contributions to the contemporary music repertoire have been and continue to be exceptional.  Intense and luxuriant harmony, passionate melody and superb handling of instrumentation and sonic textures define his music.  His works include orchestral, chamber and vocal works, recognised and performed by the world's top musicians and ensembles.  His music has been called "darkly seductive" (The New York Times), "complex, richly-satisfying " (BBC Music Magazine), “stunning” (Philadelphia Inquirer), “iridescent and glowing” (Chicago Tribune), “taut and exhilarating” (Classical Ear), “haunting” (Strings Magazine), "gripping" (Bachtrack), "fierce and uncompromising" (MusicWeb International) and “magnificent” (Fanfare).  The Philharmonia identifies “his infectious style" and “an ear for melody”; the New York Times his “zest for sonic experimentation”.  

Recently and upcoming, the BBC Philharmonic will premiere Mr. Gordon's new bassoon concerto, Anima Mia, during the 2022-23 concert season; the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Swedish Chamber Orchestra and Hong Kong Sinfonietta will premiere a jointly commissioned chamber concerto for Bb clarinet and ensemble, Fumee; and the Antwerp Symphony will premiere Mr. Gordon's Mad Song, which they commissioned for soloist Dimitri Mestdag. 

In 2018, the Philharmonia gave the premiere of Geoffrey’s Gordon’s bass clarinet concerto “Prometheus” after the treatment by Franz Kafka, at the RFH, with US and Nordic premieres following in 2019 with the Minnesota Orchestra and Malmo Symphony.   His superb setting of Keats' “Ode to a Nightingale” for choir and cello premiered in May 2018 in Copenhagen by Mogens Dahl Chamber Choir and a new CD of three of his major cello works, Cello Libris,  was released on the BIS label in early 2020, featuring the Copenhagen Philharmonic under Lan Shui.  His song cycles, “Peter Quince at the Clavier” and “Sonnets from Neruda” premiered in March 2018 at the Arnold Schoenberg Center, Vienna, and in October 2017 the Munich Philharmonic under James Gaffigan premiered his trumpet concerto, "CHASE," after the sculptures of Giacometti.  His cello sonata “FATHOMS” premiered at Carnegie Hall in  December 2015  and his “Winterleben” for horn, mezzo and piano (commissioned for Los Angeles Philharmonic principal horn, Andrew Bain), premiered in August 2015 as part of the 47th International Horn Symposium in Los Angeles.  Honoured by a number of residencies internationally, he has twice served as composer-in-residence at the Aaron Copland House and is winner of 2017 Mario Merz Prize for Music Composition. In 2018, he was commissioned by the Curie Institute in Paris, part of the Muse-IC project. A new chamber work, featuring musicians from the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, premiered at the  Salle Cortot Theatre in Paris in March, 2019. 

Future performances and commissions include new works for the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, the Brussels Philharmonic and many others.

Find more links to Geoffrey Gordon's music, as well as bio and reviews etc. at www.geoffreygordoncomposer.com

NEW CD, Cello Libris, out on BIS Records!  
Find it here:
https://bis.se/performers/moldrup-toke/cello-libris-works-by-geoffrey-gordon

Tiger Psalms

Geoffrey Gordon Composer