Excellent! Id like to hear the full version of this piece.

Vocal ensemble Tradiophon
cond. Sarah Hänggi
sound Arev Imer
recorded on 18th June 2021, Kirche Heiligkreutz, Binningen
"Kuma" - a glow or a hollow - is composed considering a church bell sound spectre of one particular bell in Rostov cathedral complex with it's  rich spectre of particles that all contribute slightly to the decay of the bell sound. The choir is moving around those harmonies, bringing out some, matching their pitch with others, highlighting its hidden sound world.

KUMA for voices and electronics (2018/2020)

perf. by the National Estonian Symphony orchestra, cond. Olari Elts
concert recording / 10.9.2021

Commissioned by Musica femina München and composed for the Münchener Kammerochester, cond. Clemens Schuldt

"Hier ist alles Abstand, und dort wars Atem". R.M.Rilke. Die achte Elegie

Following the series of my aquatic pieces, “Apnea” (in latin “absence of breathing”) for string orchestra, written during the pandemic winter, reflects the importance of breathing whilst exploring the physical and emotional transformation during the immersion under the water. The macro form of the composition reminds of a very long breath-in and a gradual breath-out stretching the time in between while continuing to delay the climax and increase the tension until the limits. The orchestra is playing without any pause taking both the players and listeners through the existential odyssey.

"Apnea" for strings (2021)

Trio AntiquaNova - Distat Terra Festival 2022

Bass Flute: Rosario Castillo
Bass Clarinet: Griselda Giannini 
Contrabass: Edgardo Vizioli

waning (2022)

un plongeon dans nos propres arcanes intérieures..

Catacombes

for Paetzold contrabass recorder and accordion

Commissioned by Tabea Debus and Samuele Telari, with funding from Beauftragten der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien as part of NEUSTART KULTUR.

Recording from 2022 - Sam Stadlen (Stadlen Productions)

Tabea Debus (contrabass recorder)
Samuele Telari (accordion)

As part of 'Sounds of Now: Rotations' at Music in the Round, Sheffield
Film here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpV8ClWuDAo

slowly, turning (2022)

Glasslines, for symphony orchestra (2016, Excerpt - BBC National Orchestra of Wales/Jac van Steen)

Recording from Berlin Konzerthaus 31.08.2016

Performed by Orchestra of Estonian Academy of Music and Theater, conducted by Paul Mägi.

Based on a single shape, the piece consists of two different natural harmonic rows ( first part following the natural harmonics available on cello strings and second part being a combination of harmonics of other string instruments). Every natural string harmonic has its unique character, depending on the string it is produced on. Touching the string lightly can produce icy high tones or warm, flute like, lower resonances. It is an attempt to bring out the poetry of the microtonal landscape of these particular rows and observe the constant change of tone combinations that mostly occur only once. Other instruments extend the harmonies and give breathe to the structure. To add immediacy, some freedom to make intuitive choices is given to the musicians. While studying the material, I had a picture stuck in my mind as making one of the gigantic wind driven and self moving sculptures of the dutch artist Theo Jansen, hoping that if I get the calculations right, the piece will also catch a wind and reveal something in the sound, that I was unaware of.

Mechanics Of Flying (2016)

I learned not to fear infinity,
The far field, the windy cliffs of forever,
The dying of time in the white light of tomorrow,
The wheel turning away from itself,
The sprawl of the wave,
The on-coming water.
(Theodore Roethke)

Tundmatuis vetes / In Uncharted Waters (2018)

Commissioned by the Lithuanian National Philharmonics and written for the Estonian National Male Choir and Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, cond. Mikk Üleoja, for the "Freedom of the Baltics" concert, dedicated to the centenary of the re-establishment of the Baltic States

The phrase "here at the quiet limit of the world" from the poem Tithonus by Lord Alfred Tennyson became not only the title of the piece but also inspiration to reflect the phenomenon of the limits through musical metaphors. How can the separating limit between earth and sky be captured while one is still within the earth and another is already the sky?! The strings and voices in this composition are conceived as opposite elements: while the orchestra is going down and shrinking, the choir is rising up and expanding, until their trajectories, as well the dimensions of space and time, merge and the limits disappear. 

Instrumentation
male choir t4t4b4b4, strings 5.5.4.4.2

"Here at the quiet limit" for male choir and string orchestra (2018)

Coro della Facoltà di Musicologia di Cremona
Dir. Giovanni Cestino

XVI Festival Internazionale della Musica Corale "Nella Città dei Gremi"
Recorded on 12th July 2019
San Giuseppe Church, Sassari

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Ave maris stella
Dei Mater alma
Atquae semper Virgo
Felix caeli porta.
by Venanzio Fortunato (?) or Paolo Diacono (?)

Ave del mare Stella,
Madre di Dio pregiata,
Vergine alma, et beata
porta, che n’apri il ciel lucente e bella.
by Francisco Soto de Langa

https://cfm.cr.it/progetti/xvi-festival-internazionale-della-musica-corale-nella-citta-dei-gremi/

Ave (2018)

Asymptotic Freedom I - for six electric guitars

This is the first version of the piece (Asymptotic Freedom II – is going to be a one-hour long piece and performed in different rooms of the same building). 

The piece is created in close collaboration with my friends, wonderful musicians Chris Moy, Ruben Mattia Santorsa, Francesco Palmieri, Samuel Toro Pérez, Giuseppe Mennuti and Alejandro Tentor.

Special thanks to Yaron Deutsch for his support and curation of the project.

The project is commissioned by the studio la Muse en Circuit, Darmstädter Ferienkurse and Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik.

Elena Rykova - Asymptotic Freedom I [six electric guitars] - headphone mix (2020)

Composer

www.harrietgrainger.com

Harriet Grainger is a young British composer with a background in dance and as a pianist and cellist. Her music suggests something unquiet with its stillness, bringing landscapes to life, and creating a quiet moment of observation for the listener which stirs the soul. Her music often concentrates on achieving an equilibrium between power and fragility, where delicate, sparse and weightless passages are often interrupted or tainted with darker tones and shadows. Harriet is also influenced by natural landscapes and geological landforms such as glaciers, tundra, deserts, caverns and the deep ocean.

Harriet attended the Royal College of Music in London as a RCM Award Holder supported by a Douglas and Hilda Simmonds scholarship, as a Clifton Parker Award Holder, and also received a Vaughan Williams Bursary from the RVW Trust. Prior to this she studied music composition at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, with a term spent studying abroad at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre.

Glasslines, for symphony orchestra (2016, Excerpt - BBC National Orchestra of Wales/Jac van Steen)

Harriet Grainger

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