For a group of trained and untrained singers.

Performers:
Vera Sonne 
Hanne Marit Mordal Iversen
Lina Knörr 
Andrea Giordano
Eivind Holmboe Leifsen
Ane Elise Lassen
Elizabeth Kate Hall-Keough
Elias Nurmi Schomers
James Layton
Marco Slaviero
Noel Rubli
Ferdinand Schwarz

Recorded live on 5th of May 2023 at Majorstuen Kirke, Oslo.

Gradient for Voices (2023)

EXAUDI

Cressida Sharp (soprano)
Jessica Gillingwater (mezzo)
Tom Williams (countertenor)
David de Winter (tenor)
Michael Hickman (baritone)
Simon Whiteley(bass)

James Weeks (conductor)

World premiere, live performance
Milton Court Concert Hall, London
22 May 2023

text:
haru (spring) yuki (snow)...

...the uncertainty was unbearable...
I felt only a strange sense of emptiness...
... and yet the trees were still bathed in bright summer sunlight...
... that intense sunlight in the trees...

words spoken by Yukio Mishima, NHK broadcast 1966

Spring Snow is the title of the first book in the final tetralogy written by Yukio Mishima before his death on Nov. 25th 1970.

Paul Newland: spring snow (2023)

Charrm

Saudade - written by James Layton
with text by Jack Burnham
Copyright 2022

Markéta Schaffartzik (Soprano)
Vojtěch Šembera (Baritone)
Ostravská banda
Bruno Ferrandis(Conductor)

performed at Antonín Dvořák Theater, Ostrava, Czech Republic
as part of NODO 2022 / New Opera Days Ostrava

'Found at the intersection between desire and expression, two halves, separated by death, now wind through the years enacting a spectral dance. There is a reckoning with the inexorable persistence of memory, and the inability to break a compulsive and damning cycle of inarticulacy. The natural flow of yearning proves vulnerable to disruption. The years have made language thin and brittle. So we scratch our story onto the surface of ice, at the point of departure. A future is possible, but may not be permissible. A negotiation of sorts occurs, one that anxiously balances on the tip of the needle deep within the heart of all crystalline winter dreams.'

Art: Andrew Wyeth - Christina’s World

saudade (chamber opera in seven stills) [2021-22] [extract2]

and if you were a fiddler, then you were a fiddler (2024)
to Sinestéticas Collective

After an excerpt from Jon Fosse's Trilogy:

    "There's no way around it, you'll become a fiddler too, he said
    and Pa Sigvald said if that's what it was like, that he was a fiddler and should be a fiddler, then that's how it was, he was a good player already, as far as playing goes he was already an accomplished fiddler, and if you were a fiddler, then you were a fiddler, there was little and nothing to do about that, he would become a fiddler, his son as well, and that was not a surprise, because both his father, old Asle, and his grandfather, old Pa Sigvald, had been fiddlers, to be a fiddler was a family fate, even if being a fiddler was reckoned to be bad luck, yes that it was, Pa Sigvald said, but if you were a fiddler yes then you were a fiddler, if that's how it was, yes, there was nothing to do about that, not much, yes, in his opinion, said Pa Sigvald, and if he was asked where it came from, he answered that it probably came from grief, grieving over something, or just grief, and in the music the grief could lighten and become soaring and the soaring could become happiness and joy, so therefore music was needed, therefore he had to play, and some people had something left of this grief and that's why there were many who enjoyed listening to the playing, that's how it was, because the music lifted their life and gave it height, whether they were holding a wake or celebrating a wedding or people were just meeting to dance and celebrate, but why they were the only ones who were given the fate of the fiddler, yes he couldn't say why, of course not, and he had never had much knowledge or wisdom, but he'd been a good fiddler since he was just a boy, since he was Asle's age, just like Asle was a good fiddler now too, they were alike in so many things he and Asle, Pa Sigvald said, and just as he had followed his father when he was Asle's age and his granddad was playing in a wedding, now Asle was going to follow his father and get his training, and later in the summer he would come with his father when he played at an ordinary dance and he would come with his father when he played at a wake, the way he himself had come with his father, to weddings, wakes, and dances, but whether he liked it, whether he liked that his son should also become a fiddler, no that was something else altogether, and no one would ask about that anyway, a fiddler's fate is just that, a fate, but he who was without property had to manage as best as he could with the gift God had given him, that's how it was, that was life
    And tonight you'll try to be a fiddler, Pa Sigvald said"

and if you were a fiddler, then you were a fiddler

VIOLA DA GAMBA QUARTET

Marius Malanetchi
Reka Nagy
Klára Hervai-d'Elhoungne
Maylis Moreau

Still Life with Viols and Pomegranates (MVMT I) (2024)

Artwork by Zurkas Tepla

Tracklist:
Katya Shirshkova - Le Heron
David Maranha - A Reunião
Alex Zhang Hungtai - Swimming Bird
Michael Pisaro - Liu - Tombstones. Fool
Pierce Warnecke - The Unraveling
R. Murray Schafer - Snowforms
Louis Laurain - Pulses, Pipes, Patterns
Bernardo Devlin  - Albedo. Quadras do Alvor
Gonçalo Almeida - Ciclos
Ivan Fedele - Arc en ciel
Katya Shirshkova - Pond
Zurkas Tepla - In forehead
Pavel Kushnir	- Sergei Rachmaninoff's Prelude in C-sharp minor

Albedo. Mix for NoodsRadio

Commission by and written for the Blueridge Chamber Music Festival - Sonic Story Brook, new chamber works inspired by children's stories.
Flute, Paolo Bortolussi
Clarinet, Liam Hockley
Cello, Jonathan Lo
Accordion, Taras Luka
Vibraphone, Katie Rife
Piano, Manuel Laufer

recorded by  Piotr Wieczorek

--
Notes
The book, “The little engine that could,” is used to teach children the value of optimism and the belief in one’s ability to complete difficult tasks. It was my favorite book as a child. As adults, we still need to be reminded to believe in ourselves.

i think i can (or the importance of self-efficacy) (2024) - for sextet and localized electronics

Life repeats what is similar, never the same. The repetition of the same material, slightly altered with each iteration, engenders the feeling of going nowhere, yet simultaneously, progressing. 

Recorded live on December 7, 2024 at MacEwan University, Edmonton, Alberta

UltraViolet:
Roger Admiral - piano
Chenoa Anderson - flute
Allison Balcetis - saxophone
Mark Segger - percussion

Recording: Nicolas Arnaez

This performance was made possible with support from the Alberta Foundation for the Arts

Slightly Altered Suns (2024) - for mixed quartet, UltraViolet Ensemble

Flat Pack Music takes an architectural approach to building a composition. Pre-composed panels are arranged, Juxtaposed and altered to build an emotive and surreal sonic experience. The flat character of the sonic materials invites the listener to listen carefully to each object and build relationships between the different materials.

Flat Pack Music

A piece about coffee.

With video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUjA4-UO0gg

Big thanks to Curious Chamber Players:

Rei Munakata - Conductor/Brewer
Moa Bromander - Flute
Dries Tack - Clarinet
Emelie Molander - Violin
My Hellgren - Cello
Frederik Munk Larsen - Guitar
Anna Christensson - Piano

det svarta guldet

James Layton is a British composer, musician, and visual artist currently based in Oslo, Norway. His work often explores non-climactic forms, which slowly unfold and focus on the juxtaposition of progression and stasis. His use of patterns, permutations, and repetition aims to draw listeners into the music while exploring ideas of time and memory. This work is often informed by his interest in visual art, particularly the works of Agnes Martin, Sol Lewitt, and Bridget Riley.

James’ compositional output includes works for opera (saudade 2022), orchestra (focal 2019), chamber music (honour thy error as a hidden intention 2023), choir (veering slowly, losing identity 2023), as well as electro-acoustic music (are we on other, less concrete shores? 2021), and collaborations with dance (Rock-A-Bye 2023) and visual media (time spent 2023). This work has been performed around Europe by musicians and ensembles such as Cikada (NO), Orkest de Ereprijs (NE), I Solisti (BE), Ensemble Spectrum (SK), Stephen Upshaw (US/UK), Standard Issue (UK) Ensemble Ernst (NO), Ostravská Banda (CZ) and ONO – Ostrava New Orchestra (CZ), including at festivals such as Bergen Festspillene (2024), Bijloke Wonderland (2023), NODO/New Opera Days Ostrava (2022) and Ostrava New Music Days (2019).

saudade (chamber opera in seven stills) [2021-22] [extract2]

James Layton

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