Name: Moon-Dance by James Nye
Duration: 3 min 10 s
Description: A minimalist piece written in the 1990s for harps, flutes, brass and voices. Realised in 2011 using Sibelius and Garritan. Sounds a bit like a tribute to Wim Mertens?

For Derek John Benton by Vic Hoyland (2020)

E Si Fussi Pisci by Vic Hoyland (2020)

Canopy, for piano trio, 2021
Recorded at the Royal College of Music by the Fidelio Trio
March 2022

Canopy

Winner of the NCEM Young Composer's Award 2022

Recorded by The Consone Quartet at Saint Margarets Church, York (19.5.22)

Radio 3 Broadcast (11.11.22)

Arborescent

A minimalist piece written in the 1990s for harps, flutes, brass and voices. Realised in 2011 using Sibelius and Garritan. Sounds a bit like a tribute to Wim Mertens?

Moon-Dance

1st Performance, York University New Music Ensemble, conducted by Bernard Rands, Lyons Concert Hall. Digitised from cassette by Nicholas Melia

ES (1971) by Vic Hoyland

Awarded 1st Prize by judge Jo Kondo as part of 2023's Toru Takemitsu Composition Award. Performed by the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra and conducted by Kosuke Tsunoda.

Selvedge (Tokyo Philharmonic Performance)

All five known pieces of musique d'ameublement ('Furniture Music') by Erik Satie (plus 'Le tango perpetuel' from 'Sports et divertissements') arranged by Stephen Whittington as a suite for piano quintet entitled A Suite of Furniture. Live performance in Elder Hall, University of Adelaide, August 1, 2014, by Zephyr Quartet with Stephen Whittington, piano.

Satie - Whittington A Suite Of Furniture

Cold Pieces (Pieces froides) - Airs a faire fuir - Nos. 1,2 & 3. Live concert recording, Elder Hall, August 1, 2014. Stephen Whittington, piano.

Satie Cold Pieces

A la maniere de...M.R. First performance, Healesville, Victoria, April 3, 2016. M.R. is Maurice Ravel; this piece was written to go in a program with the Ravel Trio. In one movement, but three main sections: Sarabande, A l'espagnole, and Valse - reflecting three aspects of Ravel's music. Performers: Lily Higson-Spence, violin; Daniel Smith, cello; Hoang Pham, piano. 

Stephen Whittington A la maniere de M R

I am a composer living on the Isle of Wight. Early on, I discovered a passion for the sound and textures of the piano, and a life-long obsession with the music of Erik Satie. As well as piano, I learnt oboe and also played cor anglais, soprano saxophone and any other instrument I could get my hands on.

Whilst growing up, I liked jazz and film music, and at an early age got into Stravinsky, Ives, Messiaen, Boulez, Ligeti, Varèse, Scelsi, Cage and many more contemporary composers. I like some 'minimalist' composers' work - particularly Wim Mertens.

I went on to study at the University of Surrey, gaining a B.Mus (Hons) in 1987, and becoming a Master of Music in Analytical Musicology in 1989. I then started a Ph.D in composition techniques at The City University, London, but eventually abandoned it due to ill health and boredom with academia.

My first dissertation was on the music of Thelonious Monk (for which I painstakingly prepared many detailed transcriptions), and my second was an overview of the music of Vic Hoyland.

I write in a range of styles, and most recently have been working on completions and transformations of unfinished sketches by Erik Satie. In the past, I have worked with pop and jazz artists, including performing and composing for "Sunshine Hit Me", the Mercury nominated first album by Isle of Wight band The Bees. I have also contributed to albums by O.H Krill and Stromba.

I am currently working on Night Thoughts, a radiophonic poem written by my late friend David Gascoyne for the BBC in 1955. The original broadcast had music by Webern's pupil Humphrey Searle (who himself became teacher to Michael Finnissy). The original recording included my percussion tutor, James Blades. I hope the new version, which includes the voices of the poet himself, his wife Judy Gascoyne, and actor and admirer Simon Callow, will bring David's poem to a new audience.

I am also working on an electro-acoustic piece called Chain Ferry Soundscapes using recordings of the local Cowes-East Cowes 'floating bridge' - one of the last of its kind in the UK. The piece is gradually becoming a sort of concerto for chain ferry, voice and trombone.



Moon-Dance

James Nye

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