On 31 January 2020, 840 celebrated its fifth birthday with a very special event at Café Oto. The acclaimed soprano Juliet Fraser performed alongside a string ensemble of cello trio (Colin Alexander, Stephanie Tress and Peteris Sokolovskis) and viola (Francesca Gilbert), as well as vocalists Sara Rodrigues and Rodrigo B. Camacho of the New Maker Ensemble.

At the heart of the evening were two high-profile new commissions from composers Laurence Crane and John Lely, both of whom are long-term friends of the series and whose music has featured frequently at 840 throughout the years.

The rest of the programme consisted of a selection from the many pieces that have been written especially for 840’s concerts. Luxuriant, striking and surprising works by composers Georgia Rodgers, Sergei Zagny, Jonathan Cole, Nicholas Peters and Marc Sabat featured alongside brand-new works by 840 curators, Alex Nikiporenko and James Luff. There was also be a module from composer Cassandra Miller and Juliet Fraser’s astonishing ongoing collaboration Tracery.

This concert has been made possible with generous support from Arts Council England, The Richard Thomas Foundation, The Hinrichsen Foundation and The RVW Trust.

840: Five Year Anniversary

The work contains 141 C-notes, 150 D-notes, 156 E-flat-notes, 129 F-notes and 96 G-notes in different octaves. No other notes are presented in the work. Thus, the total amount of notes is 672. The overall written duration of the work is 627 quarters.

In the last movement there are 20 C-notes, 32 D-notes, 38 E-flat-notes, 17 F-notes and 5 G-notes. 112 notes in total, but I am not sure this is as interesting as 672. 

www.conceptualism.letov.ru/sergei-zagny/SERGEI-ZAGNY.htm

Studies On Rhythm BACH were written for Tre Voci (www.trevocicelloensemble.com) and premièred by them at the 840: New Music for Cellos on 12/10/2015. This recording was made at Tre Voci's concert in the Jacqueline du Pré Music Building in Oxford on 15/10/2015.

Sergei Zagny - Studies On Rhythm BACH

Cassandra Miller 'Tracery : Lazy, Rocking' (2017) is part of a new modular work, 'Tracery', for voice and fixed audio. This module features no live performance, but uses the process common to all parts of the piece, that of Juliet trying to sing along to a piece of source material whilst performing a body scan meditation. In this module the source material is the second movement of Ben Johnston's String Quartet no. 8.

CASSANDRA MILLER Tracery : Lazy, Rocking

Francesca Gilbert - viola/Colin Alexander - Cello

A Passing Moment

Performed by Colin Alexander, Stephanie Tress and Peteris Sokolovskis at 840's 5th Anniversary Concert, Cafe Oto, 31st January 2020

some music for molly (three cellos, 2020)

Composed in 2020.
Commissioned by 840 Series, for their 5th anniversary concert, 
with funds provided by Arts Council England, Richard Thomas Foundation, Hinrichsen Foundation and RVW Trust.
Performed by Juliet Fraser (soprano), Colin Alexander (cello), Stephanie Tress (cello) and Peteris Sokolovskis (cello).
Live recording of 1st performance, at Cafe Oto, London on 
31 January 2020.

European Towns

This piece was written for 840 and the NME. It is composed from five combinations of pitches and rhythms, stitched together to make one unfolding form in which groups of notes are covered and uncovered in turn. This process of covering up sounds led me to thinking about the phenomenon of auditory masking, whereby the perception of one sound is altered by another which occurs simultaneously (or very soon before/after). Auditory masking can affect the nature of sounds we hear in various ways, particularly when those sounds are already closely related in pitch or timbre. 

polarpatterns.wordpress.com

Masking Set was performed by Sara Rodrigues (voice), Francesca Gilbert (viola) and Peteris Sokolovskis (cello) at 840: 840: Five Year Anniversary on the 31 January 2020 at Café OTO.

Georgia Rodgers — Masking Set

Composer based in London and Head of Composition at the Royal College of Music. https://www.jonathancolecomposer.com