Performed by Sasha Savaloni
Recorded, mixed and mastered by Timothy Cooper
Image by Maria Urso

In Grab und Mond D.893, Schubert sets a particularly chilling poem of the same name by Johann Gabriel Seidl. The poet addresses both the moon and the grave, seeking answers about life after death. Silberblau takes the separation of the worlds above and below the grave as its starting point. The guitar’s strings are divided through the use of a capo, which allows two distinct soundworlds to emerge. Schubert’s music is processed and disfigured via a three-fold filter of the capo; string preparations; and manipulated recordings of Grab und Mond, which I arranged for guitar at the beginning of the process.

Commissioned by Sasha Savaloni as part of his ‘An den Mond’
project.

Silberblau (for solo guitar, electronics and light) [2020]

Gerald Barry - String Quartet No. 4 First Sorrow
Quatuor Bozzini (Clemens Merkel, Alissa Cheung, violins; Stéphanie Bozzini, viola; Isabelle Bozzini, cello)
performed live

Barry, Gerald

Gerald Barry - String Quartet No. 4 First Sorrow

Space Container

Shatter Focus

May song (2022)
six voices and prerecorded audio
Performed by Exaudi, at Exposure 2023, Milton Court, 22 May 23

Cressida Sharp, sop.
Jessica Gillingwater, mez-sop.
Tom Williams, counterten.
David de Winter, ten.
Michael Hickman, bari.
Simon Whiteley, bass

James Weeks, cond.

Text by Goethe (1771), trans. Lisa Jeschke & Lucy Beynon (in Jeschke, Anthology of Poems by Drunk Women, Materials, 2018 http://material-s.blogspot.com/2020/10/lisa-jeschke-anthology-of-poems-by.html.)

How beautiful shines 
To me, the nature! 
How the sun glows! 
How the mead smiles!

Blossoms penetrate 
From each branch 
And a thousand voices 
Out of the shrubbery

And joy, and joy 
From each breast. 
O earth, o sun,
O joy o lust!

O love, o love!
As golden, as beautiful 
As the morning clouds 
On those heights

You bless gloriously 
The fresh field
The blossoms’ steam 
The bountiful world.

O girl, girl
How I love you! 
Your eyes gaze! 
How you love me!

This is the way the lark loves 
Song and air
And morning flowers
The smell of heaven

How much I love you, 
My blood warmed
By you, for me, a youth, 
And joy and courage

For new songs
And dances
May you be happy eternally 
As long as you love me.

Prerecorded sounds include two field recordings of a wind turbine in Bernau bei Berlin, recorded by Peter Cusack, 2021.

Art: Unknown photographer, WT-Energiesystems Albertshof wind turbines, Bernau bei Berlin, c. 2020

Thanks to James Weeks and Exaudi, and to Paolo Carlotto and Nick Moroz for audio engineering assistance.

May song

For computer controlled piano, tape, and jumping person. Performed by RHEA, computer controlled piano built by Winfried Ritsch. https://algo.mur.at/projects/autoklavierspieler Recorded by David Pocknee in Huddersfield, October.

Jumping song

pf Explore Ensemble
Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival
Nov 2020, @ BBC Maida Vale

Sentimental drifting music

oct-dec ’17
written for Plus-Minus
ded. to Bryn Harrison, Amber Priestley, Sergei Zagny, Laurence Crane;
Matthew Shlomowitz & Plus-Minus

studio recording
Irine Røsnes (vln), Colin Frank (pc), me (kbd/guitar)

1. 0:00   2. 2:21   3. 7:41   4. 16:28

fp was given by Mark Knoop, Tom Pauwels, Serge Vuille & Kasia Ziminska @ City University

art (clockwise from top left): Joseph Albers — Study for Homage to the Square, 1967; Homage to the Square: SP–IV, 1967; Untitled (from Homage au Carré portfolio), 1965; Homage to the Square: Starting, 1968.

Set of four

A melody. First horizontally, then vertically.

Performed 07/04/18 at RAMA festival by myself.

'_|'

On 25th May Ireland will vote on amending its restrictive abortion laws. I was asked by Room for Rebellion and C.A.N.V.A.S. to create a piece for a compilation in aid of pro-choice charities to be released prior to the referendum. For logistical reasons this compilation won’t be released until later in the year, so I’ve decided to share the piece now, a week away from the referendum.

If you’re an Irish citizen or resident, please donate to Together for Yes:
https://www.togetherforyes.ie/donate/
If you’re not an Irish citizen or resident, please donate to Abortion Support Network or Alliance for Choice: https://www.asn.org.uk  http://www.alliance4choice.com/donate-2/

ABOUT THE PIECE:

“I am an old woman now, with one foot in the grave and the other on its edge.” 

Like most people of my generation, I studied the work of Peig Sayers (1873-1958) at school and the opening lines of her 1936 autobiography "Peig" are burned into my consciousness. "Peg 2018" takes those opening lines as a starting point, but departs immediately from the original, imagining the reflections of an entirely different, fictional Peg, an Irishwoman born in the 1950s. 

NOTE: The piece in no way represents the views of Peig Sayers or her descendants.
CONTENT ADVISORY: Material may be distressing for some listeners.

Image: Gustave Courbet's Jo, the Beautiful Irish Girl

Peg 2018

The Institute of Failure and Power

Johann_____You

I write musics aesthetic and not-aesthetic

Photo credit - Tobias Nicolai

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTQ1vDBmYjK3LXgph445ogQ
Website: https://www.joss-smith.co.uk

'_|'

Joss Smith

Recent comments

William Marsey

Related tracks