compositions for instruments

We’re delighted to hand over the reins this month to composer and current Making Waves Intern Marlene Radice @marlene-claudine-pringle-radice, who has curated this Space-themed playlist.  About the works chosen and the over-arching theme, Marlene writes:
"This playlist centres around compositions with a relationship to space. Space as a tangible area of existence, space as a gestural device, spacialisation of music and the idea of space in relation to places outside of our immediate consciousness.
Listening to this playlist and exploring how composers address these themes made me think of concepts such as wabi-sabi and the importance of the spaces between elements, and accepting sounds for their imperfections. What we don’t hear is just as important as the sounds we observe. These pieces all somehow explore what lies between what we hear and what we see."

We love discovering the resonances among these works: instrumental – several string quartets, various uses of electronics including Peter Anthony Smith on the Akai Electronic Wind Instrument (EWI); thematic – auras, aliens and nature; and stylistic – there is an expansiveness and dimension evoked by each work in its own way.  Many thanks to Marlene for her care in compiling this playlist.

Space Waves (June 2017)

End of year playlist from Making Waves:  this is a marathon collection of all Soundcloud tracks featured in playlists this year.  Your holiday listening sorted!

2017 Waves

International Women's Day 2018

International Women's Day 2019

Live performance by Decibel New Music ensemble, 05-07-2013

Bass Flute - Cat Hope
Bass Clarinet - Lindsay Vickery
Violin - Aaron Wyatt
Cello - Tristen Parr
Electronics - Stuart James

Live stereo recording of spatialised 8-channel electronics

The Aura Implicit

Sirenity explores the mythology of the siren - hybrid woman with either bird-like or mer-like physical qualities, whose beautiful voices lured the all-too-easily corruptible minds of sailors to their peril.

Channelling spectralist, minimalist and ecoacoustic approaches, the work retains this dyadic relationship of characters: the sirens through humpback whale song and the sailor/victim in the airborne caws and calls of the wandering albatross (both sourced from recordings), with the former drawing the latter to its impending doom; the aftermath decaying back to the torrents of the sea.

Performed by the Australian String Quartet - Kristian Winther, Ioana Tache, Stephen King, Sharon Draper - as part of the National Composers' Forum 2013 in Elder Hall on 17 October 2013. Recorded by Kym Wilson, with technical assistance from Iran Sanadzadeh.

Sirenity

How can one represent the aural landscape of an environment that is potentially beyond the understanding of the audience, whilst using sound material which is embedded with association to the known human world?

A collection of soundscape compositions from my 2014 Honours submission. 

6. Selective Analysis - Life - Form 1b

flute and violin with electronic processing
played by Maddie Remont and Harry Nguyen
using Jeff Noon's Cobralingus Engine

cobralingus art run 1

Commissioned by the Silo Collective and performed by the Enigma Quartet, this is my recording of the world premiere performance of my String Quartet, "The First Movement" on November 17, 2015. 

String Quartet: The First Movement [Live recording]

Opening section of work Chromoson - an immersive audio-visual experience

Chromoson

Responsibility

Jassa Joint

For Lyn Fuller, Premiered at the Canberra International Music Festival, May 5th 2016. Commissioned by the National Capital Authority.
MOON FIRE is inspired by a famous tale about a Belgian cathedral tower. Legend has it that on January 27th, 1687, in the town of Mechelen, a local looked up at St Rumbold’s tower and perceived it to be on fire. The townsfolk called the alarm and ascended the tower with buckets of water and anything they could muster to extinguish the blaze. Upon reaching the top of the tower it was discovered that there was no fire, but the blood red moon shining through the fog had created a mirage! Hence the Mechlians were jokingly referred to as Maneblussers (“Moon Extinguishers”) and even named a local beer after the legend.
Rather than the joke, my piece is inspired by the imagery of the blood moon, shining through the fog to create a sensation of an eerie sky lit by vaporous flames. Alarm bells are heard, and a panic of the people, but descends into an eerie fog-like mystical trance. The power of the moon could be perceived as dangerous, volatile, rather than benign.
Having lived in Belgium for a year, I wanted to dedicate this work to the Belgians who have had to face terror this year in Brussels airport and train station. May they always gather in strength to fight their fires.

Moon Fire for Carillon and Electronic Track

A response to the lives lost in Paris, November 2015. The piece attempts to portray the confused but overwhelmingly energised inner workings of a young, fanaticised mind and give form to their misshapen and distorted reality.

Works by playwright Wole Soyinka influenced my choice of perspective when approaching this topic. 

… the shadowy one, the waiter-stalker, a youth
 Fed on dreams of sarabands of houris
 Doe-eyed virgins, wine and sweetmeats in the afterlife 
But to his paradise, a key - the plunging knife. 

an excerpt from Samarkand
by Wole Soyinka

The Fanatic or I Am Right You Are Dead

Commissioned by Samantha Wolf for International Women's Day 2016 concert: This Will Be Our Reply. First performed on 7th March 2016 by Tamara Kohler, Gemma Tomlinson, Aaron Klein, & Adam McMillan.

There is usually more complexity on the inside than what is initially seen.

"On the Inside" explores the many aspects of identity throughout a woman’s life, from growth to complexity, (as opposed to innocence to uselessness). It rejects the idea that women are to be seen as objects only, that a woman’s value lies in her physical attributes and functionality to another. 

Musically, this piece started with a single small motif that is heard about a third of the way in, which I then grew and developed continuously. Despite rejecting external ideals, aspects that might be perceived as "beauty" have been retained because, like all characteristics, beauty is not something to be ashamed of or feared.

On The Inside

Marlēné Claudine Radice is a Sydney sound designer and composer who specialises in notated electroacoustic composition. Previously, she has performed and recorded with the Sonic.Art Quartet, COUP Melbourne, Feminatronic and as one half of electronic duo Erwartung. Marlēné's has been commissioned as a sound designer and composer for Canberra’s National Museum of Australia in 2017 and Questacon in 2013.

Marlēné's soundtrack, titled 'Retrograde', connectedly explores abstract sounds and planetary motion. Read her description of the piece: 

"Retrograde motion references the movement of anything outside of the earths atmosphere that runs in a counter motion to the spin of the planet it orbits. In this soundtrack I wanted to experiment with how music made entirely out of reversed audio samples would be interpreted by a listener. The music is inherently unsettling as while we listen to sounds which are in reverse we cannot help but attempt to create meaning and order from sound that has been abstracted from its original form. " - Marlēné Claudine Radice

EHE 20.10.16 - Marlēné Claudine Radice (SYD) - Retrograde

[text by Rhys Nixon, composed && performed by Dan Thorpe].

going wild here on the footpath

a dog looked at me, walked away

going to buy a dog off amazon after getting something to eat

send pictures of dogs to strangers

no one sends any back

windows fogged up 

cant see inside

 

what am i doing between tabs i’m not looking at

another day, another empty mail box

no we don’t want to subscribe to your newsletter

no we are happy with our bandwidth 

no we don’t care about your coupons

no this letter isn’t meant for us


been waiting outside way too long

yes, it’s exactly what it looks like, more than one train approaching

walk down the street in pajamas, will people even look 

they glance and mutter

they really do need to subscribe

looks like their bandwidth is low

probably uses coupons

 

walking on footpaths, broken rubbish bag

empty milk bottles rolling into gutters

think of picking them up

we don’t, look at the bus drive past

everyone waiting

 

i can use this, open a store, sell my ideas

watches don’t tell the time, coffee tastes like water

inbuilt spelling mistake maker

automatic Facebook liker

app that answers the door

service that compares all the dogs in your area

white noise dream catcher

 

if i tackled a police officer would people stop me

or will the police officer step aside

consider this while waiting for a coffee

consider this while you exit the train station

consider that the police officer 

didn’t look at you

 

i walked into traffic and all the cars stopped politely, 

the drivers weren't watching me

if you were waiting for me

i’m sorry about that

it must be the water

can i get a drink

 

i’ll look at a sad picture and not feel the need to cry

until someone says ‘wow that made me cry a lot’

we’ll walk to the bank

take all our money

throw it on the road

watch cars drive over it

pick it up and deposit it again

 

don’t worry about it, honestly, 

i’ll make sure to stand up straighter

and meet up with friends

we’ll be the friendliest people

on the end of our street

in our complex

in our combined bank account

linked to our insurance company

 

bury my face in funny videos

don’t want to know anymore

turn the volume down here so i wont be noticed

give up sleeping

stay up every day

everything feels blue

we won’t be photographed

Considerate

@2016 
Performed by the Briar String Quartet (Matthew Rigby- Violin 1, Navin Gulavita- Violin 2, Georgia Stibbard- Viola, Sage Fuller- Cello) 
Premiered at the Composer's Concert, St Stephen's Church Richmond, Victoria

Recorded at Sing Sing Studios, South Yarra, Victoria
Engineer: Aaron Dobos 

I always heard the phrase ‘The first step is always the hardest’.
Beginnings spark a potential energy, waiting to burst out. The endless possibility and avenues a road can lead is enthralling; blossoming new and dynamic waves. It’s exhilarating, yet restrained, not knowing where the road leads or how it will end.

This piece is my first step.

String Quartet No. 1 - "First"

What can we do, there's nothing to do,
about sickness and hunger and dying.
What can we do, there's nothing to do,
nothing but cursing and crying.

Find something to burn.
Let it go up in smoke.
burn your troubles away.

Sometimes it's witches or what will you choose?
Sometimes it's lunatics, shut them away.
It's blacks and it's women and often it's Jews.
We's all be quite happy if they'd go away.

Find something to burn.
Let it go up in smoke.
burn your troubles away.

The lyrics of Caryl Churchill from her play 'Vinegar Tom'. Performed and composed by ALPHAMALE (https://soundcloud.com/dad-dreams) and Marlene Claudine Radice. This piece premiered in COUP Canberra's 2016 production of Vinegar Tom.
http://www.agac.com.au/2016/12/the-musicians-of-vinegar-tom/

Cut Common interview with Hannah and Marlene: http://www.cutcommonmag.com/how-can-we-use-music-to-achieve-social-change/

Something To Burn

Performed by Luciano Tristaino (flute) and Gisbert Watty (guitar) at the Monash Prato Centre in 2016

How many sunny days does it take to gr0w a town

part 3 of "In the glass dome the bewitching world"

a 5-mvmt-work/album/whatever for violin and electronics

written for my friend Mirren Strahan who is an amazing violinist

still haven't fully recorded it so

¿Yp]ÅÛÔÉ?(Paper Feather-Shapes)

What is 'space'? Where is 'nohwere'? How do we understand these concepts? How do we cultivate 'nowhere' and 'space'? These are questions that I considered when approaching this work. Into Ethereal Space responds to the exhibition title 'Nowhere=Space' by exploring contrasting peaceful, meditative sections and flurried rhythmic sections. This piece invites you to enter into a space of contrasts and to explore, contemplate and consider what 'nowhere' and 'space' might mean.

This piece was commissioned for the opening of 'Nowhere=Space' at 107 Projects. This is a live recording of the premiere performance, 11 July 2018.
Performed by Quart-Ed: Caitlin Sandiford, Sarah Qiu, David Tocknell and Karen Cortez.

July 2018.

Inside the Mosaic

Into Ethereal Space

graphic piece for bass guitar and pedals for my honours project

interpreted and performed by Brett McLatchie

Rogue Banana

Matthias Bamert
West Australian Symphony Orchestra

This work was commissioned as an education piece, and is
designed to showcase the sections of the orchestra at the circus or at the zoo:
Brass (opening): fanfare, welcome to the circus/zoo;
Woodwinds: the monkeys;
Strings: the trapeze/the swans;
Percussion: lions and tigers;
Tutti, and brass fanfare to end.
The conductor may pause at each new section to introduce the instruments
of the orchestra, or may have the opening few bars of each section of music
played before performing the piece without pause.

Roar!

For solo soprano and SSAATTBB. Commissioned and recorded by The Australian Voices, 2012. Conducted by Gordon Hamilton.

Dedicated to William Duckworth and Jocelyn Wolfe.

Text:
DROUGHT

BY JUDITH WRIGHT

The summer solstice come and gone,
now the dark of the moon comes on.
The raging sun in his pale sky
has drunk the sap of the world dry.
Across the plains the dustwhirls run
and dust has choked the shrivelling tree.

This is my world that dies with me, 
cries the curlew in the night.
I have forgotten how the white
 birdfooted water in the creek
used in spring to call and speak.
All is fallen under the sun
and the world dies that once I made.

The strength that brandished my green blade,
the force uncoiling from the cell,
 drains like water from a wrecked well,
 says the dried out corn of the earth.
The seed I cherished finds no birth.

Now the dark of the world comes on.

Drought (choral)

Intergalactic sound exploration

Written for Maddie's final flute recital

Indigo Liquid Sun

Title: la grotta azzura (ambient mix)
Date: 2007, 2009 

Description: Ambient mix of 'la grotto azzura' (the blue grotto), originally created for AAIR Radio Ana Capri Remix competition hosted by the London School of Architecture in 2007. All samples utilised in the remix were recorded around the Island of Capri and provided by AAIR. Sound editing and composition/remix performed in Logic Pro.

​Competition judges included Brian Eno (UK) and Ryuichi Sakamoto (JAP/USA).  As there were too many good submissions, AAIR decided to not award only one winner. La grotto azzura was featured first amongst all international submissions published online. Remix Competition site now inactive.

IMAGE CREDIT: 'The Blue Grotto' by late Romantic Painter Heinrich Jakob Fried.

la grotto azzura (ambient mix) - 2009

pt 2 of In the glass dome the bewitching world

been sitting on this for a while... the whole thing isn't recorded properly but this one is pretty good so w/e its coming out into the world. It's time

performed by Mirren Strahan

Splinter

email: m-nguyen (at) outlook (dot) com

gigs:

1-3.11.24 Zeerust
14.12.24 Shindigellio
24/25 NYE Tanglewood Festival
11.1.25 Collective Delusion park rave
18.1.25 Goody's Hifi Trash Rave
30.3.25 Hear the Machine
4-6.4.25 Developmental 2: Safety Core
11.4.25 Faun
31.5.25 Warm Natural Album Launch

cobralingus art run 1

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