Unbekanntes Album (08.03.2021 23:16:51)

pange lingua

Composed for the RAM200 Bicentenary Celebrations.
Clarinet: James Gilbert

Ways things go - for solo clarinet

Gareth Moorcraft - Vida
For solo piano
Performed by George Fu

For more details and score: https://ram.ac.uk/multimedia/vida

About 200 PIECES:

As part of its Bicentenary celebrations, the Royal Academy of Music embarked on an ambitious project, inviting 200 composers to write 200 new works for solo instrument or voice. The recordings and scores for these works, written for every principal study instrument taught at the Academy, are now available, creating a new library of varied contemporary works by many of the world’s leading composers.
ram.ac.uk/200-pieces

Vida

Moorcraft - Vida

organ_Martin Walter, violin_Matthias Boss

Chaindon (orgue & violon)1

Martin Walter_organ, tuba, Matthias Boss_violin, electric violin, electric bass, piano, voice

collage

Scivolare Subito for piano solo
피아노를 위한 "급격히 미끄러지듯이" (2024)

Piano - Geon Soo Hwang 황건수

Recorded on June 17, 2025 at Lee Kang Sook Hall, Korea National University of Arts

(written in 2024/06-2024/08, revised in 2024/10)

Scivolare Subito (2024)

partita on  hyfrydol

THE SONORITY CABINET IX: a collection of strange, rare and unusual pieces of music from ancient and contemporary times, brought together as a 'cabinet of curiosities', often mixing the glorious sound of Oosthuizen's historic organ with new, electronic textures.
Previous editions include the Mass (2013), Gothic (2014), Fun (2016), Love (2017), Dream (2018), Time (2019), Magic (2023) and Secret (2024).
Michael Bonaventure (1962, Edinburgh) is an organist and composer whose passion lies in unusual and experimental music and the blending of organ with electronic sounds. He performs new compositions for organ and/or electronics by himself & Luiz Henrique Yudo, the founders of this project, and also by American composer Frederick Frahm, the British composer Geoffrey King and the Spanish composer Javier Ruiz, plus works from the Buxheimer Orgelbuch, Pablo Bruna, J. P. Sweelinck & the Beatles. 

The video artist, Thomas Mohr, presented a new work specially created for this event.



=========

THE SONORITY CABINET IX - The SKY CABINET (2025)
Live recording
Grote Kerk, Oosthuizen, The Netherlands
25 SEP 2025



Michael Bonaventure, organ & electronics 




1. Praeludium (Ionian, F-major) - J. Pz. SWEELINCK (1561-1621)

2. Wegener's Continental Drift (2024) - Javier RUIZ (b. 1965) 

3. Die Süss Nachtigall - Anonymous (Buxheimer Orgelbuch ca. 1470) 

4. Prelude (2025 - première) - Geoffrey KING (b. 1949) 

5. Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds (1967) - John Lennon/Paul McCartney 

6. Celestial Objects II (2023) - Michael BONAVENTURE (b. 1962) 

7. Stille Nacht (1818) - Franz Xaver GRUBER (1787-1863) 

8. FIRMAMENT (2025 - première) I, II, III, IV - Luiz Henrique YUDO (b. 1962) 

9. Dr. Bull's Myselfe (Gigge) - John BULL (1562-1628) 

10. Tiento Primo Tono - Pablo BRUNA (1611-1679) 

11. The Mysteries of the Horizon (2025 - première) - Frederick FRAHM (b. 1964)







=========

THE SONORITY CABINET IX: The SKY CABINET (Live, Oosthuizen, Netherlands, September 2025)

First performed at West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge, by the Cambridge University Concert Orchestra.

27th February 2016

Programme Note:

Within ‘On the Heavens’, Aristotle posits the existence of two cosmological orbs; the sublunary sphere, which encloses the four terrestrial elements, and the celestial sphere of the heavens, which contains Aether: the fifth element.  ‘Between the Spheres’ explores the musical possibilities suggested by this system. 
The piece positions the listener as an observer at the boundary between the sublunary and celestial spheres, each of which is afforded individual musical treatment. Throughout the piece the music of each sphere is sounded concurrently but with oscillating priority, as though the attention of the observer is in constant flux. These musical ideas germinate from the same seed but are distinct by the nature of their development. The sublunary music maintains a continual forward trajectory and is only interrupted by its tendency to fracture or become corrupted. In contrast, the music of Aether and the celestial sphere is cyclical and self-referential, reflecting the incorruptible eternity of the heavens.  These musical tendencies are informed by Aristotle’s own descriptions of the motion of terrestrial and celestial elements: the former travelling linearly whilst the latter follow circular paths. A finale unites the spheres in concord, but the stability is fleeting. The piece fractures at the last, leaving just the slowly fading ‘aethereal’ music. 

Chris Mortlock (2016)


Between the Spheres

Instrumentation:

3 Flutes, Eb Clarinet, 2 Bb Clarinets, 3 Oboes, 2 doubling Cor Anglais, 2 Trumpets in Bb, Tenor Trombone, Bass Trombone, Piano, Harp, Percussion (1 player)* STRINGS: 7, 5, 5, 6, 2. 

41 players spatially organised as:

Group 1: Clarinet in Eb, Flute 3, Violin, Violoncello, Guitar, Piano and Percussion 
Group 2: Oboe 1, Clarinet 1, Clarinet 2, Violin solo, String Quartet

Group 3: 4 Violin 1, 4 Violin 2, 4 Viola, 4 Violoncello and 2 Double Basses

Group 4: Flute 1, Flute 2  

Group 5: Two Trumpets in Bb, Tenor Trombone, Bass Trombone

Group 6: Oboe 2 doubling Cor Anglais, Oboe 3, Harp

Duration 20’36”

Performers include:
Group 1: Gleb Kanasevich (clarinet in Eb)Christian Smith (percussion) Lisa Cella (flute), Tristan McKay (piano) Jeremy Bass (guitar), Mark Fewer (violin) and James Burch (cello); Group 2 and 6: Zero Theorem string quartet, Players from the Bristol Ensemble including Roger Heaton (clarinets) and Chris Redgate (oboe/cor)Group 3: the Karski Quartet and Viridis Quartets, Group 4: (additional flutes) from Chamber Cartel, Group 5: Meridian Brass, Dirk Amrein (trombones). 

Performance instructions:  
1) This piece is unconducted. 
2) There is no score. All notated material is within each performer’s part. 
3) It is anticipated that the orchestra will be positioned in a conventional manner, but the nature of the music and performance also lends itself to new spatial configurations, should these be appropriate.  
4) All instrumentalists play independently of each other. The composer treats each performer as a uniquely independent voice.  
5) Music is cued only at the start when all stopwatches are synchronised. There are no other points of ‘fixed’ synchronisation between the instrumentalists.  
6) Whilst the relationship of each instrument is somewhat flexibly placed against its neighbour, care has been taken to calculate potential outcomes of coincidence and variability. To this end, it is vital that metronome markings and timecode are adhered to as accurately as possible throughout the performance.    

The Score and Parts: There is no score for this orchestral work. All musical material and instruction are fully notated within each player’s individual parts. Adherence to timecode ensures that the architecture of the piece remains intact, but the on-going interpretation of tempi and timecode creates contextual changes to the alignment of musical detail between all the parts. As such, there is no definitive performance; the music has to be performed or experienced to be ‘known’. 
 
Timecode: Timecode is not used to imply the use of any kind of click-track in performance or to be seen as a straitjacket to flexible performance within the orchestra and timecode framework. However, players are required to use individual mobile phone stopwatches during the performance to help structure timings, prevent long-term tempo-drift and delivery of their material to achieve an outcome that most closely matches the composer's structural intention. Continual reference to the timecode embedded in each part when read in reference to the stopwatch is particularly useful after longer pauses or where tempo has slipped due to playing under or over the metronome markings, enabling the performer to compensate by playing a little faster or slower to 'catch up' or extend or cut short pauses and rests as necessary to remain broadly on track with the timecode throughout the piece. It is important to start and also complete phrases within and as close to timecode parameters as possible. Please adjust your playing speeds continually to align with the timecode.

[...] which constantly generates a pulviscular cloud [...]

recorded at the catholic church of Willisau, 24 of July, 2019
organ / Martin Walter, violin / Matthias Boss

ira terrae

Marc Yeats is a British composer, abstract landscape painter, writer, poet, and artistic practice researcher. His work as a painter and composer is closely linked to techniques developed over many years, with compositions influencing new approaches to painting and techniques in painting influencing musical development. Although interested in surfaces represented in sound, colour, form, and texture, his work is further influenced by a fascination with layering, geology, erosion, landscapes, and place-specific resonance and its manifestation and embodiment in his work. Understanding, strengthening, and researching this self-referential relationship remains a life-long challenge and passion and sits at the heart of Marc’s work.

Yeats’s creative output is diverse, spanning music, painting, and literature. His recent Collected Poems Volume 1 (2005-2024) and Timecode-Supported Polytemporal Music: What It Is and How to Write It (November 2025), published by Vision Edition, are a testament to his versatility. As a researcher, his book Music, Painting, Landscape, and Me (April 2024, Vision Edition) delves into the deep interconnection between his roles as composer and painter, examining media, landscape, philosophy, neurology, perception, interpretation, walking and embodiment.

The John Davies Gallery in Moreton-in-Marsh represents his paintings, while his music is published by Composers Edition and available through Alexander Street Press libraries. His compositions have been performed by leading orchestras, ensembles, and soloists worldwide, including by the BBC Philharmonic with I See Blue (1995) and PAGAN II (1997), and most recently the unimportance of events (2021) for 22 players with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. At Tectonics Glasgow 2024, this time with the full orchestra, his spatialised polytemporal orchestral work ‘a point in the landscape’ was also featured and broadcast on BBC Radio 3.

Other commissions include the round and square art of memory (1999), a piano concerto for the BBC Philharmonic; My Blood is as Red as Yours (2008) for the Hallé Orchestra to mark World Aids Day; the choral piece sturzstrom (2012) for the Cultural Olympiad; and Forget-Me-Not (2016), a vocal installation on dementia commissioned by Yeovil District and Dorchester County Hospitals. His chamber and ensemble works are numerous and widely recognised.

Dr. Yeats has significantly advanced the study of polytemporal composition, presenting his research at institutions such as the University of Manchester, the University of Leeds, and the City University of New York. His AHRC-funded PhD research at the University of Leeds (2017-2021) focused on developing timecode-supported polytemporal composition methods, pushing the boundaries of how complex, unsynchronised musical structures can be performed without a conductor or unified pulse. His compositional method involves fully notated lines of material operating in different tempi, synchronised via mobile phone stopwatches and part-embedded timecodes. This technique enables performers to follow their temporal paths while maintaining structural coherence.

Marc’s innovative approach explores the balance between composer control and performer flexibility, yielding unpredictable yet recognisable results with each performance. His conductor-less, scoreless method allows musicians to interpret their tempi, using timecodes to navigate the music’s complex polytemporal structure. This pioneering method opens new possibilities for writing and performing multi-tempi orchestral music, enabling complex sonic relationships by managing indeterminacy.