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]

Conducted by Raffaele De Giacometti
Performed by The Composer's Collective in PLUG Festival 10-05-17

Instrumentation and performers:
soprano saxophone (Lewis Banks)
accordion (Aileen Sweeney)
electric guitar (Lewis Dunsmore)
violin (Lisa Robertson)
viola (Theodore Chung)
cello (Adam Hall)
double bass (Calum Cronin)
piano (Nick Lauener)
laptop performer (Matthew Grouse)

With thanks to Tierney Nolen for performing / recording the pre-recorded voice elements.

10 Seconds (for mixed ensemble and 4-channel audio)[2017] (STEREO MIX)

10 Polaroids was commissioned by Live Music Now Scotland for the Dohnányi String Trio as part of the 2016 Kimie Composition Prize presented in collaboration with the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and funded by Kimie Trust. The piece was written for both dementia carehome and traditional concert hall settings.

I - It's through the cracks that the light gets in - (0'00" - 1'07")
II - Learn to love solitude - (1'09" - 2'49")
III - Dakas - (2'49" - 3'15") 
IV - A glimpse with our sightless eyes - (3'18" - 3'59")
V - Lara - (4'01 - 7'26")
VI - Our Earthly Lives - (7'28" - 8'32")
VII - Parade - (8'37" - 10'03")
VIII - Silhouette - (10'05" - 12'39")
IX - Succession of Petals - (12'41" - 12'56")
X - Church in the water - (13'00" - 13'34")

’10 Polaroids’ is a work for string trio in ten short movements, each one based on a different Polaroid photograph taken by the seminal Russian filmmaker, Andrey Tarkovsky. The images were selected from a collection of Tarkovsky’s personal Polaroids, which were curated and edited by Giovanni Chiaramonte and Tarkovsky’s son, published under the title, ‘Instant Light’. These hauntingly beautiful stills were taken between 1979 and 1984 in both Russia and Italy. The photos taken in his homeland are melancholic and evoke strong feelings of nostalgia. Often portraits of his wife, son and dog, these earlier photographs embody Tarkovsky’s desire to stop time. The Polaroids taken in Italy, in the last few years of his life, appear to capture a certain luminosity, manifested in a focus on ruins and eerie, unsettling interior and exterior shots. They seem to conjure up a powerful feeling of isolation and a sense of longing for his family who were still in Russia. A rather fitting summation of the photographs is posed in the introduction to ‘Instant Light’ - “His images seem to capture eternity in a moment.” 

https://www.thedohnanyistringtrio.com/

10 Polaroids (Dohnányi String Trio)[2017]

Performed by Gillian Daly and Jose Javier Ucendo in the Stevenson Hall 06-06-17

Percolator (for 2 pianos)[2017]

Violin I - Harry Gorski-Brown
Violin II - Tessa Henderson
Viola - Theodore Chung
Cello - Adam Hall

Recorded by Bob Whitney

Catherine Eunson's poem 'Drift Off' was the stimulus for this miniature for string quartet.

Drift off

No common intelligible sound (WB Yeats)
By manoeuvring in mirrors
krill shall multiply
now
the name of the boat now
the name of the boat now
Coming through the firmament
yellow and red painted cockerels,
the peaceful dusk of embroidered doves
and the army of the singing hen
now
the name of the boat now
the name of the boat
to watch me dance, fishstyle
timber tapping upside down
now
the name of the boat now
coming through the firmament
yellow and red painted cockerels,
the peaceful dusk of embroidered doves
now
the name of the boat now
by manoeuvring in mirrors
krill shall multiply
the army of the singing hen.

Coming through the firmament (for string quartet)[2017]

Performed by Nevis Ensemble, conducted by Jon Hargreaves.

commissioned by Nevis Ensemble for their inaugural tour of Scotland in August 2018.
​
The starting point for Attach was ‘Circles in a Circle’ (1923), a work by the Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky. Referring to this composition, Kandinsky wrote, “The circle is the synthesis of the greatest oppositions. It combines the concentric and the excentric in a single form, and in balance." I started to think about how the communities that we all belong to are in some ways exponents of “the greatest oppositions” that Kandinsky refers to. On the one hand these small communities and their comprised individuals tend to strive for independence and may espouse a collective set of opinions, beliefs or a sense of pride. In summary, there is a desire to have their unique voices heard. On the other hand, these communities may also aspire to feel like a microcosm of society in broader terms. They may want to feel connected to neighbouring communities and ultimately feel like their voices can be aligned, strengthened and united with the voices of surrounding communities. The ebb and flow of these opposing states heavily impacted the way I thought about organising the orchestra and eventually manifested into four distinct groups of musicians. The physical spatialisation of the groups was loosely informed by ‘Circles in a Circle’, and organised to situate three chamber-sized groups within a large circle of string players. I was interested in the resultant interactions between each group’s musical material and whether they try to have their individual voices heard or contribute towards the voice of one larger entity.

Attach (for orchestra) - 2 excerpts [2018]

Performed and mixed by Sean Rogan.

Written for Yaron Deutsch's electric guitar etude project at the Darmstadt Summer Courses (2018)

Pressed Steel (etude for solo electric guitar)[2018]

Composer from the UK currently based in Copenhagen, Denmark. Working in acoustic and electronic sound, text, video and performance​

Graduate of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Currently studying at the Royal Academy of Music, Aarhus.

e-mail: grousey2@yahoo.co.uk

Matthew Grouse

Popular tracks