Name: Five by Natalie Nicolas — Composer, Performer, Educator in String Music
Duration: 2 min 28 s
Description: A selection of songs from my album ‘Music for Calm & Catharsis’ for piano trio. Find the full album on spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/6TSE5JUifehqWL1cmxktx8?si=lk-iM9KsSsCV5iXoscGWug

A collection of pieces for chamber strings.

String Music

Subtitle; "The Centre Cannot Hold..."
The concept behind this piece is that of a 'gyre' as described in W.B Yeats' poem 'The Second Coming'. It is a conical-shaped spiral that twists and turns, and inevitably begins again. The piece is in ternary form- where it begins with an initial motif (which is a process-based, pitch class-formed idea), that goes through the process of a 'gyre'. Twisting and turning, and upon its return, re-appears as a fractured, fragmented version of what it once was. The inevitable discomfort caused particularly by the dissonance and atonality of the piece, reflects the anarchy in that of the apocalypse, or 'The Second Coming'. 
This recording comes from the piece's world premier at Elder Hall in Adelaide, by the Australian String Quartet as a part of the National Composers' Forum 2013 hosted by Andrew Ford. It is courtesy of Kim Wylson.

"Turning in the Widening Gyre"- live by the Australian String Quartet at 'Six by Four' concert

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Favright - Taking Over (feat. Cassandra Kay)

Chocolate - The 1975 (Ukulele Cover)

Higher - Asgeir (Cover)

Instrument Spin Cycling (disquiet0662)

BIKE (disquiet0662)

701733178214 [disquiet0663]

More on the 663rd weekly Disquiet Junto project, Drive Way — The Assignment: Record a piece of music that complements the hum and whir of a hard drive — at https://disquiet.com/0663/

Hello! I’m super new to this, but had lots of fun with this week’s prompt. I was inspired by the intro to Sonic Youth’s “I Love You Golden Blue”, particularly the way in which musical instruments are mixed with mechanical sounds/beeps to create a poignant, emotional atmosphere. There’s just something about sad robots and machines which gets me - I will never not cry watching WALL-E. I isolated a “beep” from one HDD recording and transposed its pitch to create the various beeping sounds in the piece. I mixed these beeps with a recording of another HDD drive (which runs throughout the piece), and layered string synths, strings and piano. The piano part bounces off the clicking of the HDD, as if its melodic twin. Free time and dissonant harmonies were used with the aim of slightly unsettling the listener. The piece swells to an emotional crescendo, before abruptly stopping when the HDD is powered-off. Hope it’s an interesting listen!


* Cover image generated by AI.

harddiskdrive_disquiet0663

A piece written originally for the Goldner String Quartet, the incredible Flinders String Quartet premiered this work with incredible finesse in Melbourne, December 2017 after Natalie won a place in their composer initiative competition, with two original pieces "Exhale" and "The Rose that Wept".

"Exhale" - Live By The Flinders Quartet

The wonderful Flinders Quartet premiered this piece along with my other work "Exhale" in concert in Melbourne, December 2017. Originally written for the Goldner String Quartet, "The Rose that Wept" pays homage to the dark, Hans-Chrisitian-Andersen type films of my childhood.

"The Rose That Wept" - Live By The Flinders Quartet

A selection of songs from my album ‘Music for Calm & Catharsis’ for piano trio. Find the full album on spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/6TSE5JUifehqWL1cmxktx8?si=lk-iM9KsSsCV5iXoscGWug

Five

Soundcloud shows a very small selection of works from this composer. To explore Natalie's music fully (and to engage with regularly updated material), please see her website, Spotify, and Youtube pages. 

Sydney composer, researcher, and educator Dr Natalie Nicolas completed her Master of Music (Composition)degree and PhD under scholarship at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. Nicolas’ music is emotionally driven, and she often strives to evoke calm and/or catharsis through her writing, in line with research in music and emotions. A prime example of this is her work “We Won’t Let You Down” for the ACO Collective, funded by the Hush foundation in 2018, which was ARIA nominated in 2019 for Best Independent Classical Album.
 


Nicolas has written for the Goldner SQ, the Sydney, Tasmania, Canberra and Melbourne Symphony Orchestras, Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, Claire Edwardes, the The Song Company, and many other wonderful Australian artists. 

In 2013, Nicolas wrote for the ASQ under the guidance of Andrew Ford, as a winner of the National Composers Forum. She was selected for the inaugural National Women Composer's Development Program in 2016-2018, and in November 2018, ABC Classic interviewed/featured Natalie in their ‘AusMusic Month’ program. 

Nicolas won the prestigious Flinders Quartet Composition Competition in 2017 and 2019, and also their ‘All That We Are’ residency for 2020. In 2020, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra commissioned Nicolas, and she won the Harold and Gwenneth Harris Endowment for Medical Humanities Harris Award 2019/20 for her doctoral work with music and healthcare. 

In February 2020, she was featured on ABC Classic FM's 'Best of Australian Classical Music’ playlist, and the International Women’s Day ‘Women of Note’ vol. 2 album.

In February 2021, the Southern Cross Soloists and Slava Grigoryan commissioned and premiered a new work of Nicolas’, at QPAC to their largest audience in 26 years. Some of her other projects for 2020/21 included collaborations with the Australian Ballet with Orchestra Victoria, and award-winning guitarist Matt Withers thanks to a generous commission by the ABC. Nicolas was also selected in 2021 as a composer at the prestigious Connecticut Summerfest, and participated in their festival in June collaborating with ZOFO. 

Nicolas was a winner of the MSO Cybec 21st Century Australian Composers’ Program 2021, and “Union” was premiered at Hamer Hall in early 2022. She was commissioned by the Charles Perkins Centre and wrote/produced a highly acclaimed immersive string orchestra work with Ensemble Apex for their 10th anniversary and to inaugurate her new research node at the CPC “Music and Health”. In Nov’ ’22 she was again a featured artist on ABC Classic’s Aus Music Month where she appeared on several interviews with Russell Torrance. In 2023, Nicolas was commissioned by the Omega Ensemble for their CoLAB program. “Sydney Dreaming” was premiered by the on November 9th at the prestigious Sydney Opera House. Nicolas will also be releasing a new album with the Hush Foundation in 2024.

Five

Natalie Nicolas — Composer, Performer, Educator

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