Live premiere by Parker Kitterman and International Contemporary Ensemble at Christ Church Philadelphia, Sept. 23, 2018.

Commissioned by Christ Church Preservation Trust with support from The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage

Nathan Davis - The Proof Notes

In Tone

Recorded live at the Phillips Collection in Washington, DC on March 23, 2014.

This is the first movement of a forthcoming work by Tawnie Olson, and this is the world premiere.

Meadowlark - Tawnie Olson

Pulse Project 1 - After Tenney

Taken from the Pancrace 2LP (PP28) out early April 2017

Penultimate Press is proud to present the debut recording from French outfit Pancrace.

Music for pipe organ Stiehr-Mockers 1848, Bird Calls, Baroque Violin, Tin Whistle, Boîtes à Bourdons, Landscape Piano, Motorised Bow, Standuino Pi Synth, Microphones, Hurgy Toys, AM radio, Church Bells, Uilleann Pipes and Hulusi. 
 
Pancrace is an improvising quintet comprising French, British and Austrian performers. The members include Prune Bécheau, Arden Day, Julien Desailly, Léo Maurel and Jan Vysocky. Pancrace is also the name of the  church in Dangolsheim Alsace located next to where the instrument inventor Léo Maurel lives. Maurel makes ingeniously designed instruments inspired by the hurdy gurdy. 

The recording emerged from a disruption of the traditional elements within the church, namely the church organ which was prepared inside out whilst the performers challenged it’s gregarious authority with an array of constructed and modified instruments. In Pancrace one can hear many of these shape-shifting instruments and devices being twiddled without quite knowing which are bowed, plucked, hammered or rubbed. The results are a maelstrom of sound and song which see-saw between the harrowing and the sublime with incredible detail to sonic content.  

Pancrace instigates proceedings in the confinement of an organ; a Cyclops puffing its continuous and raucous breath only to be woken by instruments who, like horseflies, mischievously start tormenting proceedings with microtones and striated polyrhythms. The journey ends four sides later with the language of the birds imposing an unadorned silence on the church.

http://www.penultimatepress.com

Pancrace - C (excerpt)

Intertwined Distances (2018)
Solo Harpsichord and Electronics (quadrophonic)

commissioned by and written for Mahan Esfahani
Premiere: March 2018, Madrid, Fundación Juan March
http://www.march.es/musica/detalle.aspx?p5=100310
Recording: Live radio broadcast 

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Some words about the piece: 

Distance, Movement, Silence, Perception, Paradox, Continuity...

According to Merriam-Webster, distance is a separation in time, an extent of advance from a beginning; and in mathematics it refers to the degree or amount of separation between two points, lines, surfaces, or objects.

In this piece I am exploring the qualities of various dimensions of ‘distances’.
The piece opens perceptual spaces and plays with the listener’s perceptions. It is an observation of how the sound moves and travels within the concert hall, of the distances between the performer on stage and the audience, and of the relationships of both with the quadraphonic speakers. On another level, it explores the phenomena of distance in time (the centuries- old harpsichord being placed in a modern environment) and distance between people (geographically, emotionally, etc). Our daily life is made of these intertwined distances, which are constantly in movement and change.

On a personal level, the electronic component comes out of a close collaboration, between Mahan Esfahani and the composer.

The sounds are solely harpsichord sounds, specially recorded for this piece. In association with various filters and processes, the material developed further and gained other colours and qualities.
The piece is an observation of these constant movements of sound and various perceptions of distances – and of ultimately how all these unite and convolute by twining with each other.

Intertwined Distances (2018)

Nathan Davis, Cactus (1999)

Homage to John Cage

The idea for a cactus and tape work came about when I heard a performance of John Cage’s Child of Tree.  I was immediately smitten by the sound of the cactus in particular.  Taken from its natural environment and placed in the confined and groomed existence of a pot, amplified with a contact microphone, the cactus took on a completely new and interesting character, however paradoxical.   Without the amplification its subtle and poignant resonance goes largely unnoticed.  The relationship between natural objects and their unnatural extension is the metaphor which inspired Grandchild of Tree.  I am deeply indebted to Nathan Davis for his amazing cactus technique and samples! 

Degrees of Separation, Grandchild of Tree

along some intrínsecas rutas (2019)- Electrónica

May 2020
Fernando Saint Martin- toy piano y handpan
Diego Cajas- clarinete

Aire bajo tierra

Drum Improvisation 6:25:13

Nathan Davis "writes music that deals deftly and poetically with timbre and sonority" (NYTimes). He has received commissions from Donaueschinger Musiktage, International Contemporary Ensemble, American Opera Projects, Tanglewood, Calder Quartet, Yarn/Wire, Steven Schick, Claire Chase, Miller Theatre, and the Ojai Festival. His opera/ballet "Hagoromo" premiered at the BAM Next Wave Festival. Lincoln Center presented “Bells” for ensemble, multi-channel audio, and live diffusion broadcast through a conference system to audience members’ mobile phones. Other performances at Mostly Mozart Festival, Carnegie Hall, Symphony Space, the Park Avenue Armory, The Kitchen, Roulette, Darmstadt, Helsinki Musica Nova, and Acht Brücken Köln. Davis was a fellow at the Camargo Foundation in Cassis, France, and received awards from Meet The Composer, Fromm Foundation at Harvard, Copland Fund, Jerome Foundation, American Music Center, MATA, and ASCAP. CDs include "The Bright and Hollow Sky" and "On the Nature of Thingness".

Nathan Davis - The Proof Notes

Nathan Davis music