Performed by Manchester Collective in December 2021 as part of their 'Heavy Metal' tour: https://manchestercollective.co.uk/metal.

Video: https://youtu.be/8t4RuT36v8A
Score Follower: https://youtu.be/ufGRThgUtIQ

Beibei Wang - Percussion
Rakhi Singh - Violin
Julian Azkoul - Violin
Ruth Gibson - Viola
Stephanie Tress - Cello
Joe Reiser - Electronics

Read about the piece here: https://bennobuto.com/serenity-20

SERENITY 2.0

like knotted strings (2022) for string quartet
Commissioned by JACK Studio

World premiere
Performed by the JACK Quartet
28 January 2023. JACK Studio Festival, Ernst C. Stiefel Hall, Mannes School of Music, New York City, USA

JACK Quartet
Violin 1: Austin Wulliman
Violin 2: Christopher Otto
Viola: John Pickford Richards
Cello: Jay Campbell

Recording and editing: Matt Craig

Programme note:
In "like knotted strings", I looked to the work of Jorge Luis Borges, whose literature often tackles themes relating to infinity, labyrinths, and intertextuality. Having established a basic ‘library’ of sound gestures and microtonal chords, I wrote a piece in which I flesh out these materials and explore a handful of their possibilities, with quasi-quotations which provide a glimpse of a musical composition which may or may not exist in a different timeline. In keeping with the Borgesian themes that inspired the work, the piece presents multiple versions of certain passages. Each version leads to a different outcome, which may or may not lead (back) to another version of that same idea. Gestures and harmonies are recontextualised and presented as half-remembered recollections. As far as a reading of the form of the work is concerned, one may approach the work from different angles, all of which are equally legitimate. In the grand scheme of the strucure, each of the four members (or narratives) of the quartet follows their own paths as the music progresses. Sometimes these parts converge in a rhythmically, harmonically, or gesturally homogenius fashion, only to diverge later on. This aspect of the work presented the greatest challenge for me, as I sought to establish the meta-narrative of the music whilst also keeping ensuring the work stands as a cohesive whole.
— Njabulo Phungula

“Some genres describe time as the ramification of alternatives, others as the inevitable enactment of a timeless pattern. In some, alternatives are only possible at a few critical moments; time is like a knotted string with deterministic interstices leading to rare and dense moments of choice.”
— Gary Saul Morson, "Narrative and Freedom: The Shadows of Time"

“Almost immediately, I understood: “the garden of forking paths” was the chaotic novel; the phrase “the various futures (not to all) suggested to me the forking in time, not in space.”
— from Jorge Luis Borges’ "The Garden of Forking Paths"

https://www.njabulophungula.com/like-knotted-strings

like knotted strings (2022 version) for string quartet

Oluzayo - African Music Futures Festival
Heterometric Patterns(2023)for 15 musician in 3 groups
Premiered by Ensemble Modern on 31th May 2023,  Cologne/Germany.

Heterometric Patterns(2023)_for 15 musicians in 3 groups_Ensemble Modern_Yang Song

Dream Transmission of Phoenix is a composition born out of a year-long residency with the brass quintet, and aims to reimagine the traditional sound of the brass quintet through the introduction of innovative extended techniques and playing methods, developed through collaborative efforts. 

This included incorporating unconventional elements such as aluminum foil, which allowed for a wide range of buzzing and noise textures expanding the sonic possibilities of the quintet and adding a sense of intrigue to the composition. Combined with many other extended techniques, such as pedal notes, harmonic glissandi, and a variety of mutes contribute to the transformation of the ensemble's sound, offering listeners a fresh perspective on the expressive capabilities of the brass quintet.

The piece is also influenced by Japanese traditional music, specifically the Sho, an instrument used in Gagaku, the Japanese court orchestra. The Sho is a free reed mouth organ known for it’s ethereal harmonies, which were transcribed to form the harmonic material of the piece, and the haunting quality of the melodies associated with Gagaku are emulated through the use of stopped notes and subtle microtonal fluctuations in the horn melodies. In this way the Brass Ensemble becomes a sort of imagined emulation of the instrument, while also expanding and subverting it at other points. The Sho is traditionally known as the voice of the phoenix, and in this way the Brass Quintet imagines its dream, arriving from some distant unknown place.

Dream Transmission Of Phoenix Kubota - Enright

different gravities
mov. III of IV

written for & performed by Longleash
live recording from University of Louisville New Music Festival

different gravities, mov.III

World premiere on January 9, 2024 at Theater Münster, Germany conducted by Benjamin Reiners.

An attempt to imaginatively forge some connection between Schumann Symphony No. 4 and Schostakovich Cello Concerto No. 1... :D

BABY BOT BUILDS A MUSIC BOX (2023) | Sinfonieorchester Münster | Orchestra and Electronics

"Concerto" for violin & orchestra (2015) - Matthijs van Dijk

Performed by Jeffrey Armstrong and the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Brandon Phillips.

Recorded live at The City Hall, Cape Town, 2023.

"Concerto" for violin & orchestra

live recording by Pablo Garretón

PULSE#8 december 2023 @ Galerie Rabus, Bremen, Germany

Béla Bartók: String Quartet Nr. 4

world premiere in Manhattan, December 15, 2023

Passing Fragrance, Hidden Veil (2023) - Mvmt I - JACK Quartet

Concert du 3 mars 2011
Salle Varèse du CNSMD de Lyon
Amandine Trenc, soprano
Atelier XX-21
Fabrice Pierre, direction

Gérard Grisey - Quatre chants pour franchir le seuil

IlolliPop. Alex Paxton - Trombone and Composition.
Ensemble Modern. Conducted my Enno Poppe. (25mins)
CRASHKURS HUMAN__MACHINE

Illolipop. Excerpt. Alex Paxton. Ensemble Modern

Composer person

https://www.njabulophungula.com/

like knotted strings (2022 version) for string quartet

Njabulo Phungula

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