Marvelous music Paul.  Overall, it has an emotive, entrancing quality.  The manner in which you use the quartet to bring emotional dimension to the solemn beauty of the soprano is extremely effective.

Symphony 2 - version for 2 pianos

An attempt to create the soundscape of Silbury Hill at Avebury

Avebury3-TWU

A new piece for String Orchestra.  Thank you for listening and hope you enjoy.

For String Orchestra

Hope you enjoy this piano piece recorded on a Bosendorfer.

Now I Know

Saint Mark Passion - part 4, complete

Misericordia

Ensemble InterContemporain
Nicolò Umberto Foron, conductor

Premiere (live recording)
Friday 10th November 2023

60° Festival Nuova Consonanza 
Auditorium Parco della Musica Ennio Morricone

© Ph: Cantarelli Marta
© Archivio Nuova Consonanza

Seeds of Light

Ô saisons, ô châteaux
I - Ô saisons, ô châteaux (O seasons, o chateaux…)
for Soprano, String Quartet and Electronic keyboards
To Poems by Arthur Rimbaud
(full cycle duration circa 15 minutes)

Text: I - Ô saisons, ô châteaux (O seasons, o chateaux…)
Ô saisons, ô châteaux
Quelle âme est sans défauts?

Ô saisons, ô châteaux,

J’ai fait la magique etude
Du Bonheur, que nul n’élude.

Ô vive lui, chaque fois
Que chante son coq Gaulois

Mais! Je n’aurai plus d’envie,
Il s’est chargé de ma vie.

Ce Charme! Il prit âme et corps
Et dispersa tous efforts.

Que comprendre á ma parole?
Il fait qu’elle fuie et vole!

Ô saisons, ô châteaux!

[Et, si le malheur m’entraîne,
Sa disgrace m’est certaine.

Il faut que son dédain, las!
Me livre au plus prompt trépas!

- Ô Saisons, ô Châteaux!
Quelle âme est sans défauts?

English Translation:
O seasons, o chateaux…
Which soul has no flaw?

O seasons, o chateaux…

I’ve made the magic study
Of happiness, no one evades.

Long live happiness, each time
The Gallic cockerel crows.

But! I’ve finished with wanting,
It’s taken my life over.

That spell! Took soul and body,
And wasted all effort.

What to make of my words?
It would have them take flight.

O seasons, o chateaux!

[And, if I’m unlucky, 
I’ll surely know ruin.

Its disregard, alas!
Must bring me instant death!

- O Seasons, o Chateaux!
Which soul has no flaw?


Note: 
The poetry of Arthur Rimbaud has long fascinated me, and this is not the first time I’ve set his poems.  The innate symbolism that permeates every sentence is manna from heaven to me – as my own music is steeped in symbolism.   Ô saisons, ô châteaux sets Rimbaud’s famous poem of the same name as well as a nonsense poem and another from his equally well-known Illuminations. 
As an aside, the sound of the glass harmonica has always fascinated me ever since I heard a recording of Mozart’s famous Adagio and Rondo.  There is an inevitable beguiling enchantment this extraordinary instrument creates.  However, this instrument is seriously limited in what it can do and it takes something extra to make it ‘virtuoso’.  Fortunately, the use of modern day sound sampling means that one can create a ‘virtual’ virtuoso glass harmonica.  The pianist plays a keyboard which now sounds like a vast instrument that Mozart would surely have adored!
The first song alludes to feelings of nostalgia and life changes, yet inhabits a labyrinthine maze where one is constantly trying to discover the truth.  The music is derived from Rameau’s opera Castor and Pollux (all about the Gemini twins).  It is the funeral music, where one twin knows he has to live without the other – and inevitably gains strength from it.  Hence the baroque nature of the music.  The text of the second setting of nonsense verse reveals an essential element: the inevitable ridiculousness that people apply to ‘names’.   This song is my homage to those inspiring masters.  The final song is all about the importance and relevance of friendship above all things, and is thus set simply and directly. 
© Paul Max Edlin 2009

This is a live recording of the world premiere given in April 2009 by the soprano Olga Pasichnyk with the Silesian Quartet and Maciej Grzybowski. Grateful thanks to Olga Pasichnyk for granting permission to make this recording available on Soundcloud.

Ô saisons, ô châteaux - I (O seasons, o chateaux...) (2009)

Live recording Teatro Grande di Brescia - Three songs on the persian poetry by Rūmī - Giulia Peri, soprano - Lamberto Curtoni, Cello

Three Persian Lyrics

Orchestra Sinfonica Abruzzese
Marco Moresco, conductor

Dark Clouds, for orchestra

Sheet music: https://ump.co.uk/catalogue/max-noah-the-candle-lagoon/
www.noahmax.net
It is told that if you approach the Lagoon at sunset, light a small candle and whisper your darkest secret to the waters, the waters will respond by summoning forth from the depths of the Lagoon a vision of your future, laid bare in the evening light. The Tale of the Candle Lagoon tells of a child — you, me, humanity entire — who does just this, but sees in the surface of the Lagoon only a reflection of themselves, of the burning clouds and the setting sun, a ball of fire nestled under the water. As twilight turns to night and the world turns cold, the child wonders which is more terrifying: has History been falsified, or are they and the whole Universe destined to burn?

Recorded live at the world premiere performance at St. Giles' Cripplegate on 26th November, 2018 Echo Ensemble: Winter Sun
Conducted by the composer

The Candle Lagoon, Op.8 (World Premiere) | Noah Max, 2018

Paul Max Edlin, 2016/2017 Composer in Residence for the London Chamber Orchestra, has a career that combines composing with higher education, artistic direction and performing.  

His works have been performed by many leading artists including Alison Balsom, Arditti Quartet, Britten Sinfonia, David Campbell, Cantus Ansambl, Dame Sarah Connolly, Dame Evelyn Glennie, Rolf Hind, Johannes Möller, London Chamber Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, Olga Pasiecznik, Psappha, Silesian Quartet, Southbank Sinfonia and Gabriella Swallow.

He studied with Edwin Roxburgh, Richard Blackford and Joseph Horowitz (Royal College of Music) and Michael Finnissy (University of Sussex). He has won many prizes including Premio Internazionale Ancona, Harriet Cohen Memorial Award and United Music Publishers Prize. His music explores symbolism and often derives its inspiration from extra musical material. From the mid 80’s to mid 90’s many works were inspired by the art and architecture of South-East Asia, especially Indochina. From 2000 onward symbolism of a wider range of sources guided his music, from the chiastic structures of J.S. Bach to the writings of Gabriel García Márquez and Federico García Lorca and visual work of Frida Kahlo.

He is former Director of Music at Queen Mary University of London. He was Artistic Director of Deal Music & Arts (formerly Deal Festival) from 2004 to 2021, Sounds New (2007 to 2013), Director of International Composer Pyramid (2008-2023) and was Chair of the Board of of Trustees of Ora Singers. He is current Chair of China U.K. International Music Festival. He supports a range of charities and arts organisations through activities on their various boards and committees.  From 2012 to 2013 he was President of the Incorporated Society of Musicians (ISM), the UK's leading association for professional musicians.

Ô saisons, ô châteaux - I (O seasons, o chateaux...) (2009)

Paul Max Edlin

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