Huellas Entreveradas

This is the world premiere of the new work for double-bell horn, developed during the Virtual Brass Academy with Christine Chapman and Ensemble MusikFabrik, July 2020. This performance took place on July 30th, 2020 - in Cologne.
I am indebted to Ensemble MusikFabrik and the fantastic work they did with us in introducing us to the worlds of double-bell instruments, and to the ever-expanding repertoire of new music for these instruments they are bringing to the world.

The work explores a sense of dual forces that act and react upon each other, and how the relative mediator (the performer) indeed interacts with the score, the instrument and it's two bells, and finally how the theatre of the piece - both through actions and the position of the instrument - is transmitted to the audience. In the four sections of the piece that each explore a different facet of the manipulation of the horn - first through the use of a contra-bassoon reed to produce aggressive yet fulfilling multiphonics; then in the second and third exploring the two bells and their range of possibilities. The final section condenses the instrument down to only it's single-bell form and the mute and interacts briefly with it to express a settling within the performance. Gasping, grunting, growling and grandeur are all some of the ideas explored in this short miniature.

Image: LIGO/Caltech/MIT/Sonoma State (https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/6/1/15721268/gravitational-waves-ligo-future)

Understated Matter - for solo double-bell horn [premiere]

Pippy’s “World of Machines”:  A concept album designed to immerse the listener into an industrial world, void of life and covered with machines.  Each track focuses on a specific region of a post-apocalyptic world which lives on mechanically.  Inspirations for this piece come from observations of industry, world events of 2020, and exploitation of our mother and provider.  

Spotify Browser: 
https://open.spotify.com/album/3v2S5ZASfH8BVTw0HEsN5i
Spotify App: 
https://open.spotify.com/album/3v2S5ZASfH8BVTw0HEsN5i?si=L2OUrfJUT5GJLvqhTUzbnw
Apple:
https://music.apple.com/us/album/world-of-machines/1526087649?uo=4&app=music&at=1001lry3&ct=dashboard
Google Music:
https://play.google.com/store/music/album/Pippy_World_of_Machines?id=B4vjsvm4ypou2msccmb6wxkcasq

Album Cover by Jasper Means (@jaspermeans)
www.jaspermeansart.com

Kilometres Of Assembly Lines

Departure

Artists:

Iarla Ó'Lionáird, voice
Crash Ensemble
Linda Buckley, electronics

Released 25 September 2020

From Ocean's Floor

Ó Íochtar Mara: I Fil Duine (Gráinne speaks of Diarmuit)

Linda Buckley: Ó Íochtar Mara: I Fil Duine (Gráinne speaks of Diarmuit)(extract)

The sounds of Claravox Centennial performed by Gregoire Blanc.

Learn more about Claravox here: https://www.moogmusic.com/products/claravox-centennial

Learn more about Gregoire Blanc here: http://gregoireblanc.com/en/home/

Whitenoiseboomboom

IRIS AZUL

taken from the project 'mineral veins' (dissolves)  natural substances breaking down under environmental pressures, interactions and distortions. 

(recorded using JrF d-series hydrophones & adapted geophones)

mineral veins | Lugnas Dissolve (extract) - headphones / speakers needed

In part one of the Holiday Show Spectacular, Dee and Kate chat with Ragga, the Icelandic seer of things unseen, about elves, dwarves, trolls, and the Yule Lads. Homeless couple tortured man with hot iron after he offered them shelter. Woman gets probation for robbing boyfriend she tied up for sex. Phone calls. Merry Christmas!

S&W Episode 771: The Seer and the Unseen

a string quartet is like a flock of birds (2020) 
nine meditations and dances for string quartet

Commissioned by Kinetic Ensemble in Fall 2020

Performed Nov. 1st, 2020
Kinetic Ensemble - Textures of Change
Live Oak Friends Meeting House
Houston, TX

I've been thinking a lot recently about togetherness and apartness; how while we grieve and reckon with the collective trauma of the pandemic we've been isolated from one another, but at the same time we're still struggling to find new ways to connect. And in a certain sense, a string quartet epitomizes these ideas: it's a coming together of disparate things, fusing solo virtuosity with a more communal, receptive way of playing. All four parts are equal, and each player has to be both a follower and a leader. And I've also thinking about how wrong it feels to be creating something slow and somber to be performed now, when a return to music-making should really be a cause for joy and celebration. a string quartet is like a flock of birds is structured in 9 interlocking movements, with slow, reflective meditations alternating with fast, rhythmic dances. The whole quartet is focused on the musical idea of togetherness: the 4 parts fit together like a puzzle, and only when all the parts are fit together do melodies emerge. Each section in the piece is about the players slowly finding each other: sometimes overlapping, sometimes drifting apart into different kinds of motion, circling around each other like birds in flight. 

https://www.paulnovakmusic.com/
https://www.kineticensemble.org/

Image: Photo by Daniel Biber

a string quartet is like a flock of birds (2020) for string quartet

Paul Novak