Based on the poem "Of the Caniballes" by Simon Howard(1960-2013). http://walkingintheceiling.blogspot.com/2012/08/of-caniballes.html

For soprano and baritone saxes, violin, cello, male voice, and fixed media.
Studio recording by and with SUONO MOBILE USA: Nathan Mandel and Drew Whiting, saxes; Sun Young Gemma Shin, violin; Kyra Saltman, cello; Philipp Blume, voice and fixed media; Frank Horger, audio.

pgblu - The Shadows Shadows Throw

A wedding gift for two dear friends of mine. Multitracked solo voice.

pgblu - Happy 0th Anniversary

for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet, trombone, and contrabass. Ensemble Villa Musica, Frank Lloyd.
Composed 2003, revised 2009

pgblu - in nuce

Little by little, things empty, like those large bones
we come upon in summer on the beach — bones of horses
or prehistoric animals; they lose their inner stuff, the marrow;
only a solid white remains, like lack of color, with invisible holes,
like that color of rooms in winter, when outside
it's raining hard. At such times, you hold the handle of the door or the handle
of the teacup, not knowing whether you are holding them or they are holding you
or whether they or you can be held. And suddenly, as you try
to drink your tea, you see the porcelain handle between your fingers
by itself — the teacup's missing; you examine this handle: so white,
so weightless, almost like bone — and you find it lovely, shaped
like a half-nought — it seeks its complement, while opposite, on the wall,
from a deep fissure, rises the warm steam of the tea you did not drink.
Yannis Ritsos, "Departures III" from χειρονομίες (1969-70)
Translated by N.C. Germanacos

pgblu - Departures (for Simon Howard)

Premiere with SUONO MOBILE USA at Unruly Music Festival, U of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. April 16, 2015.
Guilherme Zils, contrabass.
Sun-Young Gemma Shin, violin.
Aaron Romm, trumpet.
Nathan Mandel, tenor sax.
Philipp Blume, voice and electronics.
Frank Horger, sound projection.

pgblu - Versions (Unruly)

Unfinished composition from the (also unfinished) chamber music cycle 'Rausch des Vergessens' for clarinet, horn, trombone, cello, contrabass, and piano. University of Illinois New Music Ensemble (now IME), conducted by Professor Mei-Fang Lin. Useon Choi, clarinet; Gerry Wood, horn; John Garvens, trombone; I-Chun Cho, piano; Ross Gasworthy, cello; and J. Alex McHattie, contrabass.

pgblu - zu sich (2008)

In my wanderings through the secondary literature on Nicolas of Cusa, I ran across a musically suggestive idea in an article entitled "Speaking the Unspeakable," wherein the author, Roger Corless, draws a comparison between Nicolas and the 3rd-century Buddhist philosopher Nâgârjuna. Corless cites the concept of śûnyatâ (pronounced shoon-ya-taw) in Buddhist philosophy, which Chinese commentators eventually translated as k'ung — which in turn can be handily translated into English as "vacuity."
The concept is to be distinguished from a (supposedly "Western") notion of emptiness or nothingness, as well as from mere non-being (abhava). According to Charles Eliot (et al.), “Phenomena are śûnya or unreal because no phenomenon when taken by itself is thinkable: they are all interdependent and have no separate existence of their own.” 
The title of my piece is, according to Corless, a more literal translation of the Chinese term k'ung.

pgblu - what i don't see when i look into the mouth of a cave(2009)

Christian Kemper, oboe
Eduardo Spinelli, klarinette
Stereo fixed media prepared and recorded by Philipp Blume
Uraufführung, 10. März 2016

Titelbild: Brion Gysin

pgblu - Schlauwandler

Recorded at Krannert Center's Great Hall, April 06, 2007. Philipp Blume, piano.

pgblu - Rosy derivative (2006)

Based on the text "Zur abstrakten Kunst" by Kurt Schwitters.
Baritone: Omari Tau Williams
Ensemble Ictus, featuring: Takeshi Yamane, bass clarinet; Géry Cambier, contrabass; Ludo Mariën, accordion; directed by Georges-Elie Octors.

pgblu - nicht anna

With apologies to Joh. Ockeghem, the Ensemble Musica Nova, and the Latin grammar police, here's the Sanctus from Missa Cuiusvis Toni, in all 4 modes at once (Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, and Mixolydian).

Sanctus (omniumve tonorum)

Premiere of Evge, Klvgerella! (2012) in Köln, featuring the composers slide quartet: Patrick Crossland, Andrew Digby, Andreas Roth, Thomas Wagner. Commissioned by West German Radio for the concert series Ensembl[:E:]uropa

pgblu

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