The Spice Of Uncertainty

Goldson

for soloist and 3-4 players

written for Daniel Fardon’s concert series Purcell // Parallels, in celebration of The Purcell School’s 60th anniversary

performed by students from the Purcell School: Mina, Jacqueline, Antonia, Da In and Aaron
on 3rd July 2023

things we overheard

Trio Nebula (NL/DK) plays RETURN for tenor recorder, soprano saxophone and marimba. Composed by Rasmus Zwicki.
Full track on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nL57iLqsYc

RETURN (ᴇxᴄᴇʀᴩᴛ)

Zero

"The Farthest" - Words and Music written by Shelley Washington

Commissioned by Dianne Berkun Menaker for the Brooklyn Youth Chorus "Silent Voices: If You Listen", April 2018. Performed by the Brooklyn Youth Chorus accompanied by members of the ICE Ensemble.

. . . . .

I wanted to write a piece that would comment on the desires that many young people currently share; wants that span the personal “when I grow up...” to the public “in the future, we...” I also wanted my piece to ring true for any person during the era that they were young - their dreams for the future, taking risks in hopes of stepping closer to their goals, and forming alliances against adversaries. We as people have always wanted to be some form of good, and for our futures to be brighter than our present. Individuals’ belief of what constitutes goodness has the power to write laws, create religions, and drive culture. This desire to be personally better, to intentionally grow into our collective best, has steered the rise and fall of every empire. The Farthest is intended to be sung by the voices of now as a call both forward and backwards in time; a shout of gratitude back to those who challenged the wrongs of their time, and a call forward to all listeners to never give up hope, and to strive for being their best.

. . . .

The Series
Silent Voices is a multimedia, multi-composer, and multi-year series of concert works with spoken word conceived, produced and performed by Brooklyn Youth Chorus. Silent Voices amplifies the voices of those silenced or marginalized in our communities and harnesses the power of young people to be instruments of change. The Chorus has commissioned a dynamic group of innovative artists to interpret rich personal stories and historical narratives exploring contemporary themes of identity, orientation, status, boundaries, and belonging.

This Show
If You Listen, the second installment in the Silent Voices series, builds on the success of its 2017 premiere at BAM’s Howard Gilman Opera House, co-commissioned with Brooklyn Academy of Music, and WQXR, New York. In Silent Voices: If You Listen, eight composers, all women, collaborate with the choristers in confronting the challenges of division and categorization, racism, sexism, social and economic disparity, immigration, our environment, and threats to our understanding of truth, as we prepare to move towards a more inclusive and compassionate vision of the future. Featured composers include Julia Adolphe, Olga Bell, Anna Clyne, Paola Prestini, Toshi Reagon, Shaina Taub, Shelley Washington, Bora Yoon.

The Farthest  - for SSSAAA Choir

Pieces About Art was commissioned in 2014 by EXAUDI vocal ensemble supported by Britten-Pears Foundation and is dedicated to James Weeks, EXAUDI's director, and to all the singers in the ensemble. The work consists of two movements of roughly equal duration, which in this recording are performed without a break.

In my previous music for voice I had always written or compiled the texts myself but for this work I decided that I wanted to set words that had been written by someone else. A friend drew my attention to a text by a famous American artist, written in 1968; the artist had engraved the words directly onto a steel sculpture. I liked the repetitive and minimal nature of this text and I also liked the fact that the words had been written specially for use on a sculpture. I thought that the text would work well in my piece, so in July 2014 I set about trying to get permission from the artist to use the text. After several false starts, I ended up contacting the Artists Rights Society in New York, who handle these matters for the artist. Eventually I received an email refusing me permission to use the words. I then decided to write a text loosely based on the email received from the Artists Rights Society; this is what I set in Artist Refuses Request, the first movement of Pieces About Art.

Later that month I had lunch with the writer Michael Bracewell, a friend of many years. He alluded to some of the problems of writing about art. I asked Michael if he would allow me to set a piece of his prose writing and he agreed. A substantial proportion of the words that I set in the second movement of Pieces About Art - which is titled Writing About Art - are taken from Michael's essay on the work of the British artist John Stezaker. Originally written for the catalogue of Stezaker's 2011 retrospective at the Whitechapel Gallery in London, the essay is also reproduced in Michael Bracewell's collection 'The Space Between', published by Ridinghouse.

Both movements of Pieces About Art have a narrative about some sort of struggle. In Artist Refuses Request it is about the quest to get permission to set a text. In Writing About Art, the words that I have written myself, and which I set alongside extracts from Michael Bracewell's essay on John Stezaker, hint at a loose narrative about the struggle to write effectively about art. 

This performance was one of four given over the course of two weekends in July 2017, in Hull and London, which comprised the 2017 New Music Biennial, presented by the PRS Foundation. 

EXAUDI, conducted by James Weeks
Hull
1 July 2017

Pieces About Art

Domenico Scarlatti - Keyboard Sonata K262

Domenico Scarlatti - Keyboard Sonata K492

Museum headphone soundtrack example from the permanent exhibition at Museum of Copenhagen. Music and sound design composed and produced by Rasmus Zwicki.

The Storm of Copenhagen - Music and Sound Design by Rasmus Zwicki

Radio Ident for DR P8 Jazz. Composed and produced by Rasmus Zwicki, recorded by DR Big Band.

P8 Korfix og kaffe - Intro - by Rasmus Zwicki

Mainly chamber music  here. For other things maybe email me or try some of the following links:

RETURN (ᴇxᴄᴇʀᴩᴛ)

𝖱ᴀsᴍᴜs 𝖹ᴡıᴄᴋı

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