Tendrils Of Light - Shruthi Rajasekar

A new string quartet movement which I composed in 2013-14 especially for The Cavaleri Quartet during their residency at the University of Oxford. This residency was generously supported by the Radcliffe Trust. The recording was by Sennheiser and the performance took place at the Holywell Music Room in Oxford on the 5th March 2014.

Violin I: Martin Jackson
Violin II: Ciaran McCabe
Viola: Ann Beilby
Violoncello: Rowena Calvert

ESCHATON - String Quartet No. 1 - The Cavaleri Quartet @ University of Oxford

This is an extract of my ten-minute work 'remiscipate', written as part of the RSNO's Composers Hub 2015-16, performed here by Royal College of Music players during the 2016 Composers Orchestral Workshop.

The title ‘remiscipate’ is an amalgamation of two words: ‘reminisce’ and ‘dissipate’. I needed the title to reflect several different things, as the piece is has two main personalities - representing both a literal moving dust cloud, and an ephemeral cloud of memories. It was inspired by footage I saw in October of the Red Road Flats’ destruction in Glasgow. Every video I found of the demolitions captivated me - there was the impressive sonic effect of the explosion (followed by the buildings’ collapse), the visual impact of the outburst and rapid fall of such an enormous mass of material, but also the atmosphere you could sense amongst the crowds that had gathered to watch. There was excitement, trepidation, and shock, but I’m sure that for many there was also sadness and loss - especially those who once made a home in one of the blocks, who watched and remembered a multitude of moments. Every person who saw these events will have seen it from a different angle, and will remember different things more clearly than others, and if all those perspectives could be gathered I think they would look like that dust cloud.

‘remiscipate’ is a musical expression of the enormous swirling dust clouds that engulfed the entire estate after each demolition - material swirls, drifts, bursts suddenly and fades gradually to nothing - but also explores the nature of memory, how strong memories and ghosts in our past can suddenly rise up again, nebulous and indistinct or very clear.

remiscipate (extract)

Sangeetham (Music) by Shruthi Rajasekar

When I look around myself for an idea, when I feel as though I have nothing to work with, when I feel as though I am nothing, when I've been made to feel that I am nothing, I look to the strong women that surround me for inspiration. Women's stories are tales of strength, perseverance, fire, and drive. And as the tides of history churn, gaining momentum, it's no longer dangerous to declare that now it's our turn--the women's turn.

The text for this piece is: "Hush now, baby. Don't say a word. Now it's time for the women's turn."

Don't say a word (2017) // Eighth Blackbird & Annika Socolofsky

Shruthi Rajasekar Sonetto 17

etymology - Friday, May 11, 2018

world premiere
text by Alyssa Ketterer Marshall

Etymology (Contemporary Undercurrent of Song Project)

the forgotten monologue - Shruthi Rajasekar

Maithree - the Music of Friendship

Ted's Dream

Conducted by Maestro Michael Pratt. Recorded live by Andrés Villalta in the Lewis Center for the Arts Forum, New Jersey, USA, May 2018.

Note:
Searching for Sanctuary was composed during a period of grief. I was privately struggling while publicly maintaining commitments, but that discrepancy could not be sustained in music. For several consecutive nights, I was unable to compartmentalize and compose; finally, I gave into my feelings and the piece began to unfold. Writing with all of that emotion tired & drained me, but the catharsis eventually healed me, too. The motif of “Redemption” is one of my personal favorites— it is a standing reminder to me, and perhaps others, that even if it seems impossible in the present, this, too, will pass.

Image captured at Cayuga Lake, Ithaca, New York, USA.

Searching for Sanctuary (2018)

Psappha Ensemble - http://psappha.com - Dov Goldberg (Clarinet in G)

Ost, written for the Greek Klarino (Clarinet in G) and Indian drone, explores questions of “otherness” in our understanding of “Eastern”. In various European languages, “ost” is the root of “Eastern”, and as the traditional epicenter of the West, Europe has historically been contrasted with “the East”. For me, a hard dichotomy between the two is complicated by my background in both Western classical and Carnatic (South Indian classical) music and my identity as an Indian-American. In Ost, I use both of my traditions, within the context of idiomatic Greek ornamentation, to blur the distinctions drawn between other and self. 

Learn more about Shruthi: https://www.shruthirajasekar.com/

Psappha’s ‘Composing for…’ programme is supported by: Arts Council England; Garfield Weston Foundation; Idlewild Trust; PRS Foundation Talent Development Partner scheme; Radcliffe Trust; and RVW Trust.

Shruthi Rajasekar (born 1996) - Ost

https://www.innova.mu/albums/nirmala-rajasekar/raga

Nirmala Rajasekar: Manasa Sancharare (Raga Sama, Aadi Tala)

Indian-American composer & vocalist. Please visit my website (www.shruthirajasekar.com) and contact me at shruthirmusic@gmail.com