if I had to put a name to this piece I would call it western compassion. express pain in a dominant way. I don't know how to explain it but I love the way that you composed this piece

Contemporary and yet deeply emotional. Quite unexpected. Love this.

Satellite is the 4th album from Graham Richardson's Last Days. Richardson who is now well known for his cinematic electro-acoustic pieces that effortlessly invoke an almost inconceivably tangible imagery has this time around turned ever inward for Satellite's core inspiration. While Richardson credits the album with certain personal themes in tow he's more apt to let the listener gather their own meaning of the album's affinity of satellite and stars. The song New Transmission features vocals by Beth Arzy (Aberdeen, Trembling Blue Stars) and could very well sum up the album's apex while delivering the most pop affected Last Days song to date. Satellite is out Sept 17th on n5MD

Last Days - Fidra

Tomorrow, January 28th, Norwegian composer and pianist Julia Gjertsen is set to release her sophomore LP on the one and only Moderna imprint. I’ve covered Julia before, in particular, her collaboration with Nico Rosenberg (including the latest release on Constellation Tatsu), but for Formations, it’s nice to hear her play alone again. Besides the solo piano pieces on the album, which are entangled with reverb, some echoes and looped repetitions, the passages are processed with a rhythmic, borderline percussive brush. My favourite piece on the album, which was already released by the label as a single, is called “Falling In Keys”, and it perfectly embodies the lush atmospheres produced by the piano, drenched in sweeping delays, lightly sprinkled flutters and deep rumbling bass. The piece that I’m premiering for you today echoes the textured theme with just a touch of synth pads, delicate treatments and forefront pulsating rhythm. Here, we find Gjertsen “expertly oscillating between catchy, beat-driven hooks and slow-motion soundscapes that cause us to lose track of time.” I hope you will enjoy this and then come back for her 2019 debut, titled Fragile.

Read more about it here: http://hcdi.gs/Gjertsen

Formations

TRACK PREMIERE : Julia Gjertsen - Cause And Effect

Flare (2021), Yale Philharmonia under conductor Ryan Tarni Dec 9th 2021 Woolsey Hall, Yale University.

The first non-essential item I bought after arriving in New Haven for my composition studies was an anthology of poems by Mary Oliver. I had never heard of this outstanding poet before I came across her work in a bookstore in New Haven, and so I discovered her poetry in an unprejudiced and casual way. Her positive, curious, and thoughtful look at the world and life itself was like a cool mountain stream that refreshed me after this exhausting pandemic-year and the first stressful weeks in my temporary country of residence. I felt very touched by her work, and so it naturally found its way into my music, which is why I named this orchestra piece on which I was working at the time after her poem “Flare".

Flare (excerpt)
Did you know that the ant has a tongue with which to gather in all that it can
of sweetness
Did you know that?

Flare

It's the 1st advance from my forthcoming album ‘Ver Sacrum’, out on March 10 through ad21
"Spectral and haunting, there’s an almost monastic quality to ‘Sacred Spring’, the first piece to be taken from pianist and composer Bruno Sanfilippo’s forthcoming new album ‘Ver Sacrum’. An air of quiet solitude too; poignant strings wash in and out of focus punctuated by a slow, melancholic organ line. Like all his best work, it’s emotionally resonant yet quietly captivating, a master class in mood and shadow" Derek Robertson, journalist and music writer: Guardian, Independent, NME, VICE, Timeout, The Quietus, The Face.

Vanesa Tomás (Soprano)
Mariel Aguilar (Mezzo Soprano) 
Analog mastered by Ian Hawgood, 
Cover by Javier Guglielmi 

https//www.bruno-sanfilippo.com

Ver Sacrum

Sacred Spring

AppleMusic/Spotify

The Darkest Descent by Snorri Hallgrímsson. This gripping 2nd single from his upcoming LP moves from mournful solo piano to a soaring climax with sweeping orchestral strings. It is about how choosing to fight for what you believe in can be the hardest choice to make, and how staying true to that choice over time will make you feel less alone. 

🎧 moderna.ampl.ink/descent

I Am Weary, Don't Let Me Rest

The Darkest Descent

Streaming Platforms

Snorri Hallgrímsson - The Darkest Descent

Third and final movement of my Piano Concerto No.2 (Capriccio)

Piano Concerto No.2 - mvmnt III (Capriccio)

Demo for my next album, The Gramophone Suite, which will be released late 2018. The track will also feature on the Soundcolours compilation "Chilltronica No6"

Film Two

Untitled 28 was a sculpture, video and sound installation created in 28 days by artist Marie-Louise Jones and composer Lucy Claire. It was exhibited in July 2017 at Here East in London as part of Gavin Turk and Anna Maloney’s show, Inside Out. 

The music reflects each sculpture in the installation and explores themes of duality and pairs through atmospheric binaural recordings, beautiful violin melodies and vocal textures. The materials used in the physical installation; wood, stone and metal play a prominent role in the soundtrack and the sounds created when collided together were used to create unusual textures which were weaved into the piece.

When I was commissioned to write a piece for orchestra in early 2018, I had my concerns at first. For me an orchestra is some sort of a controversial beast, that origins from another time and is hard to be tamed, yet it is one of the western culture's most admirable achievements, that should be taken along to the 21st century. 
As an artist the freedom to express my thoughts in the most honest and genuine way without being constricted by structures and other people's mindsets is very important to me. As a composer though, I am aware that my art is not able to become alive without the hard work and - in the best case - love of other musicians. The more musicians are needed for a piece, the more minds need to be convinced. And this puts a composer in a complicated position, because you need to write music that is comprehensible for the musicians, but at the same time this should not keep you from exploring and writing down unusual ideas. Especially in the case of composing for an orchestra, which needs quite some abilities in terms of craft, escaping from tradition is even more difficult, also taking into account the very restricted rehearsal time (1 hour in this case). This makes composing for orchestra an insanely humbling and challenging undertaking - which is exactly what I ended up loving about it!

What do flowers do at night?

Featured on Sonder House’s Recollections, Vol. 4 compilation, “Silver Fleece” is Blurstem’s first release since the 2019 debut album, Among the Oaks. It was recorded as a one-take improvisation on his friend John Hayes’ piano (who is also on the compilation) - a glimpse of peace and calm in our world’s chaotic times right now.

Recollections Vol. 4: https://open.spotify.com/album/55i8j01A0o78CsKI2OWrMT?si=roFyXMdiQdCR5gx33xeSbg

Blurstem - Silver Fleece

Hello,

Today marks the 88th day of the year, same number as the keys of the piano and likeminded piano people from all over the world, fight the recent health crisis by continuing to live their lives and by celebrating their beloved instrument. Many piano shows cancelled (mine included), many composers, tuners, movers, struggle to make ends meet, but "Piano Day" is here again, to keep the spirits up, and spread a message of hope. After all, music will never be quarantined! ;)
 
www.pianoday.org

This year I contribute with "The Treeman", my latest composition which I composed, performed & recorded only yesterday, at home. It is about this strange isolation, of not being able to move, like if we voluntarily grew roots on our feet, against our social nature. Like trees trapped away from their forest.

Stream / listen / watch / support  "The Treeman", here:

https://fanlink.to/the-treeman

artwork: Hvass & Hannibal (www.hvasshannibal.dk)

The Treeman

The Treeman (Piano Day 2020)

“Some of it reminds me of minimal music, the repetitions, the different layers that build up little by little, but she doesn’t hide behind them, she uses these techniques to express her own ideas. I find it wonderful how carefully she goes about it. When she’s onto an idea, she doesn’t just grab it, but approaches it carefully and gives the idea time to blossom.” – Tuula Simon, WDR 3, “3 von jetzt” (“3 of now”)

Sophia Jani is a German composer of contemporary classical music who takes a poetically minimalist approach to composition. She is the current Composer in Residence of the Dallas Symphony for the 2023/24 and 2024/25 seasons, as well as the 2023 Musical Artist in Residence of the Arvo Pärt Center and recipient of the APC Fellowship.

Her music has recently been performed by the New Jersey Symphony, the Munich Symphony, Bang on a Can, musicians of the Dallas Symphony, the Goldmund Quartet, vocal sextet Sjaella, and pianist Eunbi Kim, among others. She has also contributed music to successful film, theater, dance and album projects.

In 2021, Jani was awarded the prestigious Scholarship for Music by the City of Munich for her solo violin piece III. Her debut album of chamber works, 2022’s Music as a mirror, received a nomination for the German Classical Music Prize “Opus Klassik.” In June 2022, she co-composed and produced “Tulips” with violinist Darian Donovan Thomas, which was featured on !K7’s String Layers Vol. II. And in July 2022, she participated in the Edward T. Cone Composition Institute at Princeton University, where her composition “What Do Flowers Do at Night?” was performed by the New Jersey Symphony under conductor David Robertson.

In addition to her work as a composer, Jani is passionate about building a diverse and international community of artists that open-mindedly addresses the challenges notated music faces in the 21st century. To that end, she is one of the founders and artistic directors of “Feet Become Ears”, which is a platform that commissions, presents, and celebrates contemporary chamber music.

Jani holds degrees from the University of Augsburg, the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich and the Yale University School of Music where she studied with Martin Bresnick and David Lang, made possible through the generous support of the Fulbright foundation.

Flare

Sophia Jani

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