These 4 pieces come together to make up a cycle 'deeper than all roses' commissioned by Ohio Northern University, USA.  The full piece is scored for symphony orchestra, choir, 4 vocal soloists and rock band.  This demo recording features the fabulous voices of Zoe Swindells and Aniko Toth, the searing guitars of Samuel Jones and Nicholas Rogers, the profound bass of Tom Miller and the beats of Benjamin Gow.  Me on laptop/synths.  All produced and mastered by the very talented Samuel Jones.

deeper than all roses

This is a preview of a section of my latest composition 'Veiled Bamboo, Swift Water ... Boundless.'

Commissioned, premiered and recorded by Rarescale - Carla Rees (quarter-tone alto flute) and Sarah Watts (Contra-Bass Clarinet.  The electronics programmed and rendered by Stephen Davismoon.

The full piece will be commercially released later in 2023 - watch this space.

Veiled Bamboo, Swift Water ... Boundless

This piece features the fabulous voices of Zoe Swindells and Aniko Toth, the searing guitars of Samuel Jones and Nicholas Rogers, the profound bass of Tom Miller and the beats of Benjamin Gow.  Me on laptop/synths.  All produced and mastered by the very talented Samuel Jones.

Dawn

I Carry Your Heart

Over Silent Waters

Somewhere I Have Never Travelled

Thrones

a piece for two pianos after the piece by Boulez (Dérive iib) 2015 duration 8’.  The recording here features the pianists Lauryna Sableviciute and Nicholas Ashton.

Dérive

The Live Set that I played for Edge Hill University Dance Students who performed brilliantly in Vilnius on 29th April 2017.

Getting To A Better Place Vilnius 29th April 2017

I composed the two companion pieces for piccolo ‘mist/…branches against a white sky’ during 2004 – started in the late Winter and early Spring in Kedainiai (Lithuania), then Glasgow and finished them during an idyllic summer of work and recovery in Tuscany.  

The overriding metaphor for these two movements is bearing witness to the gradual emanation and motion of life – from the harsh icy mists of a Lithuanian winter slowly, inevitably giving way to gentle tendrils of life.

By 2003 I had come to know the pioneering flute work of Roberto Fabbriciani very well – in fact by this time I was lucky enough to be able to count on him as a close friend.  I was honoured by his invitation to compose a new work for solo piccolo.  

Two important compositional models for me were the seminal piccolo works Nidi by Franco Donatoni (1979) and Superscriptio by Brian Ferneyhough (1981) – each commissioned and premiered by Fabbriciani and each displayed the mercurial virtuosity that is achievable across its keys.

Many of the colourations of mist/branches against a white sky:  recall the many colourations of the works brought to us through the extraordinary musicianship of Roberto Fabbriciani.  

I am delighted that these works will at last (early 2018) be released on the Tactus label to hopefully reach a broader audience.  

They are dedicated with great affection to Roberto and Luisella.

Mist/Branches Against A White Sky

Rains Of Steel I - Waiting

Rains Of Steel IV - At Day's End

What Do I Do For A Living

I Try To Take Up Little Space

An immersive sound installation.  Where the audience sit beneath a large pyramid of speakers to experience the myriad spatialisation of many thousands of sample-recordings of the Arno River in Italy.  From the Appenino Mountains; through the Arno Basin (Florence and Pisa) and on to the Mediterranean Sea. 

Towards the waters edge

A demo version of soundscape composition realised in collaboration with the fantastic dance artist Julia Griffin and the poet/movement artist Scott Thurston.  All of the sounds are derived from their movement, speech and breath.

Getting out of one's own way

On Friday 23rd March 2018 my work Wreathed in Clover was performed by Oklahoma City University’s Percussion Ensemble who commissioned the work - I'm very grateful to them for the performance and this live recording.  The piece is dedicated to the memory, spirit and courage of the 369th US Infantry Unit.

I began composing Wreathed in Clover during the Summer of 2017.  During recent years I have realised a number of works commemorating centennials of the First World War very much from a European perspective (Somme, Passchendaele…) however, given that this was to be an American commission, I turned my research to US involvement in the Great War and discovered the extraordinary story of the Harlem Hellfighters … along with the incredible legacy of the musician James Reese Europe (1881-1919) who led the marching band of the 369th and introduced his very individual style of proto jazz to Europe.  If you'd like to read more about it then visit my blog post: https://wordpress.com/post/stevedavismoon.com/303

Wreathed In Clover

Lancelot’s Love Eternal

All of the source sounds for this work were gathered at Martin Mere – one of the most important Wetland Bird Sanctuaries in the UK.  On the morning that I captured these recordings - during the Autumn of 2017 – there were in excess of 15,000 geese, ducks and other birds assembled for feeding before departing for warmer climes.

Martin Mere is also caught up in English myth and legend, it is thought by some to be the site of where the ‘Lady of the Lake’ first appeared to Sir Lancelot one of King Arthur’s knights of the round table.  Some also think that it is the burial place of his heart.  As the legend runs – Lancelot fell in love with King Arthur’s wife Guinevere, an unstoppable love causing great pain as well as profound delight.  

When listening to the piece I invite you to close your eyes, imagine the early morning mist as it rises from the lake, while the assembled birds give voice to the song of love to the spectral presence of Lancelot and Guinevere. 

For my son – Lance.

Lancelot's Love Eternal Bologna April 2018

Here is an initial mix of my final piece for 2018 – Territorial Drifts from the Brow.  I played small parts of it during my visit to Tomsk in November and I played a version of it at the Armistice100 Event I curated for the Museum of Liverpool in November 2018.

All of the sounds in it relate in one way or another to those that served with the territorial battalions of the King’s Regiment Liverpool during the First World War including the bells of Saint Francois Xavier, Liverpool; pedal organ notes from the same church; birdsong from Everton Park (Everton Brow, Liverpool); feet stomping on the floor of the former mess hall of the 6th Volunteer Battalion of the King's Regiment Liverpool at 57 Everton Road; the sea along the North Lancashire coastline; the sea at Ostend; the sounding of the last post at the menin gate; Bells from Albert; bells of respite at Poperinge; the Ancre River in the region of the Somme; rain by the banks of the Ancre in the Somme Region; countless grains of sound from an 18lb field gun and Lee-Enfield and Lewis weaponry;  a Belgian Zither and German Accordion both buried for a century in the mud at Passchendaele and the organ in the Lady Chapel at Liverpool cathedral all playing strains of the KRL march ‘Here’s to the Maiden’

We will remember them, irrespective of nationality.

Territorial Drifts from the Brow

I went on a sound walk early on Saturday morning to record the surrounding dawn chorus.  I offer it here as something of a spring gift for those of you that can't get near to a park etc as we are in social isolation

Prestwich Clough Dawn Chorus

Stephen Davismoon was born in London. He completed undergraduate studies in music at the University of Southampton, specializing in composition with Ric Graebner and performance, Classical Guitar with Antonio Albanes. He then went on to complete his Doctorate in Composition at the University of Edinburgh, studying with Nigel Osborne.

He is currently Dean School of Creative and Performing Arts at Liverpool Hope University.

He has had a professional composition career for more than 25 years, and has written music for a broad range of ensembles and situations – from solo pieces through to works for full orchestra, with and without voices. He has also written a number of live electronic/interactive; electroacoustic and sound-art installation pieces.

He has had performances in Brazil, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Holland, Iceland, Italy, Lithuania, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, UK, Ukraine, Uruguay and the USA. 

He has worked with many notable musicians, institutions and festivals along the way: BBC Philharmonic Orchestra; Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra's Ensemble 10/10; Roberto Fabbriciani; Rohan de Saram; Die Neuevocalsolisten; Scottish Opera; Centro Tempo Reale; Das Experimentalstudio der Heinrich Strobel Stiftung; Richard Craig; Tara Boumann; Luciane Cardassi, CCMIX Studios; Edinburgh International Festival – ‘Behind the Scenes’; Martyn Brabbins; Chamber Group of Scotland; Le Champs Libre; Ensemble Linea; Brake Drum Percussion Ensemble; The Edinburgh Quartet; Klangwerktage Hamburg; Finestre sul Novecento; The Tampere Conservatoire Symphony Orchestra.

Stephen Davismoon

Pinned to spotlight

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