Concert recording of world premiere, 5/18/83 at Hallwalls in Buffalo, NY.  Scored for two violins and percussion (vibraphone + glockenspiel).

I wrote Cold Spring in 1981 while studying for my doctorate with Morton Feldman at University at Buffalo. One day, Feldman played a tape recording of Christian Wolff's Duo for Violins for our composition seminar. I was entranced by the work's austere beauty, and intrigued by the way Wolff traded a handful of pitches between two like instruments. This deceptively simple device suggested new formal and expressive possibilities for my own music. In short order, I wrote two pivotal works incorporating a similar technique: Aerial, for two clarinets and piano, and Cold Spring, for two violins with vibraphone and glockenspiel. 

The title refers to a chilly season in Buffalo, and also one of the city’s neighborhoods. Cold Spring is dedicated to Christian Wolff.

Cold Spring

Marina Herlop - shaolin mantis
Label: PAN
Cat.No. PAN 128S2
Format: DL
Release Date: 28 March 2022
Purchase: https://pan.lnk.to/shaolinmantis

Second single from the upcoming debut album by Marina Herlop on PAN. Composed, produced and recorded by Marina Herlop. 

Ukulele and ending synth: Adri González
Mix: James Ginzburg, Marina Herlop
Master: Joker

Prypiat

Marina Herlop - shaolin mantis (PAN 128S2)

Quatuor Diotima
Live recording: April 1st, 2022
Genève, Festival Archipel

Diaphane

Transatlantic Tides

An elegy for the newborn daughter of two dear friends of mine who passed away unexpectedly.

Andrew McIntosh, violin
Derek Stein, cello
Vicki Ray, piano

Score and more info at nickwritesmusic.com/work/color-in-the-stillness-for-eliana/

Color In The Stillness (For Eliana)

Premiered on 26 April 2023 by the Explore Ensemble at the Royal College of Music, London.

http://explore-ensemble.com

A Separate Peace (2023)

Premiered by the Royal College of Music Philharmonic on 25 January 2024, conducted by Natalia Luis-Bassa. 

Winner of the 2022 RCM Concerto Competition, composition category. 

Program note:

"Living  four thousand miles from my home in Indiana, I sometimes experience brief, intense pangs of nostalgia and homesickness, prompted at random by seemingly mundane things: the comforting smell of autumnal leaves while I am out for a walk; the sound of train horns in the distance. It is as if I am falling down a well, a flurry of memories flooding my mind, an overwhelming desire to be back home at that moment. I become acutely aware of the distance between myself and my home, and the people there. It is no longer just a physical distance, however, but has evolved to be a personal one, as the indelible experience of living far from home alters one’s relationship to it. Home becomes a confusing source of both familiarity and bewilderment, revealing the chasm between one’s former and present selves. I feel very moved by these bouts of homesickness, and also feel a bit of pride as I am reminded of how much I have grown over the years. 

When I’m reminded of home is an attempt to capture these moments, zooming in on them, sitting with the feelings for a bit. The material is sparse, with a simple repeating motif in the piano (my primary instrument since age five) initiating a gradually intensifying series of waves throughout the orchestra. These periodic waves are coloured by focusing on the timbre of different instrument groups and pairings as I introduce more pitch classes into the growing expanse of sound. Eventually the horns (my secondary instrument) take over the piano’s motif as the orchestra swells and reaches its culmination in a widely voiced chord consisting of eleven of the twelve tones (omitting D-natural, so that the pitches D-flat and E-flat are unimpeded from grounding the harmony and resolving the piece)."

–JWG II

Streaming also available on SoundCloud: 

For more information, visit jgriffithmusic.com

When I'm reminded of home (2022)

Charlotte and Laura speak with sound artist, composer and performer Seth Cluett about his new works for TAK, 'irreversible histories of disturbance' and 'the reformation of assemblages.' The conversation includes thoughts about making music at the pace of nature, alternative notation systems, and custom-made instruments. 

We will premiere these works on Sunday September 22 at 8pm at Roulette Intermedium in Brooklyn, it would be great to see you there!

for tickets to the concert: 
https://roulette.org/event/seth-cluett-tak-ensemble/

to donate to the TAK Editions Podcast: 
https://donorbox.org/tak-ensemble

more info about Seth Cluett:
https://sethcluett.com/

more info about TAK:
https://www.takensemble.com/ 

download the track at the beginning and end of this episode:
https://amplify2020.bandcamp.com/album/acts-within-time

042. Seth Cluett

aeolian dust

Dante Boon, piano

Anastassis Philippakopoulos, piano piece (2019): first performance

KM28, Berlin
December 2, 2019

Anastassis Philippakopoulos - piano piece (2019) / Dante Boon -  Duo (2h) (2017)

My Loves Are in America by Carolyn Chen

A composer whose music explores the interplay of sound and silence, form and memory, intention and process. Possessing “an instinct for sensuous color-blends” (Buffalo News), Swartz creates musical landscapes that evolve unpredictably as they move through time, like cloud formations across the sky.

Cold Spring

Steven Swartz, composer

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