Alan Turing rode his bicycle.
He rode his bicycle to work.
He rode to Bletchely Park.
Riding, the chain on his bicycle comes off.
He rode his bicycle, counting - until the chain came off. He rode his bicycle, counting.
Counting, he stopped before the chain came off.
He fixed the chain.
Riding again, counting,
he rode his bicycle to Bletchley Park. Counting.

Alan Turing (1912-1954) was a British mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst, philosopher, computer scientist, mathematical biologist, and marathon and ultra distance runner. In 2012, Turing’s 1944 reports on his “speech system” Delilah, were finally pulled from the British National Archives and opened to the public. This functional machine, designed to scramble and descramble voice messages, was so far ahead of its time that it resembles the way we currently store music in digital format.

The musical construction of Delilah for solo flute was motivated by Turing’s unorthodox search for humanity or human intelligence within patterns and systems. It uses modules within a scheme of a triangular number sequences, applied to a metric grid of constant alternation between two and three. The music constantly resets, like the chain on Turing’s bicycle (one of the stories of Turing’s eccentricities related by his colleagues at Bletchley Park - headquarters of the code breaking brain-trust for Britain in WW II). It searches for answers to an unasked question, allowing this systematic approach to create subtle emotional shifts. Like Turing, it presents its puzzle playfully: in its persistence it becomes serious and then, as it begins to wallow in the process itself, lightens its mood again: a simple arc in a pattern of system, method, and discovery, it’s greatest motivation the joy of moving forward.

Delilah was commissioned by Mark Takeshi McGregor, with financial assistance from the Canada Council for the Arts

Delilah for solo flute by Michael Oesterle

Xenomorph for Flute and Percussion (rehearsal)

didascalia

Premiered on June 22, 2018 at the Lunenburg Academy of Music Performance (LAMP) by the Friction Quartet. Recorded & mixed by Stonehouse Sound.

Dance Suite 
I - Hesitate
II - Animate

Friction Quartet:
Kevin Rogers - 1st Violin
Otis Harriel - 2nd Violin
Taija Warbelow - Viola
Doug Machiz - Cello

Two Dances

Whale Song

Ramsey Sadaka - 파도 (Pado)  Recorded at Roy Barnett Recital Hall with Ramsey Sadaka conducting, Carlos Savall on Bass Clarinet, Devon Atkinson on Trombone, Jesse Guo on Percussion, Melody Chen on Violin.  Recording Engineer was David Simpson.

Ramsay Sadaka - 파도 (Pado)

Tired and Sick

FRANCISCO C. GOLDSCHMIDT
no voice (2019)
for amplified bass flute solo

*

لا صوتَ لي ولا أغاني
خلعت صوتي على وطن الرياح والشجر
الظلال أكثر تعانقا من الأهداب
وما من أغنيةٍ تضيء ظلماتِ الأعماق
لكن الأصداءَ تدقُّ صدر الليل
فأنام في صدري

-

Ich habe keine Stimme und keine Lieder
Meine Stimme ist ausgezogen in das Land der Winde und der Bäume
Die Schatten sind dichter als Wimpern
Und es ist kein Lied, das die Finsternisse der Tiefen erhellt
Doch sein Echo schlägt im Busen der Nacht
Und ich schlafe ein auf meiner Brust

-

no tengo voz ni cantos
mi voz se ha movido a la tierra de los vientos y los árboles
las sombras son más densas que las pestañas
y no hay canción que ilumine la oscuridad de lo profundo
pero su eco late en el seno de la noche
y me duermo en mi pecho

-

I have no voice and no songs
my voice has moved to the land of winds and trees
the shadows are denser than eyelashes
and there is no song that illuminates the darkness of the deep
but his echo beats in the bosom of the night
and I fall asleep on my chest

Saniya Sáleh (Syria, 1935-1985)

*

»no voice« was a composition commission by flutist Daniel Agi 
funded by the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation.

*

Performances:

February 12, 2022
Daniel Agi, bass flute / Lea Letzel, light installation 
Kulturverein Klassik Königswinter 

July 20, 2021, 20h
Daniel Agi, bass flute / Lea Letzel, light installation 
MusikZentrum Hannover

November 17, 2020, 20h
Musikzentrum Hannover
Daniel Agi, bass flute / Lea Letzel, light installation 
https://musik21niedersachsen.de/veranstaltung/musik21/sog

Februar 11, 2020, 20h 
Unerhörte Musik , BKA Theater, Berlin
Daniel Agi, bass flute / Lea Letzel, light installation
https://www.bka-theater.de/content_start.php?id=100

November 30, 2019 –Premiere
WERFT Festival Cologne , Alte Feuerwache Köln
Daniel Agi, bass flute / Lea Letzel, light installation
http://www.daniel-agi.de/en/sog/

*

Recorded at the Kunst-Station Sankt Peter Köln, 19.02.2020. 
Daniel Agi, bass flute 
Score: http://www.daniel-agi.de/daWP15/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/SOG-Notensammlung-Web-191217.pdf

*

no voice / for amplified bass flute

Performed by Stephanie Bell
www.stephaniebellflute.com

Dolce Tormento - Kaija Saariaho

Adrian Verdejo interviews composer Jordan Nobles and flutist Mark Takeshi McGregor for episode 1 of Redshift Radio. 

 They discuss the origins of Redshift Music Society, milestone concerts and memorable events, and the outgrowth of Redshift Records. 

The co-founders of Redshift discuss their recent activities, including the Unaccompanied online concert series, and future plans amidst the changing landscape of the cultural scene in Canada. 

Tracks Featured
Air - Jordan Nobles, Composer
        Mark Takeshi McGregor, 16 Bass Flutes

Grace Period - Jeffery Ryan, Composer
                          Liam Hockley, Clarinet



http://www.jordannobles.com
http://www.marktakeshimcgregor.com
http://jeffreyryan.com/
http://liamhockleyclarinet.com/

http://musiccentrebc.ca/unaccompanied/

http://redshiftradio.org

Interview with Jordan Nobles and Mark Takeshi McGregor

The composer writes:
"I have used different kinds of timbre to structure Tumbleweed. I wanted to exploit the flute’s potential for making sudden timbral changes. Furthermore, I’ve explored the boundary between breath-noise and melody-tone as I believed that it could support further investigation. This piece also tells a brief story about a journey. The seed of the tumbleweed flies away on the wind, travelling a long way, but finding no one at the end. "                                                2019

Xu Yifan studied piano and musicology with Wu Chenbin, Ruan Yueyang, Ni lin, and Chen Xinfeng. Then he studied composition with Guo Zurong and Zhu Shirui. After finishing his Bachelor and Master degrees at Fujian Normal University, he is now studying as a PhD candidate majoring in composition at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music.

'Tumbleweed' by Xu Yifan for solo flute, performed by Laura Chislett

Described as a “mind-blowing” musician of “huge physical energy” (Times Colonist), flutist Mark Takeshi McGregor is one of Canada’s leading interpreters of classical, contemporary, and experimental music. As a soloist, chamber musician, and interdisciplinary artist, Mark has performed extensively across five continents, including appearances at Vancouver New Music Society, Little Chamber Music Series That Could, Innovations en Concert (Montreal), GroundSwell (Winnipeg), Honolulu Festival, Internationale ADEvantgarde-Festival (Munich), the Melos-Ethos Festival (Bratislava), Núcleo Música Nova’s International Symposium of New Music (Curitiba, Brazil), and the 2017 ISCM World New Music Days (Vancouver). An outspoken advocate of new music, Mark is the principal flute of the Aventa Ensemble in Victoria, flutist of the Vancouver-based Tiresias Duo with pianist Rachel Kiyo Iwaasa, and flutist of the McGregor-Verdejo Duo with guitarist Adrian Verdejo. McGregor has given many local and world premieres, and considers the commissioning of new works by contemporary composers to be a cornerstone of his work as a musician.

Delilah for solo flute by Michael Oesterle

Mark Takeshi McGregor

Related tracks