Contemporary Instrumental Music

Jose

. conducted by Massimo Mazzeo
. recorded at Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, September 28th 2012
. Festival Jovens Músicos 2012
. awarded at SPA/Antena 2 Composition Contest 2012

o que será do rio without John Cage? - Divino Sospiro baroque orchestra

Written in 6 days for the ARCO Composition Workshop. 
Performed by Ensemble Multilateral & Tana Quartett, 
conducted by Léo Warynski.

Prozessor 0.1 (2022)

Poems by Sam Riviere.
Performed by Riot Ensemble during Klangspuren Schwaz Festival, 2022

Riot Ensemble:
Klarinette: Horia Dumitrache, Alt-Saxophon: Amy Green, Schlagzeug: Sam Wilson Piano: Siwan Rhys, Violine: Sarah Saviet, Viola: Stephen Upshaw, Cello: Colin Alexander, Kontrabass: Marianne Schofield
Dirigent/Ensemble-Leiter: Aaron Holloway-Nahum

infinite heaven (2022)

"I could not think of thee as piecèd rot"
for soprano and orchestra

conductor - Magnus Lindberg
soprano - Inês Simões
Gulbenkian Orchestra

composer - Nuno da Rocha
words by - James Joyce & Fernando Pessoa

Sleep now, O sleep now, 
   O you unquiet heart! 
A voice crying 'Sleep now' 
   Is heard in my heart. 

The voice of the winter 
   Is heard at the door. 
O sleep, for the winter 
   Is crying 'Sleep no more.' 

My kiss will give peace now 
   And quiet to your heart - 
Sleep on in peace now, 
   O you unquiet heart! 
(James Joyce)

I could not think of thee as piecèd rot,
Yet such thou wert, for thou hadst been long dead;
Yet thou liv'dst entire in my seeing thought
And what thou wert in me had never fled.
Nay, I had fixed the moments of thy beauty -
Thy ebbing smile, thy kiss's readiness,
And memory had taught my heart the duty
To know thee ever at that deathlessness.
But when I came where thou wert laid, and saw
The natural flowers ignoring thee sans blame,
And the encroaching grass, with casual flaw,
Framing the stone to age where was thy name,
    I knew not how to feel, nor what to be
    Towards thy fate's material secrecy.
(Fernando Pessoa)

premiere at ENOA's Concert - Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, 12th September 2014.

recorded by Antena 2.
(photo by Márcia Lessa)

I could not think of thee as piecèd rot - for soprano and orchestra

"Philippina"
double concerto for Trumpet, Accordion and Wind Orchestra

composer: Nuno da Rocha

trumpet: Marco Silva
accordion: João Barradas

conductor: Alberto Roque
orchestra: ESML Wind Orchestra

premiere
7th june 2014, Vianna da Motta auditorium, Lisbon - Portugal

audio
recorded by: Alexandre Gonçalves, André Alves, Martim Souto
edited by: André Barroso

"Philippina" - double concerto for Trumpet, Accordion and Wind Orchestra

RESTART for orchestra
(commission by Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian)
Nuno da Rocha

Gulbenkian Orchestra 
dir. Joana Carneiro

recorded by RTP / Antena 2 (9th October 2015)
(premiered on 8th October 2015 at Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian)

audio edition: João Dionísio

program note:

RESTART é uma metáfora sobre a anarquia que percorre a minha cabeça. RESTART representa
a minha liberdade, de fazer, de pensar e de partilhar com os outros. De viver com os outros. É uma pergunta. E talvez não responda a nada. Eu creio que talvez seja uma afirmação política. O pensamento é anarca. Esta partitura é anarca. Embora uma partitura nunca seja anarca. Mas esta é quase anarca. RESTART é um pequeno coral de Bach numa tela do Francis Bacon. RESTART é uma tela do Francis Bacon que ele nunca chegou a pintar. São os músicos da Orquestra Gulbenkian que fazem a RESTART.
É deles. O primeiro acorde é deles e o último é de todos nós. RESTART foi escrita para o reiniciar deste palco nesta temporada. Nesta casa. RESTART é uma agressão à palavra, à linguagem verbal. Esta linguagem inventou a religião. Separou o Homem. A música só-música não.
É anarca como eu.

RESTART for orchestra

para comprar o disco / to buy this album:
nunodarocha.bandcamp.com
www.mpmp.pt

"Mesmo que faça frio"
Ciclo de Canções para 8 vozes femininas e Piano Preparado / Songs for 8 female voices and Prepared Piano

album "Mesmo que faça frio"
Nuno da Rocha's works for Children's Choir

Instituto Gregoriano de Lisboa Children's Choir
conductor. Filipa Palhares

piano. Pedro Ferro
voices. Carolina de Andrade, Madalena d'Oliveira Martins, Sara Megre, Mariana Rodrigues, Raquel Rebordão, Ana Varela, Rita Miranda, Beatriz Ferreira

text by J. Tolentino Mendonça

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production. Tangente
audio. Cláudio Carvalho | Estúdio SantaRosa | Underdog Music Solutions 
cover & layouts. Guilherme Campos Gil

recorded at Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa (June 2013, October 2016)

supported by 'Antena 2' and 'mpmp'

Mesmo que faça frio

For two Oboes and Double Bass.

Recording performed by Antje Thierbach, Özge Inci and Gabriel Takano.
First performed at Zoom+Focus, 10 February 2019.

Program Notes:

'Gyaling' (also gya ling, gya-ling, jahlin, jah-lin, jahling, jah-ling, rGya-gling) is a double reed instrument of Tibetan music. It is played in the Tibetan monasteries, especially during the puja, which is a daily practice of religious reverence, and the welcoming of lamas and rinpoches.

The instrument belongs to the family of kegeloboen, as well as the Indian shehnai and the Chinese suona. It's played always with circular breathing and produces a high, shrill sound. In the invocation rituals of Tibetan Buddhist monasteries, wind instruments always play in pairs.

red gyaling's road (2018) for two oboes and double bass

for Bass Clarinet, Bassoon, Tuba, Percussion, Live Electronics and Fixed Media
-performed by ensemble ilinx – B.Cl.: Aaron Schilling, Bsn: Carlotta Brendel, Tba: Jörgen Roggenkamp, Perc.: Leonard Weber
-conductor: Miguel Pérez Iñesta
-electronics: Jakob Böttcher, Ole Jana

puls|insomn|asystol

Locked – In
for 8 solo-voices 2012/13 (Version A)
(Text: Lisa Spalt)

Version a / Version b

Locked–In als Körperempfindung, schier unerträglich in der Vorstellung, ist gekoppelt mit Vorstellungen auch klanglicher Natur, die ein Paradoxon in sich einschließen und dieses erlebbar machen: Ich will mich ausdrücken und kann es nicht, ich will etwas sagen, aber mir versagt die Stimme. Das Nicht-Ausdrücken-Können wird zum Ausdruck, wird zur ganz besonderen Form der Mitteilung. Dieses Paradoxon ist eines, das unsere gesamte Kommunikation bestimmt: Ich kann nie wissen, ob ich meinem Gegenüber das, was ich sagen will auch in der Form mitteilen kann, dass diese Mitteilung auch adäquat verstanden wird. Je komplexer diese Mitteilungen werden, desto weniger sicher kann ich sein, dass ich mich ausdrücken kann, dass ich ausdrücke, was mich bewegt, und auch, wie meine Mitteilungen verstanden werden.
Diese Körperempfindung, gekoppelt mit der aus der Stimme idiomatisch entwickelten Klanglichkeit, die dieser Körperempfindung entsprechen, sind der Ausgangspunkt für die Text- und die Musikebene. Beide Medien entwickeln das Thema ihnen entsprechend, eigenständig und dennoch aneinander gekoppelt durch die Kongruenz von Erscheinungsformen des vokalen Materials. Beide Ebenen arbeiten dabei an je ihrem Ausgangspunkt in transformatorischer Absicht und in gegenseitiger Reaktion aufeinander. Es wird eine dritte Ebene angesteuert, in der Musik und Text sich so notwenig verbinden, erreicht durch die Bearbeitung jeder Ebene, sodass das sich-nicht-ausdrücken-können zu einem spezifisch künstlerischen Ausdruck wird, von dem vielleicht nur gesagt werden kann, dass Etwas (bestimmtes aber unbestimmbares) sich ausdrückt.

C.G. 5/13

locked-In – for 8 voices (version A)

Diamante de "4 Miniaturas Litográficas" / Diamond from "4 Lithographic Miniatures"
Eneko Lacalle Berasategi
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Intérpretes / Performers:

· Saxofón / saxophone - Joe Hooworth-Smith
· Fagot / bassoon - Sabina Aran
· Percusión / percussion - Javier Delgado
· Piano / piano - Paula Rocosa
· Acordeón / accordion - Laura Almiñana
· Contrabajo / double bass - Álvaro Orcajo
· Director / conductor - Ferran Gallart

Premiered and recorded live at ESMUC the 16/02/2021
YouTube link for Live Performance: youtu.be/vMkCET_4fq8

locked-In – for 8 voices (version A)

Clemens Gadenstätter