for 8 flutes, 3 oboes, 8 clarinets, 3 bassoons, 2 saxes, 4 horns, 6 trumpets, 6 trombones, 4 tubas, 5 percussion, piano, harp, strings, mezzo soprano and speaking voice.
Performed by Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Symphony Orchestra on 16 June 2023, conducted by Daniele Rosina.

For John Baldessari and/or Gary Lineker

In Meandering Song No.3 a meandering melodic line travels around the ensemble. The melody moves in and out of instrumental ranges facilitating changes to instrumentation as the melody passes through the playing capabilities of the different instrumentalists. Musicians are encouraged to listen and follow the line as it travels around the ensemble so that they are able to join it when it re-enters their instrumental range. From the 4th repetitions new elements are introduced to develop the texture including sung text taken from my poorly attempted transcriptions of local council meetings in Stevenage Cambridgeshire, interviews with local people from Stevenage and old Pathé films about Stevenage.

Meandering Song No.3

Performed by BBC National Orchestra of Wales.

EATING THE SUN

weav (bass flute, bass clarinet and piano)
composed by James Layton (2024)
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Cikada Trio: 
Kenneth Karlsson (piano)
Anne Karine Hauge (bass flute)
Rolf Borch (bass clarinet)

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artwork: Anni Albers

weav [2024]

SCORE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kvS-m_pzVs

For Samuel Pradalie

Composed for a pianist friend to play whilst she is pregnant :-)))))))))

SCORE VIDEO:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUkcWhG_k-0

Womb Music

Commissioned and performed by Terra Invisus, released on their 2024 album "Visions".

Alex Lyon, bass clarinet; Rebecca Burden, cello; Milda Vitartaitė, piano. 

Trio: after an étude by Hélène de Montegeroult, composer (2023)

Recollection explores memory, and how music can act as a portal to connect us with our past, transporting us back to specific places, or pivotal moments in our past.

Recollection

This piece comes from the final movement of my larger string quartet An Ontological Study of the Paradigms in Advertising Media within Capitalist Societies for string quartet

The composition presents a strange ritual alternating very quiet music with lyrics scribbled down from half remembered adverts and things heard on the radio. 

The piece ends by dissolving into the either and a held chord slowly undulates. 

An Ending for string quartet

The text for the piece is taken from The Ruin, an Old English poem which depicts a fallen Roman city. The poem is part of the Exeter Book, a large collection of verses and riddles which dates from the 10th century. The only existing copy of the book was damaged in a fire, affecting what survives of The Ruin. In light of this, I only used extracts of the poem from which words have been lost. In a similar way, some of the musical material has been dismantled to reflect this.

A huge thanks to Orkest de Ereprijs, Wim Boerman, Ana Maria Lopes, Carolina Luís, Francisca Branco, Rob Vermeulen, Martijn Padding, Richard Ayres, Ed Bennett, Anna Korsun, Silvia Borzelli, Guus Janssen, Georgia Denham, Ryan Probert, Paul Zaba, Robert Crehan, Robin Morton, Celia Swart, Paolo Griffin, Dani Blanco Albert, Hugo Bell, Sam Milan, Joe Rhodes and Stephen Plummer.

Performed by Orkest de Ereprijs, Ana Maria Lopes, Carolina Luís, and Francisca Branco on the 1st of March 2019

Conducted by Rob Vermeulen

Ruin (2019)

'Y Tŷ Unnos 5' by J.P.A. Falzone, played by Morgan Evans-Weiler (violin) and J.P.A. Falzone (piano & vibraphone), from the double CD 'Chordioid', featuring one disc each of compositions by the two performers.

J.P.A. Falzone 'Y Tŷ Unnos 5'

Samuel Pradalie is a composer whose musical output consists of naïve, witty pieces, focusing on an aesthetic of Brechtian Alienation and the uncanny. Drawing heavily from the surrealist tradition, particularly the anti-virtuosic approach of Erik Satie his aesthetic language consists of awkward interruptions, repetitious materials, surreal thematic dialogues, fragrantly sentimental harmonies and kitschy melodies as well as experimenting with endurance. His music draws also draws on a number of extra musical influences including Montage techniques from Soviet Cinema, and DIY aesthetics. Samuel has worked with a number of ensembles and organisations including the Amatis Trio, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, Lietzeorchester Berlin, Tête á Tête opera Festival and Borough New Music and has been performed at such diverse venues as the Rundfunk Hall Berlin, Blackheath Halls London, West Road Theatre Cambridge, St Georges Bristol.

An Ending for string quartet

Samuel Pradalie

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