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

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

in nomine (solo theorbo)
composed by James Layton (2024)
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written for and performed by Tomas Laukvik Nannestad
11.12.24 | Scenehuset, Oslo (NO)
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artwork: Robert Rauschenberg

in nomine - for solo theorbo [2024]

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

An elliptical and enigmatic new release by Mark Vernon. Named after the microscopic crystals of calcium carbonate within our inner ear that can cause vertigo when dislodged, the album has an equally disorientating effect as all sense of time is dissolved in its delicate folds. Otoconia is an abstract and deeply immersive sonic experience crafted through the intricate interplay of field recordings and the EMS Synthi 100 synthesizer.

Known for his evocative soundscapes and narrative-driven compositions, Vernon has ventured into uncharted territory with this album. Unlike anything else in his oeuvre this fifty-plus minute work is an immersive, hypnotic sound bath of frequencies and tones. The deft use of ambient textures and abstract sonic gestures draws listeners into a liminal state, offering a meditative, introspective listening experience.

Composed using the legendary EMS Synthi 100, the basis of the piece is formed from processed field recordings run through a chain of the Synthi's filters and effects. For the most part the piece was mixed live with some tinkering and adjustments after the fact. A significant departure from the work with found tapes and audio archaeology that Vernon has become known for, we hope you enjoy losing yourself in this sublimely mysterious musical mirage.

Released on Greek experimental label Granny in a limited edition of 100 CDs.

Composed and recorded by Mark Vernon · Mastered by Yannis Tsirikoglou · Artwork by Yorgos Vourlidas


Otoconia (excerpt) (Granny Records, 2024)

Decades before 2001, I conceived this piece based on the polyrhythm 9:11 and the arithmetic fact that (9/11)^2 = 2/3 (very nearly).  I never realized the piece back in the 1970s when I thought it through, because I didn't have access to the technology that would make it possible.  Lejaron Hiller offered to help!  I never followed up.  So it's been on my to-do list for about half a century, no exaggeration.  

I working on an orchestrated version, but I quite like how this "piano sketch" came out, so I'm planning to release both.

The underlying structure is related to my piece Primetime for two marimbas (which itself was first conceived as a piece for two carillons, and I have never quite given up on the hope of someday hearing it like that.

I know that this is a long piece so....  Listen to it all.  Listen to part of it.  Listen to it all but not in one sitting.  Use it as background music if that suits you.  Dance to it if you feel it.  Whatever works for you.
 


9/11 for 19TET piano

'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.