Conductor: Darren Bloom 
Performers: Cambridge University Music Society

'Images from a Shrouded Screen’ is a set of six small, evocative, and often economic movements that look to vividly express images as well as contain a number of references and allegories to other works of classical music:

I.	‘Lever du Jour’: The title is evocative of the impressionistic sunset found in Ravel’s ‘Lever du Jour’ from ‘Daphnis et Chloë’. This movement looks to create a musical sunrise by moving from the long languid lines and murky sonorities of the contrabassoon and bass clarinet at the start of the movement, to the frenetic intensity of the rapid, rhythmically contrasting material, and high tessitura at the end of the movement.

II.	‘Murmuring’: An anxious dialogue ensues between the trio. Fragmented and communicative material in the bassoon and flute is juxtaposed against the cor anglaise’s lyrical melodic line. This material soon reaches a climax and the power dynamic between the instruments is shifted. From bar 19 the flute offers drone like accompaniment to the ostinato figuration in the bassoon and cor anglaise.
	
III.	‘Lament’: The ground bass and opening melodic phrase from Purcell’s ‘Dido’s Lament’ serve as the foundation of this movement’s thematic material. ‘Lament’ consists of a single melodic line, which through precise instrumental doubling, and carefully selected extended techniques, i.e air tones and flutter tonguing, moves through a number of contrasting sonorities as it travels through the movement.  

IV.	‘Harvest Dance’: Looks to capture the energetic intensity of folk dance. Percussive extended techniques are used to create angular, frenzied dance like rhythms, that become more impassioned as the movement goes on. Later glissandi in the french horn and jet whistle technique in the flute are introduced to offer passionate ululations to the texture. This material is juxtaposed against a secondary, more lyrical theme, which is given an ethereal quality from the bass clarinets multiphonics. The harmony in this movement is characterised by its use of a limited set of pitches.

V.	‘Goat Song’: Named after the English translation of Birtwistle’s ‘Tragedia’. ‘Goat Song’ parodies the ritualistic procedures and dithyrambic rhythms of Birtwistle’s music, whilst offsetting them with an awkwardness created by anti-climactic dynamics and pauses.

VI.	‘Le Coucher du Soleil’: This movement is a mirror image of ‘Lever du Jour’ moving from intense, bright material to the long dark lines at the end of the movement. Fragmented snippets of earlier thematic material are heard at bar 11. This is inspired by the effect of light being refracted at the equator, which creates flecks of green as the sun sets.

Images From A Shrouded Screen

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)
___________________________________________

Cikada Trio: 
Kenneth Karlsson (piano)
Anne Karine Hauge (bass flute)
Rolf Borch (bass clarinet)

___________________________________________

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)
___________________________________________

written for and performed by Tomas Laukvik Nannestad
11.12.24 | Scenehuset, Oslo (NO)
___________________________________________

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.

Images From A Shrouded Screen

Samuel Pradalie

Related tracks