JBRH 026

Contemporary Classical Women Composers

Tansy Davies - Spine

An Unexpected Light for solo violin, string ensemble and percussion (2003)
Sadie Harrison 

An Unexpected Light explores the folk musics from four countries, Lithuania, Georgia, Khojent (now Russian Ferghana) and Armenia, and is intended as a comment on the gradual transformation of musical cultures that once thrived in all their variety in the early Twentieth Century.
The concerto opens with a harvesting song, Pute Vejas, from South Aukstaitiya, a plaintive melody which recurs only on the solo violin, linking the two main transcriptions of the work. The first of these is a transparent, dreamlike version of a ghostly song from Khojent called Soki Sini Khorosh, the second is a lively and highly virtuosic, whirling Lezghinka dance from Tiflis in Georgia. The work closes with echoes of these musics overlaid by an Armenian song from Alexandropol - Alagyaz Badzr sar E (Alagyaz is a high mountain) and A-a, a-a, Mazulyte, a beautiful lullaby, also from South Aukstaitiya.
Surrounding these folk musics are passages of aggressive modernist writing, dark and rhythmic where every instrument is treated as a soloist. The conjunction of apparently unrelated musical styles creates the structure of the concerto and acts as a metaphor for the struggle between cultures.
The score is prefaced with a lyrical text by the Russian poetess Marina Tsvetaeva, taken from her ‘Poem of the End’. It expresses the pain of loss whilst rejoicing in the beauty of a song which shines despite the darkness. This provides a perfect analogy for my own work, giving the concerto its title, An Unexpected Light. The piece has a dual dedication, to Rusne Mataityte, Donatas Katkus and the Saint Christopher Chamber Orchestra who premiered the work, and to my daughter, Freya. (SH)

..as stars rise often and go out again..
so many eyes have risen and died out
in front of these eyes of mine.

and yet no such song have
I heard in the darkness of night before..
here, on the ribs of the singer.


[The work received its first performace in the City Hall, Vilnius, Lithuania on 20 February 2004, performed by Rusne Mataityte (vln) Donatus Katkus (cond) and the St. Christopherus Chamber Orchestra of Vilnius. The work was commissioned as part of the Orchestra’s 20th Anniversary Gala concert and was broadcast on Lithuanian Television and Radio on 26 February 2004.
The work was released on NMC in Spring 2007 alongside other related chamber works by Sadie Harrison.]

An Unexpected Light - concerto for violin, percussion and string orchestra

THIS IS WHY PEOPLE O.D. ON PILLS (2004)

Composer: Helen Grime
Artists: Hallé | Jamie Phillips

Helen Grime: Night Songs

Night Songs

Extract from Errollyn Wallen's fabulous/fiendish, earthy/ethereal cello concerto - written for me, released on NMC Records 2016.

Errollyn Wallen Cello Concerto (extract2)

"Apart" is for 2 sets of amplified chromatic tuning forks.  Commissioned by and premiered at the Hopkins Center at Dartmouth University - April 20, 2012.

There are no synthesized sounds in this piece, only amplified acoustic sounds.  

Oscar Bettison - Apart

On the Impossibility of Reflection

for bassoon with distortion pedal and amplifier

axeman

Wet Ink Winter Chamber Concert - Music from hcmf// 2019
December 13, 2019 @ St Peter's Chelsea

Kristina Wolfe: A Mere Echo of Aristoxenus (2019)
I. Ghost Aulos for Vitruvius
II. Heptaechon

Performed by Wet Ink Ensemble:
Alice Teyssier, flutes
Alex Mincek, saxophone
Ian Antonio, percussion
Eric Wubbels, piano
Josh Modney, violin
Sam Pluta, electronics

Kristina Wolfe: A Mere Echo of Aristoxenus (2019)

For soprano sax, E-flat clarinet/bass clarinet, and percussion
Performed by ICE
Written for Connecticut Summerfest 2020

Mater Natura pro nobis orat

New York-based new music collective, founded 1998.

*Live Archive Page*

This page collects live recordings from recent concert performances by the Wet Ink Ensemble and Large Ensemble.

Wet Ink Ensemble is
Ian Antonio, percussion 
Erin Lesser, flute
Alex Mincek, sax/composition
Josh Modney, violin
Sam Pluta, elec./composition
Kate Soper, voice/composition
Eric Wubbels, piano/composition

Wet Ink Large Ensemble builds on this group with a flexible roster of over twenty NYC-based soloists dedicated to ambitious, large-scale projects. 




