Sadly, the final programme of works recorded at the Techtonics Festival in Glasgow last month.
The duo Parkinson/Saunders features again - I wasn't overfond of their contribution to last week's programme (I thought it went on for far too long after it had finished) but both pieces this week are credited solely to James Saunders (b 1972) whose work I greatly admire (his #[unassigned] series of works always provided me with much eager anticipation and reward in concerts during the first decade of this century). In which one thing depends upon another is performed by the duo alone, but for Alternate between attention and ease, Tim Parkinson and James Saunders are joined by the BBC Scottish SO, conducted by Ilan Volkov. It will be fascinating to hear how the orchestra responds to the challenges and opportunities offered by the improvisatory nature of Saunders' score, and it was great to hear how positively the orchestra responded to these challenges and opportunities - Musicians have moved on tremendously from the days when the NYPO deliberately sabotaged Atlas Eclipticalis:
I thought that Roscoe Mitchell's (b1940) solo saxophone improvisation in the first programme from the Festival was one of the most astonishing things I've heard (and, unlike the Parkinson/Saunders last week, I could quite happily have carried on listening to it for another half-hour after it stopped). This week features his composition Conversations, a "double concerto" for saxophone, flute and orchestra, in which the composer is joined by Gianni Trovalusci and the BBCSSO/Volkov. Neither the H&N nor the Techtonics websites give any indication if the work has any connection with Mitchell's 2014 pair of albums with Craig Taborn and Kikanju Baku - no doubt that will be made clear during the programme.
Lawrence Dunn is a composer whose work I don't know, so I shall listen to his orchestral work Ambling/waking with great interest and hope - and; ensemble Triangulum (consisting of composer/performers Julia Holter [b1984], keyboards & vocals; Catherine Lamb [b1982] violin & vocals; and Laura Steenberge [b1985], viola da gamba & vocals) perform their Islands, “a triangular collaborative piece built from sympathetic materials; employing shapes (filters), formants (pre-language), aggregates (amplification), density and translation.”
Should be good!
The duo Parkinson/Saunders features again - I wasn't overfond of their contribution to last week's programme (I thought it went on for far too long after it had finished) but both pieces this week are credited solely to James Saunders (b 1972) whose work I greatly admire (his #[unassigned] series of works always provided me with much eager anticipation and reward in concerts during the first decade of this century). In which one thing depends upon another is performed by the duo alone, but for Alternate between attention and ease, Tim Parkinson and James Saunders are joined by the BBC Scottish SO, conducted by Ilan Volkov. It will be fascinating to hear how the orchestra responds to the challenges and opportunities offered by the improvisatory nature of Saunders' score, and it was great to hear how positively the orchestra responded to these challenges and opportunities - Musicians have moved on tremendously from the days when the NYPO deliberately sabotaged Atlas Eclipticalis:
I thought that Roscoe Mitchell's (b1940) solo saxophone improvisation in the first programme from the Festival was one of the most astonishing things I've heard (and, unlike the Parkinson/Saunders last week, I could quite happily have carried on listening to it for another half-hour after it stopped). This week features his composition Conversations, a "double concerto" for saxophone, flute and orchestra, in which the composer is joined by Gianni Trovalusci and the BBCSSO/Volkov. Neither the H&N nor the Techtonics websites give any indication if the work has any connection with Mitchell's 2014 pair of albums with Craig Taborn and Kikanju Baku - no doubt that will be made clear during the programme.
Lawrence Dunn is a composer whose work I don't know, so I shall listen to his orchestral work Ambling/waking with great interest and hope - and; ensemble Triangulum (consisting of composer/performers Julia Holter [b1984], keyboards & vocals; Catherine Lamb [b1982] violin & vocals; and Laura Steenberge [b1985], viola da gamba & vocals) perform their Islands, “a triangular collaborative piece built from sympathetic materials; employing shapes (filters), formants (pre-language), aggregates (amplification), density and translation.”
Should be good!
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