Ensemble UPROAR: New Music from Wales; H&N, Sat, 23/2/19; 10:00pm

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Kate Molleson presents a concert given by Welsh New Music Ensemble UPROAR, conducted by its founder, Michael Rafferty.

10X10 features ten commissioned premieres of works by ten Welsh (or Welsh-based) composers: Michael Parkin (b1949); Steph Power (b1965); Gareth Moorcraft (b1990); Lynne Plowman (b1969); Guto Puw (b1971); Sarah Lianne Lewis (b1988); John Metcalf (b1946); Carlijn Metselaar (b1989); Andrew Lewis (b1963); and Maja Palser (b1984).

http://www.uproar.org.uk/

And there's a conversation with Andrew Lewis about ElectroAcoustic Wales, together with a broadcast of his Skyline (2016) and works by Huw McGregor (b1976), and Alex Bailey (b1987).

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0002rv8

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Well - that was mostly dowmroar.

[Serial_Apologist]

This is how it all ends - not with a

dowmroar.

but a whimper.

[Quarky]

Well - that was mostly dowmroar.

Down - but not completely out, imv.

My sights are probably adjusted considerably lower, but the programme did manage to communicate enthusiasm of the composers, and an overall feeling of well-being - even "joy" - see recent thread. Usually I'm concentrating too hard to be bothered with such frivolities.

But a mixed bag with some offerings stronger than others.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Down - but not completely out, imv.

No - things were mostly well-written (correctly spelling, impeccable punctuation, varied use of vocabulary), but it was rather like reading somebody else's shopping list: you got a bit of an insight into somebody else's life, but ... well, disposable. I didn't think that the introductory chats helped either - preferable to play the pieces twice to get a better idea of what they were "about" than these inane spoken reductions?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

And ... why not programme these pieces on Breakfast or Essential Classics? Short enough not to disrupt the regular listeners to those programmes, pleasant ("enthusiastic"/"joyful") enough not to upset them - and perhaps allowing new listeners an entry point for more substantial works?

[MrGongGong]

Was it Andy Lewis's recent(ish) birdsong piece ?
Not sure how that would work on two speakers , it was wonderful at BEASTFeast last year

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Was it Andy Lewis's recent(ish) birdsong piece ?
Not sure how that would work on two speakers , it was wonderful at BEASTFeast last year

There were two works by Andy - one written for this event, the other the BEASTFeast piece you mention.

You raise a very good point - hearing Skyline in an auditorium, surrounded by speakers picking up every nuance might well be a much more captivating experience than trying to get as much from it as the bedside radio would allow (which wasn't very much). I made the same comment about the broadcast of Saunders' Yes a couple of months ago: had I been relying on the broadcast, I would have thought it an interesting work that I would have wished to hear again - but having already heard exactly the same performance in Huddersfield Town Hall, and been bowled over to the point of tears of joy by it, the broadcast sold the work very short.

Not that any of this had any bearing on the works written for and performed at the concert from which the bulk of the programme was made, of course.

[Serial_Apologist]

There were two works by Andy - one written for this event, the other the BEASTFeast piece you mention.

You raise a very good point - hearing Skyline in an auditorium, surrounded by speakers picking up every nuance might well be a much more captivating experience than trying to get as much from it as the bedside radio would allow (which wasn't very much). I made the same comment about the broadcast of Saunders' Yes a couple of months ago: had I been relying on the broadcast, I would have thought it an interesting work that I would have wished to hear again - but having already heard exactly the same performance in Huddersfield Town Hall, and been bowled over to the point of tears of joy by it, the broadcast sold the work very short.

Not that any of this had any bearing on the works written for and performed at the concert from which the bulk of the programme was made, of course.

I remember, many years ago, attending a concert in Bristol by the American composer Annea Lockwood. One of the pieces consisted of numerous birdsongs recorded on separate cassette recorders. These had been neatly laid out in several rows on the Arnolfini Gallery floor, each connected to separate speakers rigged up surrounding the auditorium, and they were then activated to give us a Dawn Chorus experience, which was very beautiful, but could have been had for nothing by visiting Lea Woods, just a mile to the west. She wouldn't have had to go to so much trouble with today's technology!

[Richard Barrett]

had I been relying on the broadcast

As I remarked a few months ago, that is a depressingly frequent occurrence, especially when any electronic resources are involved. Not that it happens every time - such diverse things I've been involved in as the Evan Parker Electroacoustic Ensemble at the 2009 London Jazz Festival and the premiere of CONSTRUCTION at HCMF in 2011, both involving complex spatialised sounds, were rendered by the BBC engineers in an exemplary way (the EPEAE recording represents what the group sounds like more accurately than do any of its ECM releases). I guess it's the luck of the draw who you get in the van.

[MrGongGong]

I guess it's the luck of the draw who you get in the van.

Worby likes Talisker

[Richard Barrett]

Worby likes Talisker

I said engineer, not producer.

[Bryn]

I said engineer, not producer.

But Robert is neither. In his Radio 3 role, he is a presenter. Though in his own right he is all three.

[Richard Barrett]

But Robert is neither. In his Radio 3 role, he is a presenter. Though in his own right he is all three.

You're right of course. And a fine human being in every way if I may say so.

Mention of Talisker gives me an(other) opportunity to recommend the piece of that title by my late friend Luc Brewaeys: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CDkZ6TdHHQ

[MrGongGong]

You're right of course. And a fine human being in every way if I may say so.

Mention of Talisker gives me an(other) opportunity to recommend the piece of that title by my late friend Luc Brewaeys: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CDkZ6TdHHQ

A fine pairing with this ?

https://electrocd.com/en/oeuvre/18919/Pete_Stollery/Still_Voices