An honour indeed.

[Guest]

As a lover of all things "groundbreaking", novel and that fly in the face of the well-loved and established traditions of centuries, I'd just like to say what an honour it is to be the first to post on the "New Music" board.

I thought I'd get it out of the way at the very beginning, so that later posters can relax happy in the knowledge that they can discuss their thing with nary a discordant voice - though of course that doesn't apply to the music - amongst them!

Best wishes to you all.

S-S!

[Sydney Grew]

It depends on the bed does it not - which side of it one gets out of of a morning. On a Monday we might want to listen to a Brandenburg or something for the organ by Bach who when it comes down to it is the only true avant-gardist composer (all the works of all the others being in essence mere variations upon his things); on a Tuesday we might prefer one of those long white-hot Symphonies of Yun, so seldom presented on the "Hear and Nows."

It has to be said though that the offensively named "Hear and Now" programme is very unrepresentative of the condition of modern music. It transmits mainly the laboured and ineffectual efforts of local British men - what a strangely constricted field that is! And even among the locals there are many names that never and at no time appear on the "Hear and Now" - they are consigned - whether by a system of B.B.C. favouritism or because their productions are "too long" or "too difficult" or "too expensive" - to that programme in the sky entitled "Keep That Quiet and Never Ever."

[french frank]

later posters can relax happy in the knowledge that they can discuss their thing with nary a discordant voice

Excellent! Because the forum has been set up for admirers and enthusiasts of New Music, serious contemporary music, experimental music, acoustic and electronic. (I suppose New Music here will mean essentially post-war, but including its earlier roots?)

This coming Saturday (22 Jan) on Hear & Now, there is the second episode of music from last November's Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (first episode in the iPlayer until then).

"Robert Worby and Sara Mohr-Pietsch introduce the second of five programmes of highlights from the 2010 Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival which took place last November. Tonight's programme focuses heavily on the theatre with strange performance art from Trond Reinholdsten, a concert of duos and quartets for dancers and musicians, music from composers Jennifer Walshe and Tom Johnson alongside a performance of Mauricio Kagel's pastorale Kantrimiusik given by the Nieuw Ensemble."

I hope we get some discussions started about that. And any other new music.

[Chris Newman]

Oh, many thanks for the heads up to the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival. Because BBC R3 is so loathe to publicise their own programmes in the Press I often miss out on some of the more interesting items in the schedule. Thanks to iPlayer I have just been amused and fascinated by by Enno Poppe's new work: I think it was called "Wold" (but not named on the iPlayer page) written for four String Quartets: to me it seemed to demonstrate what the sonorities would have sounded like had Sibelius continued composing. What an ending and what impassioned playing! I was delighted too with Mauricio Kagel's String Quartet II (what extraordinary sounds he conjours from instruments.

Dutch composer Martijn Padding's violin concerto 'White Eagle' was extremely listenable. Rather like Edvard Grieg mixed with Ole Bull and tinkered with by Stravinsky or Shostakovitch. Great fun and I will look out for a recording. I am sure it will soon get a place in the repertoire. Helene Holst and Ensemble 10:10 (the chamber ensemble of the RLPO) did Padding proud.

Michael Finnissey's 'Gedachtnis-Hymne' was beautifully sung by the New London Choir with saxophones providing a rich backing. If Finnissey often sounds to me like Tippett he can take that as a great compliment.

I look forward to more from Huddersfield.

If ferneyhoughgeliebte is reading this please come on board at FoR3. We need your wisdom on contemporary music and on music generally

[rubbernecker]

Although I don't normally listen to Hear and Now, I happened to catch the first of the Huddersfield broadcasts last Saturday night. The Enno Poppe work 'Wald' for 4 string quartets was really stunning. Even if like me you're not a massive fan of the avant garde, just the combination of the instruments and the microtonal writing opened up an amazing sound world.

I was also very taken with the Pre-Hear programme broadcast immediately before with three works on the theme of rain. I strongly recommend the Judith Weir piece, which sounded absolutely gorgeous to my ears, with its McCabey/Mathiasy tonal clusters (with the emphasis on tonal). There are only 2 days left to catch this on iPlayer (it starts at 11.50 in).

EDIT: Actually, just listening to the Weir again makes me think that she is the natural heiress to Tippett. (There's even one E-flat clarinet passage at 22.10 which sounds like a quote from Scheherazade!)

[Uncle Monty]

"The Enno Poppe work 'Wald' for 4 string quartets was really stunning. "

Oh, that's what it was, many thanks. I heard only a couple of bits of it between taking a couple of phone calls, and it sounded really intriguing. I shall catch up with it right away

[Chris Newman]

Yes, rubbernecker,

Catching that snatch of Judith Weir left over from Pre-Hear at the start of Saturday's Hear and Now programme in iPlayer made me go back and listen to the previous hour. I thought there was a lot of Tippett in the Barry Guy work whilst the Judith Weir really reminded me Janacek with those twitterings and patters almost straight out the Cunning Little Vixen. Good stuff, all round.

[rubbernecker]

Yes, rubbernecker,

Catching that snatch of Judith Weir left over from Pre-Hear at the start of Saturday's Hear and Now programme in iPlayer made me go back and listen to the previous hour. I thought there was a lot of Tippett in the Barry Guy work whilst the Judith Weir really reminded me Janacek with those twitterings and patters almost straight out the Cunning Little Vixen. Good stuff, all round.

Janacek, yes. I found the Guy far too eclectic, Tippett meets Penderecki (but they don't shake hands...)

[3rd Viennese School]

Thanks for this new section guys!

There are new music threads on the other channel (R3OK) threads but can get bogged down by people using very long words.

I did listen to some of Hear and now last Saturday but it was too stringy for me. And I was in a pub!

This week is Theatre art so I’m a bit sceptical about that too.

But I have heard many interesting Hear and Now shows. It’s a shame they don’t do more of these programmes, like in a weekday evening so one can also tape it. As I’ve said before, you really need to hear new unfamiliar pieces more than once.

Anyway, thanks Simon! I was wondering whether to go back to composing tonal music as I can’t read music, but you’ve steered me back onto the righteous path of atonal music!

3VS



“We are all but cows looking over a gate for half an hour”

[Bryn]

Janacek, yes. I found the Guy far too eclectic, Tippett meets Penderecki (but they don't shake hands...)

Well someone at Radio3 certainly seems to like Guy's After the Rain. That was at leat the third time it has been spun on a Radio 3 'new music' type programme.

There's no doubt about his eclecticism however. Indeed Annette Morrean drew attention to that aspect of Guy's work in her 1993 BBC Music Magazine review of the recording.

[Dave2002]

I heard Barry Guy once a long time ago. Wild double bass playing - not sure if it counted as jazz, but one of a series of events at South Hill Park, Bracknell. Perhaps I should listen to some of his music again. I also recall Orphy Robinson, but not necessarily at the same time.

[Chris Newman]

The first time I heard Barry Guy on the double bass was at the 1969 Proms as part of a jazz trio and soloist. At the time he led a double life in the Johnny Dankworth Band and the London Mozart Players. He was performing in Yeibichai by Wilfred Mellers which included the Scottish National Orchestra, BBC Symphony Chorus, a coloratura soprano, a scat singer, the aforesaid improvising jazz trio, tape and the whole caboodle was conducted by Sir Alexander Gibson. At the last moment some unofficial audience participation was called for.

It happened that the manager of the Albert Hall, Frank Mundy, attended the preconcert rehearsal in the late afternoon. The libretto included the words "bear-shit". He insisted that the performers had to leave out that expression or the performance was to be cancelled as the owners of the hall (the seat-holders) would be offended. Mellers and Gibson solved the problem by persuading the queuing Promenaders (who...er...were not performers...cough) to shout the missing words which were printed in the programme. Sometimes rules are there to be broken: I admired the musicians' ...how can we call it?... Dumb Insolence? Thus I took part in the premiere of Yeibichai.

Barry Guy was electrifying as a performer.

[Bryn]

Barry Guy was electrifying as a performer.

He still is. Now based in Switzerland he is one of the most versatile musicians around. In 2006 he was the featured composer of that year's Huddersfield Festival of Contemporary Music.

http://www.barryguy.com/discography/barry_disc/index.html

[Quarky]

This coming Saturday (22 Jan) on Hear & Now, there is the second episode of music from last November's Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (first episode in the iPlayer until then).

Thanks for reminding me about Hear and Now. If it weren't for iPlayer, I think I would have given up on Radio 3 some time ago!

I agree with the other posters on the music in the last episode, particularly Enno Poppe's work, which was the highlight of the programme.

Michael Finnissey's 'Gedachtnis-Hymne' I found uninteresting, having only a limited appetite for Choral Works. I just wasn't in the mood.