Glasgow Tectonics Festival 2013

[french frank]

Three programmes in Hear and Now, starting Saturday 18 May, 10pm:

Robert Worby introduces the first of three extended editions from the Tectonics festival in Glasgow, an event curated by conductor Ilan Volkov in association with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. Among the composers featured are the American sound experimentalist Alvin Lucier and Romanian spectralist Iancu Dumitrescu.

[Bryn]

Thanks for the alert, Frenchie. What I have heard from last year's Tectonics in Iceland included some very fine performances indeed. I wish I could have made it up to Glasgow for this year's, but Hear and Now will have to substitute.

[Orphical]

Tectonics was a huge success last week. Very large audiences over both days which prompted The Scotsman critic to comment that there is an audience for hard core new music. Highlights for me from the first programme are include Lucier's Exploration of the House. The most excitement, for me, over the weekend was my introduction to the music of Frank Denyer. His, The Colour of Jellyfish will feature in a later show i hope. The next Tectonic Festival in Glasgow will be the weekend of 10th May 2014.

[MrGongGong]

Frank is a much neglected composer (i'm a little biased as he was my teacher )
and it's worth seeking out some of his other pieces

the Shakuhachi music he wrote for Yoshikazu Iwamoto is really interesting as are larger scale things
like The Monkey's Paw etc

I'm waiting for a recording of Marine Residua which is one of my favourites
(I played conch shell and antelope horn in the first performance)
there's more here

http://frankdenyer.eu/

[Quarky]

Must listen, FF. Alvin Lucier was featured on the Dai Fujikura episode, a few weeks back. I was interested in the slowly modulating pitches - Feldman I guess - but it made my house guest feel ill!

[MrGongGong]

Must listen, FF. Alvin Lucier was featured on the Dai Fujikura episode, a few weeks back. I was interested in the slowly modulating pitches - Feldman I guess - but it made my house guest feel ill!

I'm curious about what happens when you play a piece like Bird and Person Dyning on the radio
as it is one of the most "fragile" forms of music that can be easily destroyed by context
I've heard it live 4 times (all with the composer performing)
some times it is utterly sublime and tremendous at other performances it can easily "fail"

worth a listen anyway IMV

[Bryn]

... The Colour[s] of Jellyfish will feature in a later show i hope. ... .

Possibly not, as I seem to recall that a performance has been previously broadcast on either Hear and Now, Midnight Oil, or somesuch programme a few years ago. It would, however, very much deserve a further outing if they forget about the earlier broadcast.

[Ah, I now see it is down for this Saturday.]

Oops. Got that wrong. It was an Icelandic radio broadcast of the premier I heard last year.

[Richard Barrett]

prompted The Scotsman critic to comment that there is an audience for hard core new music.

Well yes - all it actually takes is for someone like Ilan to put enough imagination, energy and commitment into it. When you compare what he's doing in Glasgow with almost everything that goes on in equivalent institutions in London, the latter look like dusty old museums with a desperation to look hip.

I don't know Frank Denyer's music at all really. I had an encounter with it many years ago which left me with an impression of something a bit soft-centred in comparison with its obvious influences. Am I wrong about that? What would be something good to listen to?

[Bryn]

What would be something good to listen to?

24 bit Jellyfish (Iceland SO/Volkov) on its way to you. Give it about half an hour to upload.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

... equivalent institutions in London, the latter look like dusty old museums with a desperation to look hip.

[Richard Barrett]

24 bit Jellyfish (Iceland SO/Volkov) on its way to you. Give it about half an hour to upload.

Oh thanks, that's very kind of you, I won't be able to download it until tomorrow evening though, because at the moment I'm staying in a hotel with highly dodgy wifi.

[Serial_Apologist]

http://frankdenyer.eu/

Frank Denyer looks very interesting indeed, so thanks, GG - first I'd heard of him, even though he's 2 years older than me.

[Boilk]

Tectonics was a huge success last week. Very large audiences over both days which prompted The Scotsman critic to comment that there is an audience for hard core new music.

I'd love to hear Ken Walton's exact definition of "hard core contemporary music".

[amateur51]

I'd love to hear Ken Walton's exact definition of "hard core contemporary music".

Didn't he used to do the wrestling on ITV in the 60s?

[Serial_Apologist]

Didn't he used to do the wrestling on ITV in the 60s?

No dying falls in hard contemporary music for him, then.