Eight chamber works of interestingly structured and exquisitely restrained character, composed between 2016 and 2021 by UK composer Georgia Rodgers, performed by the Apartment House ensemble in configurations of acoustic duos, trios & quartets, one solo piece for piano & electronics, one solo work for electronics and the title piece in 3 parts by a quintet.
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Georgia Rodgers-composer, electronics
James Opstad-double bass
Joe Qiu-bassoon
Mira Benjamin-violin
Gordon MacKay-violin
Bridget Carey-viola
Anton Lukoszevieze-cello
Mark Knoop-piano
Zubin Kanga-piano, sine tones
Kathryn Williams-flute
Sara Rodrigues-voice
Simon Limbrick-percussion
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Label: Another Timbre
Catalog ID: at181
Squidco Product Code: 31295
Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2021
Country: UK
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold
Recorded at Goldsmith studio, in England, by Simon Reynell, and at Henry wood hall, from August, 2020, to May, 2021, expect for "Ringinglow" which was recorded at Masterchord Studio, in London, UK, by Ronan Phelan. Additional recording in Lisbon, Portugal. by Sara Rodriguez, and Georgia Rodgers.
Another Timbre Interview with Georgia Rodgers
Can you tell us a bit about your background, and how you came to contemporary music?
I played a lot of music at school, mostly drum kit and percussion in jazz bands and the school orchestra. I didn't start composing till a while later. At Edinburgh University I studied Physics and Music, the music part focussing on the behaviour of sound waves and sound recording. It was during a masters in digital music with Michael Edwards that I first encountered experimental music and started composing my own stuff. I remember being introduced to Xenakis' 'Formalized music' - a book which really opened things up for me. After that I did a PhD in composition at City University with Newton Armstrong, whilst also working part-time as an acoustic engineer, specialising in architectural acoustics.
That's interesting, it's an unusual pathway into composition. Does the fact that you didn't go through the more conventional route of a practice-based music degree leave you feeling slightly apart from the mainstream of contemporary music - if such a thing exists? Or do you feel it has advantages to come from a science background?
I've definitely felt like an outsider at times, and had to work to plug a fair few gaps in my knowledge when writing for acoustic instruments. But the longer I've been doing it the more confident I've become (although confidence is easier said than done sometimes). I try and remember that music is for everyone, and there shouldn't be any rules about who's 'allowed' to create it. I also know that my particular background allows me to approach projects in different ways, and to ask questions which can lead to interesting results.
Your output as a composer seems to divide into two categories, electronic and instrumental. 'Logistic' is the only example of the former on this CD, but to my ears whereas your electronic pieces are more concerned with texture or timbre, the instrumental pieces are primarily concerned with pitch and harmony. Is this a fair or a misleading characterisation of your work?
I think the thing I'm always concerned with in my work is the experience of listening, as a physical and psychological phenomenon - what is it like to listen? And so when I'm making a piece for acoustic instruments or electronics (or both together), I'm always trying to break things down into their component parts to find out how they work. This seems to lead me to use reduced palettes of material, such as simple harmonies, subtle differences in texture or tone.
Yes, that quality of reducing material to basics is very evident listening to a piece like 'Base'. It's elementary yet so beautiful, like Laurence Crane's music, so I guessed - evidently wrongly - that you'd probably studied with him. How did 'Base' come about, and why the unusual instrumentation?
The instrumentation for 'Base' came about because Alex Nikiporenko asked me to compose a piece specifically for the next 840 concert, which happened to be given by a double bass and bassoon duo. The combination of timbres was really intriguing and I wanted to let these sounds be the focus of the music.
I've not studied formally with Laurence Crane but I love his music and have looked at a lot of his scores. I'd also been reading and listening to Tom Johnson's work. So 'Base' was created through the application of some simple counting procedures - adding or taking away a note from a phrase after a certain number of measures, repeating, and following through to the end.
Several of your pieces (York Minster, St Andrew's Lyddington, Ringinglow) have titles referring to particular buildings or places. Is there a particular significance to this (eg are the pieces in any way portraits of the locations?), or is it just a simple way of giving each piece a title?
The first two pieces you mention are closely related to the buildings they are named after - the pitches used in the pieces are derived from the resonant frequencies of the spaces, so a few cents sharp or flat from equal temperament. Ringinglow is more simply a place name which I think is also a lovely word, and seemed to fit the piece nicely. It's about the difference between mathematical harmonics and real life harmonics of piano strings, which differ a little bit. In Ringinglow the sine tones play the mathematical harmonics, leading to a slight detuning effect between the electronics and the piano. I've got a few more place names in mind for future pieces.
Masking Set started as an investigation into what happens when the three instruments play very similar pitches, leading to a masking effect in our ears. I think quite a lot of my ideas start off from thinking about physical acoustic or psychoacoustic effects, using these as a starting point and finding where it leads me.
Tell us about September, the title piece for the CD. How did this come piece about, and what's the significance of its title?
'September' was commissioned by Rainy Days festival in 2019, to be premiered at a concert given by Apartment House. Following on from 'Base', the piece was also constructed by using various simple counting procedures, but when these are nested amongst five instruments a little more complexity emerges. I love hearing the procedures unwind, I find it allows me to focus on the sound of the instruments in a different way when it's sort of predictable what's coming next.
The title 'September' is the month in which the piece was completed, and it felt appropriate because I've always liked the way September to December have ended up wrongly numbered in our modern calendar (being the ninth to twelfth months, not the seventh to tenth). September also has extra significance now because it's the month my wonderful daughter Nora was born in in 2021.
Artist Biographies
• Show Bio for Georgia Rodgers "Georgia Rodgers (b.1985) is a composer of instrumental and electronic music whose work focuses on textural and spatial aspects of sound. In 2016 she was selected as one of Sound and Music's New voices and in 2018 she was an Oram Award winner. She has worked with artists including Séverine Ballon, Oren Marshall, Serge Vuille, 840 series, the Marsyas Trio, the Riot Ensemble, Apartment House, and Quatuor Bozzini, and has had releases on NMC Recordings, All That Dust and SNVariations. Georgia studied Physics and Music followed by a Masters degree in computer music with Michael Edwards, both at the University of Edinburgh. She was recently awarded a PhD in composition from City, University of London with a particular focus on music for instruments and electronic sound and the human experience of listening and space. Her supervisor was Newton Armstrong. Georgia has also worked as an acoustician for a firm of consulting engineers, specialising in architectural acoustics, and as a scientist researching the effects of environmental noise on human health. She lives and works (and was born) in north London." ^ Hide Bio for Georgia Rodgers • Show Bio for James Opstad "James Opstad is a United Kingdom bassist, composer and one third of duck-rabbit music." ^ Hide Bio for James Opstad • Show Bio for Joe Qiu "Joe Qiu - Bassoon As well as La Nuova Musica, Joe works regularly as a principal bassoon with period instrument orchestras including the Orchestra of the Age of Englightenment, Dunedin Consort, Arcangelo, Academy of Ancient Music, The English Concert, the Irish Baroque Orchestra and La Serenissima. Projects with the London Symphony, Scottish Chamber, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic, BBC Concert, Netherlands Symphony and The Hague Philharmonic orchestras, and the Royal Ballet Sinfonia, have included performances as principal bassoon televised at the BBC Proms, as well as live radio broadcasts in the UK and in Europe. Joe appears as principal on a number of recent recordings, including La Nuova Musica's Orfeo, Arcangelo's Brockes Passion, Academy of Ancient Music's Immortal Beloved, Favourite Adagios with the RPO, and Irish Baroque Orchestra's Trials of Tenducci. Joe collaborated with the 840 concert series to commission and perform six pieces for bassoon and double bass, and has worked with Multi-Story Orchestra since their first performance in 2011, including curating a chamber concert for them. Joe teaches for Wandsworth's Music Service and has been involved in a wide range of other education and outreach projects, including the OAE's "Our Band" SEND school project." ^ Hide Bio for Joe Qiu • Show Bio for Mira Benjamin "Mira Benjamin is a Canadian violinist, researcher and new-music instigator. She performs new and experimental music, with a special interest in microtonality & tuning practice. She actively commissions music from composers at all stages of their careers, and develops each new work through multiple performances. Current collaborations include new works by Anna Höstman, Scott McLaughlin, Amber Priestley, Taylor Brook and James Weeks. Since 2011, Mira has co-directed NU:NORD - a project-based music and performance network which instigates artistic exchanges and encourages community building between music creators from Canada, Norway & the UK. To date NU:NORD has engaged 79 artists and commissioned 62 new works. Through this initiative, Mira hopes to offer a foundation from which Canadian artists can reach out to artistic communities overseas, and provide a conduit through which UK & Norwegian artists can access Canada's rich art culture. Originally from Vancouver, British Columbia, Mira lived for ten years in Montréal, where she was a member of Quatuor Bozzini. Since 2014 she has resided in London (UK), where she regularly performs with ensembles such as Apartment House, Decibel, and the London Contemporary Orchestra Soloists, and is currently the Duncan Druce Scholar in Music Performance at the University of Huddersfield. Mira is the recipient of the 2016 Virginia Parker Prize from the Canada Council for the Arts. The prize is awarded annually to a Canadian musician in recognition of their contribution to the artistic life in Canada and internationally." ^ Hide Bio for Mira Benjamin • Show Bio for Gordon MacKay "Violinist Gordon MacKay was a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland before gaining a music degree at the University of London. He is currently a member of contemporary group Apartment House, and has also performed with the Kreutzer Quartet, as well as featuring as a guest player with Lontano and the London Symphony Orchestra. He has recorded a solo violin work by Sylvano Bussotti for BBC Radio 3, and performed a violin duo by Effy Efthymiou with Madeleine Mitchell, which was shortlisted for the Ivan Juritz Prize in 2018." ^ Hide Bio for Gordon MacKay • Show Bio for Bridget Carey "Bridget Carey studied jointly at the Royal Academy of Music and London University and has pursued a varied freelance career based in London, and has developed a particular reputation in the field of new music. For 15 years she premiered new chamber opera for the Almeida, whilst working in dance scores with Siobhan Davies and Rambert companies, classical contemporary with Opus 20 and Music Projects/London and new complexity with Ensemble Expose. From 1995-2005 she was viola player with the Kreutzer string quartet. More recently, her chamber music interests include Okeanos and the RPS award-winning experimental music group Apartment House, with whom she continues to add to her chamber music discography. She has been a member of Britten Sinfonia for the last 20 years, and is a regular guest with London Sinfonietta and BCMG, among others." ^ Hide Bio for Bridget Carey • Show Bio for Anton Lukoszevieze "Cellist Anton Lukoszevieze (born 1965 in the UK) is one of the most diverse performers of his generation and is notable for his performances of avant-garde, experimental and improvised music. Anton has given many performances at numerous international festivals throughout Europe and the USA (Maerzmusik, Donaueschingen, Wien Modern, GAS, Transart, Ultima, etc.etc.). He has also made frequent programmes and broadcasts for BBC Radio 3, Danish Radio, SR2, Sweden, Deutschland Rundfunk, WDR, Germany and ORT, Austria. Deutschlandfunk, Berlin produced a radio portrait of him in September, 2003. Anton has also performed concerti with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra at the 2001 Aldeburgh festival and the Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra. He has collaborated with many composers and performers including David Behrman, Alvin Lucier, Amnon Wolman, Pierre Strauch, Rytis Mazulis, Karlheinz Essl, Helmut Oehring, Christopher Fox, Philip Corner, Alvin Curran, Phill Niblock and Laurence Crane, He is unique in the UK through his use of the curved bow (BACH-Bogen), which he is using to develop new repertoire for the cello. From 2005-7 he was New Music Fellow at Kings College, Cambridge and Kettles Yard Gallery. Anton is the subject of four films (FoxFire Eins) by the renowned artist-filmmaker Jayne Parker. A new film Trilogy with compositions by Sylvano Bussotti, George Aperghis and Laurence Crane premieres at The London Film Festival, October 2008. In November will premiere a new hour long work by Christopher Fox for cello and the vocal ensemble Exaudi commissioned by the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival and will also present new solo works for cello and live electronics. Anton is also active as an artist, his work has been shown in Holland (Lux Nijmegen), CAC, Vilnius, Duisburg (EarPort), Austria, (Sammlung Essl), Wien Modern, The Slade School of Art, Kettles Yard Gallery, Cambridge Film Festival and Rational Rec. London. His work has been published in Musiktexte, Cologne, design Magazine and the book SoundVisions (Pfau-Verlag, Saarbrucken, 2005). Anton Lukoszevieze is founder and director of the ensemble Apartment House, a member of the radical noise group Zeitkratzer and recently made his contemporary dance debut with the Vincent Dance Company in Broken Chords, Dusseldorf." ^ Hide Bio for Anton Lukoszevieze • Show Bio for Mark Knoop "London based pianist and conductor Mark Knoop is known for his fearless performances and individual interpretations. He has commissioned and premièred countless new works and worked with many respected composers including Michael Finnissy, Joanna Bailie, Bryn Harrison, Bernhard Lang, Matthew Shlomowitz, Jennifer Walshe and Steven Kazuo Takasugi. His versatile technique and virtuosity also brings fresh approaches to the standard and 20th-century repertoire. Mark performs regularly throughout Europe, the United Kingdom and Australia and in New Zealand, South Korea, Mongolia, United States of America, Canada and at festivals including Transit (Leuven), Ultima (Oslo), Huddersfield, London Contemporary Music Festival, Borealis (Bergen), Spor (Århus), Athelas (Copenhagen), and MaerzMusik (Berlin). He performs with various ensembles including Plus-Minus (London/Brussels) and Apartment House (London), and has conducted EXAUDI (London), Scenatet (Denmark), and London Sinfonietta. His recordings of music by John Cage, Richard Beaudoin, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Peter Ablinger, and David Lumsdaine have been critically acclaimed." ^ Hide Bio for Mark Knoop • Show Bio for Zubin Kanga "Zubin Kanga is a pianist, composer, improviser and technologist. Over the last decade he has established his reputation in Europe and Australia as a leading innovator of new approaches to the piano. His work in recent years has focused on new models of interaction between a live musician and new technologies, including motion-sensor-controlled live electronics, AI, reinterpretations of cinema history, live-generated 3D visuals, analogue synthesizers, keyboard samplers, magnetic resonators, stop-motion animation, audio scores, keyboards as video-game-style controllers, multi-keyboard virtuosity, interactions with live-video, and internet-based scores. Zubin has performed at many international festivals and international venues including the BBC Proms, London Contemporary Music Festival, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (UK) Melbourne Festival, Sydney Festival (Australia), Festival Présences (France), Klang Festival (Denmark), Darmstadt, Podium Festival (Germany), Resonator Festival (Sweden), Gaudeamus Festival, November Music (Netherlands), CUBE, Graz (Austria) and Borealis Festival (Norway). He has performed several concerti under the composer's baton, including with Thomas Adès and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and with Beat Furrer and the London Sinfonietta. He is a member of Ensemble Offspring and has performed duos with Brett Dean, Rolf Hind, Thomas Adès and Jack Liebeck. Zubin has collaborated with many of the world's leading composers including Michael Finnissy, George Benjamin, Nicole Lizée, Steve Reich, and Liza Lim and premiered more than 120 new works. His collaboration with Alexander Schubert on WIKI-PIANO.NET is being performed in a 25 city international tour and has been covered by The Times (UK), WDR (Germany National Radio), Limelight Magazine, Sydney Morning Herald, German national television, BBC Radio 3 and the BBC World Service. Zubin is a graduate of the University of Sydney (Arts and Science degrees), and a Masters and PhD graduate of the Royal Academy of Music, London. He went on to work as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Nice and IRCAM, Paris before becoming a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at Royal Holloway, University of London. He has written widely on music and new technologies and composer-performer dynamics, and was the Guest Editor of a Special Issue of Contemporary Music Review. He was recently appointed as Lecturer in Performance and Digital Arts at Royal Holloway, University of London." ^ Hide Bio for Zubin Kanga • Show Bio for Kathryn Williams "Kathryn Williams is a flautist who performs solo recitals, chamber music, and with orchestras with a particular interest in new and experimental music. Recent performances include a Stockhausen masterclass with Kathinka Pasveer at Theater Basel, solo and chamber music performances with Ensemble Linea Academy at Cité de la musique et la danse Strasbourg, and a concerto with Manchester Camerata. She has performed with various orchestras including the BBC Philharmonic, The Hallé, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, and Sinfonia Cymru and plays regularly with new music group The House of Bedlam. Kathryn's current project, Coming Up for Air, has been selected for YCAT's Sounding Board: Project Mentoring. As a music educator Kathryn specialises in experimental performance practice and early-years education. Recently this has included guest lecturing at the Royal Northern College of Music, contributing to courses with Aldeburgh Young Musicians, delivering performances and workshops for Live Music Now, and long-term residencies at Alder Hey Children's Hospital, Manchester Museum and in a central Manchester nursery school. Kathryn earned a BMus, MMus, and International Artist Diploma from the Royal Northern College of Music with teachers Peter Lloyd, Richard Davis, Katherine Baker, Stephen Preston, Karin de Fleyt and others. Prizes include RNCM Bach Prize, RNCM Concerto Competition (on two occasions), British Flute Society Young Artist Competition, and National Foundation for Arts Award (USA)." ^ Hide Bio for Kathryn Williams • Show Bio for Sara Rodrigues ^ Hide Bio for Sara Rodrigues • Show Bio for Simon Limbrick "Simon Limbrick's involvement in music embraces performance, composing and education.
He was a member of the cult systems orchestra The Lost Jockey and Man Jumping, recording for EG Editions and creating scores for leading dance companies, Second Stride, London Contemporary Dance, Rosemary Lee and Sue MacLennan. He has been in demand as a percussionist performing all over the world with the Nash Ensemble, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, Endymion Ensemble, Composers' Ensemble and Fibonacci Sequence as well as recording with artists such as Alabama3, Gavin Bryars Pete Lockett and for Blue Note Records. He has been guest principal with the LSO and worked under conductors, Leonard Bernstein, Oliver Knussen, Simon Rattle and Tom Ades. He has featured on film and television including documentaries about Steve Reich and Kenneth MacMillan's award winning Judas Tree.Compositions created for him include works by Javier Alvarez, Brian Elias (Kenneth MacMillan's last ballet The Judas Tree), Vic Hoyland and Andrew Poppy. He has performed the world-premieres of solo pieces by James Dillon, Frederic Rzewski , Claude Vivier, Philip Cashian, Thea Musgrave, Harry de Wit, Howard Skempton, Michael Wolters and Ed Kelly. His solo performances have been broadcast by the BBC, RAI, Radio France, Dutch TV and radio. Recently, he performed his own concerto Bulls Yard and Stockhausen's Zyklus at the Sage, Gateshead,(see review) solo steel-pan in Brian Elias' Judas Tree at Royal Opera House, London, in 2010 and directed his mixed-media project, dot-machine, a web-based musical construction accessible on www.marimbo.com. He created a 24 hour long piece surfaces with the composer James Saunders, with financial assistance from the Arts Council of Great Britain and premiered at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival in 2011. In education, Simon has led workshops since 1982, and been a returning resident artist in festivals and organisations, including Blackheath Concert Halls, Aldeburgh Music, Sound It Out , Spitalfields Festival. Workshop projects have been led by him throughout Europe. As a fully-qualified teacher, he has led Music and Performing Arts in Secondary Schools for five years. He has led school and community projects for Aldeburgh Music. As Artistic Director, he helped establish In Harmony Norwich, creating mixed-ability orchestral pieces for professional and young student players. Until the School of Music closed in June 2014, he was Director of 'Musician in the Community' and 'Creative Leadership' courses at University of East Anglia.
As a composer, Simon has gained an MA in Electroacoustic Composition from City University and collaborated as a composer on a number of large scale works, including a project at Fort Dunlop, Birmingham, with Rosemary Lee and site-specific work with Dutch composer/sound sculptor Harry de Wit in Holland and Brussels.He has produced film scores for TV and film festivals and composed music for theatre productions at the National Theatre and Royal Shakespeare Companies. Groups he has created pieces for include Mary Wiegold's Songbook, Roger Heaton Group, Ensemble Bash, Network of Sparks, Endymion Ensemble, Richard Durrant, Ritmatic, Hooloo. The Brighton Youth Orchestra performed machina lumina , for string ensemble and vibraphone throughout 2009. His composition Machine for Living for Landesmusikrat/Splash was recorded at Deutschlandradio. He has produced recordings for wergo and others.Currently composing a large piece for jazz brass and marimba. He has created the CDs, Steam, Hooloo, Clean, Ritmatik, Dot-Machine, Hammer, Rise and Fall, , between and Relay, which are frequently broadcast and available on well-known download sites. NEW RELEASE of a double CD RELAY, of contemporary steel-pan music in Sept 2014. Sound Composer for the film 3 Church Walk by the director Emily Richardson premiered on 18th Oct 2014 at The London Festival, BFI, London." ^ Hide Bio for Simon Limbrick
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Track Listing:
1. Base 05:47
2. Three Pieces for String Quartet 13:14
3. St Andrew's Lyddington 09:02
4. Ringinglow 11:51
5. York Minster 05:31
6. Logistic 04:17
7. Masking Set 10:25
8. September (movement 1) 05:03
9. September (movement 2) 06:02
10. September (movement 3) 02:17
Compositional Forms
London & UK Improv & Related Scenes
Electro-Acoustic
Unusual Vocal Forms
Large Ensembles
Solo Artist Recordings
Duo Recordings
Trio Recordings
Quartet Recordings
Quintet Recordings
Stringed Instruments
Electronic Forms
New in Compositional Music
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