The Squid's Ear Magazine


Oliveros, Pauline / Apartment House: Sound Pieces (Another Timbre)

Six sound-oriented compositions for acoustic ensemble performed by the UK ensemble Apartment House, beautifully reflective and rich works, the first six pieces being text scores for open instrumentation, along with Peace/Tree, a seven movement work for violin, cello and piano that specifies pitches while leaving room for interpretation and improvisation.
 

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Personnel:



Mira Benjamin-violin

Bridget Carey-viola

Mark Knoop-piano

Simon Limbrick-percussion

Anton Lukoszevieze-cello

Gavin Morrison-alto flute

Chihiro Ono-violin

James Opstad-double bass

Heather Roche-clarinet

Nancy Ruffer-flutes

Rebecca Toal-trumpet

Kerry Yong-piano

David Zucchi-soprano saxophone


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Label: Another Timbre
Catalog ID: at207
Squidco Product Code: 33208

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2023
Country: UK
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold
Recorded at Goldsmiths Music Studio, in London, UK, from September, 2022, to January, 2023, by Simon Reynell.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"Pauline Oliveros (born 1932) was one of the pioneers of experimental music in the USA from the 1960's until her death in 2016. She was a composer, teacher, writer, improviser and accordionist. In the 1960's she focused mainly on electronic music, as a founding member and director of the San Francisco Tape Music Center, which later became the Center for Contemporary Music at Mills College. In 1981, in order to escape a sense of being creatively constrained in academic environments, she left her post as Professor of Music at the University of California, San Diego, and relocated to upstate New York to become an independent composer and performer. She had already begun to formulate new music theories, and investigate ways of focusing attention more closely on music, giving rise to her concepts of 'sonic awareness' and 'deep listening'. She understood the act of listening as a kind of healing ritual or meditation, but this doesn't mean that her music is always gentle or pacific. She wrote several books, including Roots of the Moment, Deep Listening and Sounding the Margins, and worked with countless musicians in improvisations and realisations of her own scores, as well as those of many others. The Deep Listening Institute continues to promote her music and ideas."-Another timbre

Interview with Anton Lukoszevieze about Pauline Oliveros's music:

You suggested doing a CD of Pauline Oliveros's music, and I was initially sceptical because I hadn't heard many realisations of her pieces that I liked. I feel you've proved that my scepticism was misplaced, but why did you want to record these pieces?

Before I answer that, I only knew Pauline by correspondence; some 20 years ago she created for me a solo work based on personal astrology, which I subsequently lost in a flood in my old studio, much to my shame and sadness. But maybe it was a sign that I would engage with her work later with Apartment House? Her large body of work and the development of her deep listening practice are obviously monumental in the history of experimental music, but I wanted to focus on some of the many musical compositions that she left. I wanted to record some of these works as a means to explore them and see how they sounded! People talk too much about music, I want to hear it. Life is not a workshop or a conference, it should be steeped in live performance and action, and a lot of it.

I worry that some of Oliveros's text scores are so unspecific that they could go in any direction - good and bad - and that too much is being left to the interpreting musicians. Apartment House could probably take a page torn at random from a telephone directory and make something musically interesting from it, but do you feel that there's more craft to her scores than I'm suggesting?

Nearly all her scores are textual, apart from a few that contain some fragments of musical notation, often rhythmic in nature. All of the ones we recorded were textual, apart from Tree/Peace which is entirely constructed of pitch material plus interpretive instructions.

A score is a question, an interpretation an answer. Some questions are good (or indifferent) and the same for some answers. I hope we succeeded in the latter. Text scores sometimes leave open a field of many possibilities, and are actually quite difficult to create successfully, I think. But I hope that the scores that I chose are successful as there is a variety; some are quite structural (such as Quintessential) and others much more open and subjective (Horse Sings from Cloud). Her scores seem to attend to a process of listening in the moment and having the courage to make individual decisions, which change the course of the music. The music becomes like a stream of musical consciousness, but underpinned with a strong internal dialectical logic. Often for me, the key to performing such works is to listen and not listen, to react and not react, to be serious or absurd. One must also be attentive to one's instrument, to feel that connection with the creation of musical sound. But essentially, it is about creating something new, through the score, not attending to habits or cliches, hopefully. I wanted to be surprised by her compositions and I think I was, that's it!

The shorter, textual pieces on the CD were recorded after some discussion, but with little or no rehearsal, so they obviously have that 'live' quality you describe, of listening and taking decisions in the moment. But a lot of Apartment House recording sessions retain some quality of 'liveness', even when you're playing fully scored works. You're not just following a score, but are working together to make the piece 'happen' and come alive in the moment.

Many of us in the group have been playing together for many years, so I think a lot of that 'liveness' stems from an unwritten familiarity of approach to interpreting the music, but also adding certain instrumental methods, subtle nuances of timbre, non vibrato (mostly, but not exclusively) and a certain objective yet highly sensitive way of playing the music, letting sounds be sounds but moulding and shaping them in connection with others. I think that, when confronted with a text score, musicians often just improvise in some loose and vague way, as if that is enough to create the musical intentions of the composer/score. I believe that sounds do have an inner life, character and impetus that Pauline is focusing on in these works, through the medium of group performance and consciousness. I think that too much rehearsal and discussion could dampen those aspirations, hence the necessity of a certain 'liveness' to our recordings of this and other music. I hope that is the result, of course.

Tell us about Tree/Peace, which turned out to be by some way the longest piece on the CD. It's a far more substantial piece than I'd imagined. The trio had rehearsed the day before the recording, but did the music surprise you too?

It did surprise in the sense that I thought perhaps it would be wilder and have more disparate and improvised sections. There are elements of those things, at times, but what struck me was the highly constructed pitch structure of the piece and an almost formalist approach. But the magical 'undoing' of these things is her text introduction, which I won't quote here, whereby the pitches (the notes) are constantly in a state of flux and merge/emerge out of instrumental sounds (improvised) and timbral fluctuations. The unfolding of each part also felt 'right' and unhurried, which is probably why the duration became longer than we had envisaged.

Tree/Peace has seven movements, all with titles relating to the life cycle of a tree (see below). At the recording session we discussed whether to include these titles on the CD cover. In the end I felt that as a listener, having programmatic titles acted as a limitation on the way I would hear the music, and I'd rather experience it without those prompts. But presumably you, Mark and Mira took account of the titles, and were to some extent directed by them when playing?

Indeed, we did discuss the titles and they do bear relation to our interpretations of each section, but not in a totally literal way. I think some of the descriptive elements are quite subtle, in our performance, but I like to think they go to the heart of the matter. One has to create a certain poetry with music, and holding up a sign each time that there is a stylistic change is perhaps not the most subtle approach... Trees are enigmatic in many ways and also complex microsystems that exist on many different levels.

For those who do want to know, the titles of the seven movements of Tree / Peace are:

1 - The Mystery of Propagation

2 - The Growth of the Seedling

3 - The Full Formation and Maturity of the Tree

4 - The Action of the Seasons

5 - The Magical Nature of the Tree

6 - The Death of the Tree

7 - Contemplation



This album has been reviewed on our magazine:

The Squid
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Artist Biographies

"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."

-St. Martin in the Field Website (http://mirabenjamin.com/about/)
3/27/2024

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"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."

-Okeanos Website (http://okeanos.co.uk/wp/?page_id=1017)
3/27/2024

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"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."

-Mark Knoop Website (http://www.markknoop.com/home)
3/27/2024

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"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."

-Simon Limbrick Website (http://www.marimbo.com/cv.html)
3/27/2024

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"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."

-Kalvos Damian (http://www.kalvos.org/lukosze.html)
3/27/2024

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Gavin Morrison: "Flautist, West Ham fan, terrible golfer, lover of single malt and real ale."

-Gavin Morrison Twitter Account (https://twitter.com/gavtheflute)
3/27/2024

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"Japanese-born violinist Chihiro Ono use music as a tool to explore human abilities, link people and places, and open human beings' minds."

-Musicity Sound Space (https://www.mscty.space/artist/chihiro-ono)
3/27/2024

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"James Opstad is a United Kingdom bassist, composer and one third of duck-rabbit music."

-James Opstad Twitter Feed (https://twitter.com/james_opstad)
3/27/2024

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"Born in Canada, clarinetist Heather Roche trained in England, lived in Germany for 7 years and now lives in London.

She has performed at some of the major European festivals, including musikFest (Berlin), BachFest (Leipzig), Musica Nova (Helsinki), Acht Brücken (Cologne), the International Computer Music Conference (Huddersfield, Ljubljana), the Dias de Música Electroacústica (Seia, Portugal) and the Agora Festival (Ircam, Paris). She has also performed solo programmes at the Zagreb Music Biennale, the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, the New York Electroacoustic Symposium, at CIRMMT (Montreal), Unerhörte Musik (Berlin), Eavesdropping (London), and with the Birmingham Electroacoustic Sound Theatre (BEAST).

She has performed with ensembles and orchestras including Musik Fabrik (Cologne), the WDR Orchestra (Cologne), mimitabu (Gothenburg), the London Symphony Orchestra (London), ensemble Garage (Cologne), ensemble interface (Berlin), the Riot Ensemble (London), the Alisios Camerata (Zagreb), and ensemble proton (Bern). She also plays across the UK in a trio with Carla Rees (flutes) and Xenia Pestova (piano) and in 2015 formed an duo with the accordionist Eva Zöllner, with whom she has played across Germany, the UK and in Portugal. She is a founding member of hand werk, a 6-person chamber music ensemble based in Cologne, and worked with the group from 2010-2017.

She has solo CDs out on the HCR/NMC and Métier labels. Please see the Discography for further details.

In 2014 she was awarded a DIVA (Danish International Visiting Artists Fellowship), and lived in Copenhagen for two months.

Since 2016 she has acted as the Reviews Editor for TEMPO, a quarterly journal for contemporary music published by Cambridge University Press.

Her website is host to one of the most widely read new music blogs on the Internet. In 2017 it had 75,000 hits from around the world. She successfully crowdfunded in 2014 in order to host her first composition competition. Six young composers were chosen out of 270 applicants to write new pieces, which were premiered in 2016.

She is a fervent advocate of collaboration, and her PhD research at the University of Huddersfield (under the supervision of Dr. Philip Thomas) explored the nature of dialogue within performer-composer relationships. She has given workshops in instrumental technique and/or iPad use in performance all over Europe, for example in London, Munich and Copenhagen.

Heather completed her Masters of Music (Orchestral Training) in 2006 at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, studying under Joy Farrall and Laurent Ben Slimane, in addition to conducting with Sian Edwards. Following her degree she completed residencies with the International Ensemble Modern Academy, at IMPULS in Graz and with ensemble recherche in Freiburg, the Darmstadt Summer Courses 2008 and 2010 and the International Ensemble Modern Academy in Innsbruck, Austria. She has performed in masterclasses with Michael Collins, Ernesto Molinari and Shizuyo Oka, to name a few. She completed her BMus in 2005 at the University of Victoria, Canada, studying under Patricia Kostek."

-Heather Roche Website (https://heatherroche.net/about/)
3/27/2024

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"Nancy Ruffer was born in Detroit and received a Master of Music degree from The University of Michigan. She received a Fullbright-Kays Scolarship in 1976 to study at the Royal Academy of Music, London, and she has remained in London working as a freelance flautist specialising in contemporary music. Composers who have written for her include Michael Finnissy, Chris Dench, John White, Christopher Fox, Ian Wilson and Graham Fitkin. In 1984 she was awarded the Kranichsteiner Prize for Performance at Darmstadt and she was elected an Associate of the R.A.M. Nancy Ruffer is principal flute of the ensembles MusicProjects/London, Matrix, Almeida Ensemble and Topologies as well as performing with ensembles of the Royal National Theatre.

In addition she records regularly for the BBC and performs in festivals and concert halls throughout Britain and abroad. In 1999 she toured Canada performing works by, among others, Ferneyhough and Dillon, and in 2002 she toured Georgia and Tennessee with pianist Helen Crayford, performing works by British and American composers.

Ms Ruffer was awarded the Kranichsteiner Prize for Performance at Darmstadt in 1984 and was appointed an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music."

-Divine Art Records (https://divineartrecords.com/artist/nancy-ruffer/)
3/27/2024

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"Rebecca Toal is a versatile and accomplished freelance trumpet player based in London. She is proud to have performed with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Britten-Pears Orchestra and brass ensembles, Arch Sinfonia, and at the BBC Proms with The Juilliard School and the Royal Academy of Music. Alongside exploring the symphonic repertoire, Rebecca is particularly interested in both baroque and contemporary music. She has further developed this enthusiasm through projects and performances with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Belsize Baroque, Academy of Ancient Music, and the Lucerne Festival Contemporary Orchestra, Apartment House, London Sinfonietta Academy, An Assembly, and the Echo Ensemble respectively.

Rebecca graduated with a first class Master of Arts degree from the Royal Academy of Music in 2020, and prior to this, she also studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where she received her Bachelor of Music Honours degree. She is extremely grateful to have been supported by Help Musicians UK, Countess of Munster Musical Trust, The Wolfson Foundation, The Craxton Memorial Trust and scholarships from both of her alma maters.

Teaching also plays an important role in Rebecca's life, and as well as teaching privately, she also works for Music Education Islington, Enfield Music Service and participates in projects with Newham Music Service. Rebecca completed the LRAM teaching diploma at the Academy and is registered with the DBS update service. She also feels proud to have contributed towards a 100% pass rate for her student's' graded exams.

Rebecca is passionate about discussing and raising awareness of mental health issues, and as such is training to become a qualified counsellor. She also co-hosts the podcast Things Musicians Don't Talk About, which aims to destigmatise conversations that are often considered taboo within the Arts.

In her down time, Rebecca is a newly-enthused but clumsy climber, and she lives in North London with her partner and their three insane cats. She hates talking on the phone and loves the gossip on her neighbourhood online forum."

-Rebecca Toal Website (https://rebecca-toal.squarespace.com/trumpet)
3/27/2024

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"Kerry is a musician who lives in east London. He trained as a pianist and now also performs on keyboards and live electronics.

Kerry has performed at Audiograft, Chisenhale Arts Club, Kämmer Klang, Rational Rec, Borealis Festival, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, ISCM World Music Days, Kings Place, City of London Festival, Music We'd Like To Hear, Nonclassical and in groups Apartment House, ELISION, Plus-Minus Ensemble and Ensemble Offspring.

Kerry studied piano with Stephanie McCallum at the University of Sydney (where he also studied composition) and at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. He completed a doctorate at the Royal College of Music where he studied piano with Andrew Ball and researched Performance practices of music for piano with electroacoustics. He has also dabbled with the other side, playing with bands Apopalyptics, Casiokids and Half-handed Cloud and the Welcome Wagon.

Kerry also directs music at Grace Church Hackney (which meets in Hoxton), where they are happy to use ancient chants, traditional hymns and new works with choirs, bands, electronics, objects and the like."

-Kerry Yong Website (http://kerry-yong.blogspot.com/p/about-me.html)
3/27/2024

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"Praised for his "urgently visceral" playing (TEMPO), London-based Canadian saxophonist David Zucchi enjoys a varied career as a performer of classical, contemporary, experimental, and improvised music, collaborating regularly across the UK, Europe, and Canada.

David collaborates regularly with accordionist Iñigo Mikeleiz-Berrade (as the Mikeleiz-Zucchi Duo, winners of the 2021 ROSL Mixed Ensemble Prize), soprano Patricia Auchterlonie (as Honkus), Syzygy, Alex Paxton's Dream Musics ("The most joyous sound I've heard in ages" - New York Times), Ian Wadley (as Yesterday Shelf), Wynton Guess, and Ross K. He has been featured by Nonclassical, Arraymusic, the Composers Platform, Daylight Music (Union Chapel) and the Royal Overseas League, appears on recordings from NMC, Another Timbre, Birmingham Record Company, and has been broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and Resonance FM's The News Agents. Recent appearances as a soloist and chamber musician include the Wigmore Hall, Purcell Room, St. John's Smith Square, Cadogan Hall, London Contemporary Music Festival, Sounds Like This! Festival (Leeds), Verbier Festival (Switzerland), Vale de Cambra Music Festival (Portugal), the Glenn Gould Studio, and the Canadian High Commission in London.

With a keen interest in the performance of contemporary and experimental music, David has premiered and been the dedicatee of many works by emerging and established composers, including Alex Paxton, Paolo Griffin, Roxanna Albayati, Robin Haigh, Adam Sherkin, Brian Elias, Caroline Bordignon, Christopher Fox, Michael Hughes, and Piyawat Louillarpprasert. He has appeared with leading UK contemporary music ensembles including Ensemble x.y, Explore Ensemble, Apartment House, and An assembly.

He has given workshops and masterclasses in the UK and Canada, most recently at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, where he lectured on the performance of contemporary music, and has delivered sessions on professional skills at the Royal College of Music.

David was born in London (UK), and grew up in Toronto (Canada). He is a graduate of the Royal College of Music's Master's and Artist Diploma programmes, where he studied with Kyle Horch as an Edward and Helen Hague Scholar. Previously, David attended the University of Toronto Faculty of Music, where he studied saxophone with Wallace Halladay and composition with Alexander Rapoport. Upon graduating, he was awarded the William and Phyllis Waters Graduating Award, the Faculty's top graduating prize. David has attended the Universitée Européenne de Saxophone in Gap, France and was selected to participate in the London Sinfonietta Academy. He is currently a PhD student at the University of Huddersfield's CeReNeM, supported by the Canadian Centennial Scholarship Fund's Belle Shenkman Award.

David has received additional support from the Canada Council for the Arts, David and Marcia Beach Summer Study Award, the Women's Musical Club of Toronto, the William and Phyllis Waters Graduating Award from the University of Toronto, and the Sylva Gelber Music Foundation Award."

-David Zucchi Website (https://davidzucchi.com/about/)
3/27/2024

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Track Listing:



1. Quintessential 06:04

2. Sound Piece 08:26

3. Horse sings from cloud 07:23

4. From unknown silences 06:45

5. David Tudor 08:44

6. Peace / Tree, movement 1 04:36

7. Peace / Tree, movement 2 05:27

8. Peace / Tree, movement 3 05:16

9. Peace / Tree, movement 4 05:51

10. Peace / Tree, movement 5 06:14

11. Peace / Tree, movement 6 06:44

12. Peace / Tree, movement 7 07:32

13. Quintessential, alternative version 04:51

Related Categories of Interest:


Compositional Forms
Improvised Music
Avant-Garde
Large Ensembles
London & UK Improv & Related Scenes
Staff Picks & Recommended Items
New in Compositional Music

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Another Timbre.


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Naiads
(Another Timbre)
With titles taken from different kinds of water nymphs in Greek mythology, composer Mark Iddon's four-part work is a hauntingly beautiful set of compositions of seeming siren calls and rich percussion, realized by an octet configuration of the UK ensemble Apartment House, with two pianists (Philip Thomas and Mark Knoop), three strings, clarinet, flute and percussion.
Frey, Jurg + Apartment House
Borderland Melodies
(Another Timbre)
Three chamber works in single and multiple movements by minimalist composer Jurg Frey, exploring time & duration, form & shape and a balance of material, performed by a core quartet from the UK ensemble Apartment House, orchestrated for clarinet and bass clarinet, violin and cello, the final work adding piano, viola and percussion in a septet reworking of a 2014 composition.
Parkinson, Tim / Apartment House
An Album
(Another Timbre)
Collecting five chamber works from prolific London-based composer Tim Parkinson, written between 1998 and 2017 and performed by the Apartment House ensemble: one piece for solo violin performed by Mira Benjamin, two duos for violin & piano (by Benjamin & Siwan Rhys), a quintet for winds and strings and a septet, both featuring flute and bass clarinet.
Lely, John / Apartment House
Meander Selection
(Another Timbre)
A diverse set of compositions by London composer, performer and improviser John Lely performed by the UK ensemble Apartment House, demonstrating the spectrum of Lely's work across string quartets, solo piano works, a solo electronic piece, and a work for violin, two violas & cello; works of cohesive direction across a variety of approaches and interests.
Reeder, Kory / Apartment House
Codex Vivere
(Another Timbre)
A beautifully unfolding story in connected works forming a codex from Texas composer and Wandelweiser artist Kory Reeder, a long form work performed by the UK Apartment House Ensemble in a septet of strings, winds and piano, each section creating a loose narrative ark through several notational strategies envisioned with characters, scenes, diversions, and digressions.
Ellestad, Mark
Discreet Angel
(Another Timbre)
Three chamber works by Calgary, Canadian composer Mark Ellestad composed between 1988 and 1994 and recently retrieved by the composer, including the title track, a graceful solo guitar work performed by Christián Alvear; a meditative piece for pump organ & Hardanger fiddle performed by the composer; and a large work for violin and cello performed by Apartment House.
Shim, Kunsu
LUFT.INNERES
(Another Timbre)
Six chamber works for strings by Korean composer and Fluxus performance artist Kunsu Shim, performed by the Luna String Quartet, "specialists in quiet music", along with six short pieces written for Kunsu by composer friends and collaborators, including Arnold Marinissen, Ammon Wolman, Alwynne Pritchard, Nicolaus A. Huber, Gerhard Stabler and Anton Lukoszeviez
Feldman, Morton / Apartment House
Piano and String Quartet
(Another Timbre)
Inspired by the broadcast performance by The Apartment House ensemble of three works by Morton Feldman, Another Timbre requested that they record the exceptional late work of the minimalist composer, Piano and String Quartet, captured at Henry Wood Hall two months later in a stunning interpretation of this enigmatic work of sensually dissipating motion.
Akama, Ryoko
Songs For A Shed
(Another Timbre)
Six beautiful, fragile and mysterious works for piano in combinations with other orchestral arrangements and solo, including pitch-based compositions and a graphic work directed by photographs, performed by members of Apartment House in duos, quintets & sextets; works initially commissioned by Another Timbre and Philip Thomas and here performed on piano by Siwan Rhys.
Iddon, Martin
Sapindales
(Another Timbre)
Four clarinet-based works in trio, duo and solo from UK composer and musicologist Martin Iddon, performed by Heather Roche on bass and contrabass clarinets, Juliet Fraser on voice for "Muses", Anton Lukoszevieze on cello and James Opstad on double bass; music with intricate, interweaving lines, the title piece a mesmerising work for multi-tracked clarinets and field recordings.
Feldman, Barbara Monk
Verses
(Another Timbre)
Known for her chamber and piano works, Canadian composer and widow of Morton Feldman presents five beautiful chamber works performed by the trio of George Barton on percussion, Siwan Rhys on piano and Mira Benjamin on violin, introspective and contemplative pieces of rich color & reflection that reveal the gravity between sound and silence.
Smith, Linda Catlin / Apartment House
Ballad
(Another Timbre)
Two works from Canadian composer Linda Catlin Smith and performed by cellist Anton Lukoszevieze and pianist Kerry Yong: "Through the Low Hills" a piece for constrained variations like an object viewed from different angles as it is turned over; and "Ballad" a major work intended for performance that unfolds slowly, allowing for delicate melodic interaction.
O'Rourke, Jim / Apartment House
Best That You Do This For Me
(Another Timbre)
The UK ensemble Apartment House commissioned this work from composer & experimenter Jim O'Rourke based on their performance of other O'Rourke works, here interpreting a new graphic score designed like a sonic mobile, creating a minimal yet episodic piece of flexible interpretation as the performers whistle, hum and quietly sing in combination with bowed harmonics.
Beuger, Antoine / Apartment House
Jankelevitch Sextets
(Another Timbre)
The 4th album on Another Timbre from a series of pieces by composer Antoine Beuger, each acknowledging a cultural or intellectual figure, here titled for philosopher, musicologist, educator and one-time member of the French Resistance, Vladimir Jankélévitch, represented by Beuger in a large dramatic work performed by the Apartment House sextet.
Armstrong, Newton: Plus Minus Ensemble; Severine Ballon
The Way To Go Out
(Another Timbre)
Three minimal works for small ensemble incorporating electronics by Australian-born, UK-resident composer Newton Armstrong: 2 performed by the London-based Plus-Minus Ensemble directed by Mark Knoop as an acoustic quartet configuration and one as an electroacoustic quartet; and a solo work for multiple cello layers and resonance performed by Séverine Ballon.
Livebatts!

(ANTS Records)
Recorded in the mid-90s, Livebatts! was a project of John White (Cornelius Cardew, Scratch Orchestra) developed to exploit "toy" keyboards of the 80s--cheap battery-driven instruments that hold tremendous potential for "serious" music-making--used here in a playful quartet with vocalist MJ Coldiron, Andrea Rocca (guitar & samples) and Nancy Ruffer (electrified flute).
Apartment House
Perform Olivier Messiaen and Linda Catlin Smith
(Another Timbre)
The UK ensemble Apartment House performs two works--Olivier Messiaen's "Quatuor pour la fin du Temps" in 6 movements; and Linda Catlin Smith's "Among the Tarnished Stars"--taking a fresh modern approach to the Messiaen, drawing out its experimental character, and the sense of drama and intricate gradations of sonority in Smith's rich and mysterious work.
Eastman, Julius / Apartment House
Femenine
(Another Timbre)
A live recording of Julius Eastman's 1974 work "Femenine" performed by Apartment House led by cellist Anton Lukoszevieze, with Simon Limbrick on vibraphone, Kerry Yong on piano, Mark Knoop on keyboard, Mira Benjamin on violin, and Gavin Morrison and Emma Williams on flute, an ecstatic and intricate work using a repeating figure contrasted with both asynchronous and complementing backgrounds.
Smith, Linda Catlin
Wanderer
(Another Timbre)
Eight sophisticated chamber pieces composed by Linda Catlin Smith and realized by the Canadian Apartment House ensemble, including a solo piano performed by Philip Thomas, a piano duo with Thomas and Mark Knoop, and works for percussion & cello, 2 quintet pieces for strings, percussion and winds, and two 7-piece conducted works with two percussionists, strings and brass.
Miller, Cassandra
O Zomer!
(Another Timbre)
Two ensemble works and two solo pieces by Christian Wolff's favourite contemporary composer, Cassandra Miller, who is blazing a very personal trail through the experimental music world, with brilliant performances by Apartment House, Mira Benjamin, Philip Thomas, and Charles Curtis with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Ilan Volkov.
Frey, Jurg / Magnus Granberg
Early to Late
(Another Timbre)
New ensemble pieces by Jurg Frey and Magnus Granberg played by Ensemble Grizzana, commissioned by Another Timbre with the request that both start from the same two fragments of early music, one by Johannes Ockeghem, the other by William Byrd, each composer producing fascinatingly different pieces that both contain echoes of the source material.
Cage, John
Winter Music
(Another Timbre)
John Cage's 1957 composition in a visceral realisation for four pianos, played by John Tilbury, Philip Thomas, Mark Knoop and Catherine Laws, using chance procedures to assign each of the pianist's five of the twenty pages of the score, the pianists agreeing on an overall duration of 40 minutes and preparing their parts independently, performed without rehearsal.



The Squid's Ear Magazine

The Squid's Ear Magazine

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