Two works for voice and chamber orchestra performed by the UK Explore Ensemble under the direction of Nicholas Moroz, and a multi-tracked vocal work by Lotte Betts-Dean, rich and understated works of rich harmonics and atmospheric overtones composed by Catherine Lamb, placing phonetic vocals in space and ambiance, eschewing words for tone, texture and motion; mesmerizing.
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Catherine Lamb-composer
Nicholas Moroz-director
Julia Doukakis-viola
Emma Purslow-viola
Deni Teo-cello
Toby Hughes-double bass
Taylor MacLennan-flute
Alex Roberts-clarinet
David Zucchi-saxophone
Sarah Park-tuned glasses
Sam Cave-guitar
David Lopez Ibanez-violin
James Weeks-director
Juliet Fraser-soprano
Cathy Bell-mezzo soprano
Michael Hickman-baritone
Lotte Betts-Dean-voice
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Label: Another Timbre
Catalog ID: at215
Squidco Product Code: 34092
Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2023
Country: UK
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold
Tracks 1 and 3 recorded at St Nicholas' Church, Thames Ditton, England on June 28th, and and July 4th, 2023, by Nicholas Moroz. Track 2 recorded in Oxford, England, on August 8th, 2023, by Nicholas Moroz.
Another Timbre Interview with Nicholas Moroz of Explore Ensemble
As artistic director of Explore Ensemble, you've chosen to play a few of Cat Lamb's pieces in concert now. What is it that draws you to her music, and in particular to her pieces that use voice?
There are many things that for me make Cat's music special. I guess first of all, it's music I turn to if I want a certain feeling/mood or experience, of time, and of sound. I've been lucky to hear a few of her recent pieces live, like the JACK Quartet playing her 'divisio spiralis' at Wigmore Hall, and of course the concerts of Explore Ensemble where we've played 'parallaxis forma' with vocalist Lotte Betts-Dean, when I also played electric guitar. For me it's this balance between a kind of sensual or sonic richness and depth that comes from her radiant harmonic language, along with the slowness of time in her works.
As a listener I feel like she's very generous and gives you space to move your focus, like viewing a painting: you can get up close and get lost in the brushwork, but also go further back, sit down, and drink in the more ambient sensation of the work. People sometimes call it drone music, but for me that misses the entire point of her music, as I understand it. It's not about passively listening to some nice background music, but actually the opposite, about actively listening, and as a listener, being present and attending to sound in its smallest shifts in tone, colour, texture etc. If you listen closely, the long-form pieces in particular are incredible in where they take you. In some ways even, challenging.
With the vocal pieces in particular, I find the voice itself brings a whole new dimension of life to the music. Cat doesn't use words or texts but rather phonemes; she treats the voice like another instrument where the shifting timbres become expressive substances. In all three works on this album the singers shift between different vowel sounds, and these emphasise different clusters of overtones or formants in the timbre of the voice. It's an incredible approach to blending the voices with instruments, especially the strings. With the bowed strings, she asks the players to shift the bow between different positions on the string to get either a clear tone, or a noisier 'spectral' sound closer to the bridge, which brings out more of the upper overtones in the timbre, and mixes beautifully with the vocal formants.
What I also like about the voice in her works is that they bring an inherently human quality to the music, whereas sometimes with other instrumental works, not only her own, but all instrumental music that explores deep time with abstract material, there is a risk of alienation, or an impenetrable surface that's hard to dig into. The voice injects the music with a delicate human presence that for me also heightens the emotional resonance of the works; abstract yet corporeal.
Cat originally composed 'pulse/shade' for a vocal ensemble, but you chose to produce a multi-tracked version with Lotte Betts-Dean's voice overlaid several times. What was the thinking here?
It was a bit of an experiment in response to the idea of the piece itself, to emphasise the shifts in vowel sounds: using the same singer means the vowel sounds will (in theory) be more consistent compared to using four different singers, and so the cumulative effect is to hear the vowel shifts with more clarity.
For what it's worth, I think it worked! When you listen and start to get lost in the mesmerising repetitions, especially as it slows down, I noticed more and more the dazzling overtones in various combinations. Lotte's voice really becomes almost like a synthesiser in its razor-sharp precision between different sounds, and the phonemes shine out, sometimes like lasers in their electronic-sounding pointedness.
The other experiment in the multi-track approach is about the structure of the piece. The premise of the piece is simple: one duo accelerates, another decelerates. Live, this is really hard to pace, especially between four different people. In the studio however, we were able to get something that was almost mechanically exact, and so, I think we managed to get a kind of idealised structure, especially in the middle part, because while humans are generally good at judging acceleration and vice versa at faster speeds, we're less go at slower speeds (perhaps something to do with how the short time scale relate to our body movements, I wonder!), and so it's really tricky in a live situation to keep the slow central part evenly measured.
We recorded all four voices in one direction (accelerating), and then I edited things later to reverse thedirection of one of the duos so they decelerated, with the exception of the faster opening and end sections, which we recorded at the actual tempi. This means that each duo is a perfect mirror of each other in terms of structure, and there is actually a centre point where they align (9:14 on the recording!). I don't know if this is important for Cat, but I thought it was cool to produce it in this way and create this otherworldly or super-precise version which would be virtually impossible to achieve with four different singers performing it live.
Also, I can't help but think that Lotte, being Australian and having also grown up in Berlin, is the perfect singer for this kind of music, which is so dependent on subtle differences in vowel sounds!
That's interesting. The beauty of Cat's music for me is that even when it is following structural processes as they unfold, it somehow sounds organic, and you don't have to know or think about the structure to enjoy the soundworld. Are the two pieces for voices and ensemble, 'color residua' and 'parallaxis forma', structured in a similar way to 'pulse/shade', or are they - as they sound to my non-musician ears - looser in this respect?
I think she has several works that explore more 'architectural' or numerically-determined formal structures. Besides the strict idea of the piece, 'pulse/shade' actually leaves the realisation of the structure quite open to the performers. But there are others like 'wave/forming (astrum)' which are, to my ears, stricter sounding. But the ensemble pieces on this album don't have a single structural shape or direction, as I understand them.
My ears are like yours in picking up on a looser though very deliberate and carefully-considered unfolding of the music, principally as very slow melodies which, in their slowness and combination intoharmony, melt away into texture, creating overall a beautiful haze that constantly invites the listener tofeel their way between fore, middle, and background (again this idea of active listening and the metaphor of listening as viewing, seeing different perspectives...)
In 'color residua', the opening track on this album, there are four 'residuals' or sections that unfold where a composite melody emerges as it slowly hockets between the singers and strings. In 'parallaxis forma', the ensemble sustain notes that appear in voice, as well as extra harmony/texture/colour notes.
I think 'parallaxis forma' is a good example that reflects Cat's interest in the long introduction style forms of Dhrupad music, which I believe are important to her. For example, notice how from the start, the piece very gradually introduces new melody notes in the voice, beginning with just tiny micro variations of the opening sung F, then two notes, three, four etc. By the end of the piece, or the penultimate section, the voice blooms with those gorgeous ascending scales that spiral upwards.
Artist Biographies
• Show Bio for Catherine Lamb "Following interacting points within expanding harmonic space, Catherine Lamb has devoted her structural work to the inner life of tonality, constantly searching through the limits of human perceptions and resonances in overlaying atmospheres. Lamb's continued series Prisma Interius (2016-ongoing), made with her partner and frequent collaborator Bryan Eubanks, filters the outside environment into a harmonic field, basso continuo, tanpura, or bridge between the musical form and the perceptual listening space. Her first orchestral work, Portions Transparent/Opaque (2014), was premiered by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra at the 2014 Tectonics Festival in Glasgow, Scotland. After an extended tour of her solo work Shade/Gradient (2012) through North America in 2012, Lamb received a travel grant from the Henry Cowell Foundation, allowing her to pursue work with Eliane Radigue and to form new relationships with European musicians.Earlier in her career, Lamb studied under composers James Tenney and Michael Pisaro at the California Institute of the Arts, where she also met director and dhrupadi Mani Kaul. It was during this time that she began diving deeply into her own practice of what she later termed "the interaction of tone." Lamb is the co-founder of Singing by Numbers (2009-11), an experimental vocal ensemble formed with Laura Steenberge that focused on pedagogical research around pure ratio tuning. She has written for ensembles such as Ensemble Dedalus, Konzert Minimal, the London Contemporary Orchestra, NeoN, Plus/Minus, and Yarn/Wire. Lamb is involved in ongoing research with Marc Sabat on intonation; with Johnny Chang on Viola Torros; develops work regularly with musicians such as Rebecca Lane, Dafne Vincente-Sandova, and Frank Reinecke; as well as taking part in Triangulum with Julia Holter and Laura Steenberge. Lamb is the recipient of a fellowship from Akademie Schloss Solitude (2016); an Emerging Composers Grant from the Wallace Alexander Gerbode and William and Flora Hewlett Foundations (2008-09); and was a Staubach Fellow at the International Summer Course for New Music in Darmstadt, Germany (2016). Lamb's writings and recordings have been published by another timbre, Black Pollen Press, Kunst Musik, NEOS, THE OPEN SPACE Magazine, Q-O2, sacred realism, and winds measure recordings.She received a B.M. from California Institute of the Arts, and an M.F.A. in music/sound from Bard College." ^ Hide Bio for Catherine Lamb • Show Bio for Nicholas Moroz "Nicholas Moroz is a composer based in London making acoustic and electronic music. He is currently studying an Arts and Humanities Research Council funded DPhil in Music (Composition) degree at the University of Oxford, where his research involves composition with acoustic instruments and live electronics, and his musicological work investigates the role of technology in Luigi Nono's live electronic music. He is the artistic director of Explore Ensemble, which he co-founded in 2012 with fellow musicians at the Royal College of Music. His music has been performed by musicians and groups including the GBSR Duo, trombonist Sebastiaan Kemner, Explore Ensemble, Lonelinoise, Silbersee, Residentie Orkest, Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart, ensemble recherche, and the Moscow Contemporary Music Ensemble, at venues and festivals such as the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, De Doelen Rotterdam, Abbaye de Royaumont, Moscow Philharmonic, Aldeburgh Festival, St Magnus International Festival, Dartington, EXPO Oxford, and the Royal Academy of Arts. Currently supervised at Oxford by Martyn Harry and Jonathan Cross, Nicholas previously completed Bachelors and Masters degrees in composition at the Royal College of Music from 2010-2016, studying with Jonathan Cole, Kenneth Hesketh, Simon Holt, and Gilbert Nouno. In 2017 He also completed a Masters of Studies degree in musicology at the University of Oxford. In 2012 he completed an ERASMUS exchange at the Stuttgart Staatliche Hochschule für Musik studying with Johannes Walter. During his studies at the RCM he received support from the Countess of Munster Musical Trust and the Humphrey Searle Scholarship, and won several awards including the Douglas and Hilda Simmonds Award, Adrian Cruft Award for Composition, Elgar Memorial Award, Vaughn Williams Scholarship Award, and was awarded the 2016 Mendelssohn Scholarship by the Mendelssohn Foundation Scholarship." ^ Hide Bio for Nicholas Moroz • Show Bio for Julia Doukakis "Julia Doukakis, the youngest of four children, grew up surrounded by music on the New South Wales Central Coast. After taking up the violin aged six, she was drawn to the mellow tone of the viola and made the transition when she was 13. She graduated with honours from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music in 2015, where she studied with Sydney Symphony Orchestra Principal Viola Roger Benedict. Since graduating, Julia has worked professionally with several Australian orchestras, including the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra. In 2016, Julia was a Fellow with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and worked with the orchestra full time, including performances under world-renowned conductors such as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Christoph von Dohnanyi, Lothar Koenigs, John Wilson, Oleg Caetani and David Robertson. During all four years of her study, Julia was a member of the Australian Youth Orchestra and participated in many programmes, including collaborations with the Melbourne and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras, as well as an international tour in 2013. This tour was Julia's first experience in Europe, where she performed in venues such as the Konzerthous in Berlin and Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, working with conductor Christoph Eschenbach and violinist Joshua Bell. Julia was also a member of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra Sinfonia in 2015. Julia is incredibly grateful to the financial assistance lent by the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust through their Music Scholarship Program 2001, which has made it possible for her to move to London from Australia to take part in Southbank Sinfonia 2017." ^ Hide Bio for Julia Doukakis • Show Bio for Emma Purslow "Passionate about bringing live performance to everyone, Emma Purslow is a violinist and violist performing as a soloist, chamber musician, teacher and orchestral player in the UK and abroad. Emma is an enthusiastic chamber musician who is in demand throughout the UK and abroad. Her ensemble the Alkyona Quartet are String Quartet Fellows at the Royal College of Music for 2022-2023, and were awarded the Tunnell Trust Award 2020-2021 and Making Music Artists 2020-2021. Recent appearances include festivals such as the Stift International Music Festival, Huygens Festival (Netherlands) Lichfield Festival, Koroni Festival (Greece), Roman River Festival, Lake District International Summer Festival and the Hvinde Sande Festival in Denmark. They are musicians in residence at Leighton House Museum in London, and recently enjoyed a residency at Quartetthaus 2023 Festival in Melbourne for the Australian National Academy of Music. As well as her work with the Alkyonas, she has enjoyed guest performing with the Navarra Quartet, Sacconi Quartet and Explore Ensemble in 2023. Emma is a sought-after teacher, educator and workshop leader working both in London and throughout the UK. She is a violin teacher and chamber coach at Chetham's School of Music, works closely with Musiko Musika, an organisation that celebrates diversity through music, coaches regularly for the National Children's Orchestra, Royal College of Music Junior Department and the London Philharmonic Orchestra's Education and Community Program. She is a member of the Chilean band Quimantu, and works closely with them creating opportunities for people of all cultures to express themselves through music. Emma also enjoys a freelance orchestral career performing regularly with orchestras including the O/Modernt Chamber Orchestra, Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales as well as many others around the UK. Emma led the Street Orchestra of London between 2016-2019. Described by the Guardian as "truly uplifting" this 40-piece ensemble brings live performance to those unable to access it. Emma represented them as a guest panellist at the Association of British Orchestra's conference 2017. Solo performance has always been an important part of Emma's portfolio, and recent concerto appearances include the Vivaldi Four Seasons for Musique Cordiale Festival at the Faversham Assembly Rooms, Piazzolla Seasons for the same festival in Seillans, France, Barber Violin Concerto and Prokofiev Violin Concerto No.2 with the Hereford Symphony Orchestra and Street Orchestra of London. Emma loves performing duo recitals with her long term collaborator Eleanor Kornas, and recent recitals include the St David's Music Festival, Bollington Festival and appearances in Berlin among others. Emma plays on a 1713 Venetian violin generously on loan from the Harrison-Frank Foundation, and a Ceruti viola kindly on loan from the Hepner Foundation, with particular thanks to Regina Hepner." ^ Hide Bio for Emma Purslow • Show Bio for Deni Teo "Deni Teo: Cello Deni has been a member of Explore Ensemble since 2013. She completed her Undergraduate and Postgraduate degrees at the Royal College of Music, studying with Melissa Phelps. She currently enjoys a varied career in orchestral, contemporary and film session playing. Deni is a member of Sinfonia Cymru and was a member of Southbank Sinfonia in 2019. She regularly performs with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and recently started a trial with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. Deni has been invited to play with Cardiff based new music group Uproar Ensemble since 2020 and also performed with the Max Richter Ensemble, giving the premiere of his piece 'Voices'. Baking is Deni's other major passion and you'll find her posting photos and videos of her creations on Instagram @denibakes." ^ Hide Bio for Deni Teo • Show Bio for Toby Hughes ^ Hide Bio for Toby Hughes • Show Bio for Taylor MacLennan "Taylor MacLennan: Flute Taylor has been the flute player of Explore Ensemble since its foundation in 2012. Originally from Scotland, Taylor moved to London in 2010 to study at the Royal College of Music where he received his Bachelor's and Master's degrees as well as an Artist Diploma in 2017. During his time there, he won the RCM Flute Prize and had the opportunities to work with conductors including Bernard Haitink, Vladimir Ashkenazy and Sir Roger Norrington. Taylor took up further study with Patrick Gallois at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena where he was awarded the Diploma of Merit. Taylor was a member of Southbank Sinfonia in 2018 and has since worked with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, English National Opera and the Oxford Philharmonic, as well as guest principal flute with Scottish Ballet. Taylor has appeared at festivals including the BBC Proms, Aldeburgh, Cheltenham and Encuentro de Música Santander. Taylor enjoys tennis, being a home barista and all things culinary." ^ Hide Bio for Taylor MacLennan • Show Bio for Alex Roberts "Alex Roberts: Clarinet Alex has played clarinets and various other instruments with Explore Ensemble since 2014. As a freelance orchestral musician, he has played regularly with the Philharmonia and Welsh National Opera. After graduating from the Queensland Conservatorium, Alex completed post-graduate studies at the Royal Northern College of Music and has since taken part in masterclasses with Francois Benda and Yehuda Gilad. Passionate about social justice, Alex is the assistant musical director for Liberty Choir, a charity which creates choirs in prisons with the people inside them and volunteers from local communities. Alex has hiked in the Carpathians, Pyrenees and the Pennines and, perhaps not surprisingly for an Australian, looks forward to brewing the perfect cup of coffee every morning." ^ Hide Bio for Alex Roberts • Show Bio for David Zucchi "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." ^ Hide Bio for David Zucchi • Show Bio for Sarah Park "Edinburgh born South Korean, Sarah Park began her musical studies at St Mary's Music School in Scotland. She had a number of successes from an early age performing her concerto debut in 2008 at the Queen's Hall, Edinburgh. In the same year, she was broadcast on BBC Radio 3 as part of the Pianothon. During her time at St Mary's, she won numerous prizes and awards around the country, as well as collaborating with leading conductor Garry Walker on many occasions. Sarah continued her studies at the Royal College of Music and has given performances at Steinway Hall, Purcell Room and the Royal Festival Hall. Her performances have also taken her further afield to Italy, Germany, Spain and South Korea. Sarah has enjoyed participating in many masterclasses by renowned artists such as Jacques Rouvier, Lilya Zilberstein, Yonty Solomon, Idil Biret and Peter Donohoe. Sarah has recently received her Master of Performance degree with Distinction from the Royal College of Music under the tuition of Norma Fisher and Danny Driver. Throughout her studies, she was generously supported with a Donald Deward Arts Award and the Kendall-Taylor Award." ^ Hide Bio for Sarah Park • Show Bio for Sam Cave "English guitarist and composer Sam Cave is one of the guitar's leading exponents of new music. Sam's performances have taken him to some of the most exciting venues and festivals in the UK and abroad with appearances at St John's Smith Square, City Showcase Festival, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Nonclassical, The Institute of Contemporary Arts, LSO St. Luke's, AVGARDE concert series in Norway, the Purcell Room at the Southbank Centre, Kings Place and the Tianjin May Festival in Tianjin, China. Sam has been a Park Lane Group Young Artist and has recorded for both 'Another Timbre' and 'Metier' record labels. His playing has been broadcast on both 'Late Junction' and 'The New Music Show' on BBC Radio 3. Sam is a member of the leading new music groups Octandre Ensemble and Apartment House and has performed with many other groups at the forefront of new music including Riot Ensemble and Explore Ensemble. Sam studied at the Royal College of Music in London with Gary Ryan and Chris Stell with financial assistance from The Countess of Munster Musical Trust. He has also studied with Vincent Lindsey-Clark, Michael Zev Gordon, Michael Finnissy, Gilbert Biberian and Craig Ogden and graduated from the University of Southampton with first class honours and the Edward Wood memorial prize in music. In 2020 Sam completed a PhD in composition at Brunel University, London under the supervision of Christopher Fox and John Croft. As a composer Sam's work has been performed in the UK, Sweden, Norway, Poland, Lithuania, Italy, Australia and the USA by some of the most exciting young ensembles and soloists working today. He is an LSO Soundhub Associate Composer for 2017-21 and his music is published by Babelscores. Now also an educator in much demand, Sam is currently a tutor at Brunel University, London, he has been a guest lecturer in composition for guitar at Coventry University and a lecturer in composition and orchestration at Kingston University." ^ Hide Bio for Sam Cave • Show Bio for David Lopez Ibanez "David López Ibañez: Violin David has played violin with Explore Ensemble since 2016. He is a member of the Hill Quartet and has played with the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the London Sinfonietta, Haydn Philharmonie and Spira Mirabilis. He has performed around the UK and internationally, in venues like Wigmore Hall, Royal Festival Hall, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Berlin Konzerthaus, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Vienna Musikverein, Koernel Hall Toronto, and Tokyo Metropolitan Hall, among others. He studied at the Royal College of Music in London with Professors Detlef Hahn, Radu Blidar and Lucy Russell, and currently studies with Lorenza Borrani at Scuola di Musica di Fiesole in Italy. In his spare time he enjoys running, cycling, reading and painting." ^ Hide Bio for David Lopez Ibanez • Show Bio for James Weeks "Hailed as 'one of the most inventive young composers and conductors out there' by The Guardian, James Weeks enjoys a growing international reputation both for his own music and for his consummate performances of contemporary repertoire. Born in Blackburn in 1978, he read Music at Cambridge before completing a PhD in Composition at Southampton University, studying with Michael Finnissy. His music has been commissioned and performed by many leading performers including London Sinfonietta, Apartment House, Quatuor Bozzini, Alison Balsom, EXAUDI, Morgan/Dullea, Wandelweiser, New London Chamber Choir, Uroboros Ensemble, Endymion, Anton Lukoszevieze and Christopher Redgate. He has been performed at UK and European festivals and venues including City of London, Spitalfields and Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festivals, Gaudeamus (Amsterdam), Quincena Musical (San Sebastian), de Bijloke (Ghent), Wandelweiser (Düsseldorf, Munich), Weimarer Frühjahrstage and Mafra (Portugal). His music is heard regularly on BBC Radio 3's Hear and Now, and in 2012 he signed to University of York Music Press. Since 2005 the main focus of his music has been on solo and small-ensemble works exploring elemental or primary musical materials and processes, either left bare or built up into polyphonic structures of considerable density. Recent major works include Schilderkonst (for mixed ensemble, 2003-4) Stacking, Weaving, Building, Joining (for any number of players, 2006), the Harmonies of South London series (for various ensembles, 2008-11), Burnham Air (for oboe d'amore, 2008), Hototogisu (for children's choir, 2007), TIDE (for ensemble and electronics, 2007-10), Parnassus (for vocal and string sextets, 2008-9), Mala punica (for eight solo voices, 2008-9), and The Freedom of the Earth (for chorus and instruments, 2011). As a conductor, he is best known for his work with the contemporary specialists EXAUDI www.exaudi.org.uk, the vocal ensemble he founded with the soprano Juliet Fraser in 2002. With them he maintains a busy international touring schedule, collaborating regularly with the world's leading composers, new music soloists and ensembles, and has released six acclaimed CDs, of Finnissy, Fox, Lutyens and Skempton on Mode, NMC and Metier. The ensemble specialises in the most complex new music - performances of Ferneyhough, Dillon, Xenakis, Gervasoni, Birtwistle and Finnissy have won them worldwide praise - and experimental music, often presented alongside repertoire from the Renaissance or early baroque. He was Musical Director of the New London Chamber Choir www.nlcc.org.uk and Orlando Chamber Choir (www.orlandochoir.org.uk) from 2007-2011. In great demand as a guest conductor, he has worked with London Sinfonietta, BBC Singers, L'Instant Donné (Paris), Raschèr Saxophone Quartet, New Music Players, Endymion, IXION, I Fagiolini and Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, with whom he recorded Howard Skempton's Chamber Concerto for NMC. He is also much in demand as a choral animateur and tutor, and regularly leads courses for Dartington International Summer School. He is also active as an organ recitalist, pianist and writer on contemporary music, and broadcasts regularly on early and new music for BBC Radio 3. In 2006 he co-founded the ensemble Kürbis with the composer Claudia Molitor, dedicated to the performance of contemporary and experimental chamber music. The ensemble has performed in London (The Cutting Edge; Spitalfields Festival), Cambridge (Kettle's Yard), and at Soundwaves Brighton and recorded for Radio 3. In 2010 he was Artistic Associate of the Spitalfields Festival (London). He was appointed Associate Head of Composition at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, London, in September 2012." ^ Hide Bio for James Weeks • Show Bio for Juliet Fraser "Juliet Fraser was educated at the Purcell School as a first-study oboist and then at Cambridge University where she read Music and History of Art. It was whilst a student there that she started singing, in the chapel choir of Clare College; subsequently she sang with professional choirs such as Polyphony, Tenebrae, the Monteverdi Choir, The King's Consort, The Tallis Scholars and BBC Singers. In early music, she has worked with European consorts Ensemble Polyharmonique and Gli Angeli Genève. She was a regular member of the soloists of Collegium Vocale Gent, directed by Philippe Herreweghe, for six years, performing and recording Renaissance polyphony by Lassus, Vitoria, Gesualdo and Byrd. In new music, Juliet has performed as a soloist with Klangforum Wien, ICTUS, Plus-Minus, We Spoke: New Music Company, London Sinfonietta and BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra in festivals such as hcmf//, Tectonics Glasgow, Transit 20/21, Donaueschinger Musiktage, MaerzMusik and Wien Modern. Recently, she has created duo projects with pianist Mark Knoop and percussionist Maxime Echardour. She has premièred well over 100 works, many of which have been written for her, working particularly closely with composers Michael Finnissy, Bernhard Lang, Rebecca Saunders, Stefano Gervasoni, Frank Denyer, Christopher Fox, Matthew Shlomowitz, Cassandra Miller and Andrew Hamilton. Juliet is principal soprano of EXAUDI, the acclaimed contemporary music vocal ensemble, which she founded in 2002 with composer/conductor James Weeks and with whom she makes regular appearances at major European festivals such as Aldeburgh, Spitalfields, hcmf//, ManiFeste, Festival d'Automne, Ars Musica, Wittener Tage and Darmstadt Ferienkurse. Opera roles include Neige in Catherine Kontz's NEIGE at Grand Théatre de Luxembourg (2013), Tina in Limbus Limbo by Stefano Gervasoni at Musica Strasbourg, Automne en Normandie, Opera de Reims and Opera Comique, Paris (2012), and Grace Hartigan in Larry Goves's I do this I do that (2011). Juliet has been nominated twice for an RPS Award in the Singer category and is currently supported by Aldeburgh Music's Open Space scheme. Her first dedicated solo disc, a recording of Morton Feldman's Three Voices, was released on the HatHut label in November 2016." ^ Hide Bio for Juliet Fraser • Show Bio for Cathy Bell "Cathy Bell, mezzo, has established a varied career in opera, ensemble and particularly oratorio work, coming to notice for the innate musicality and sensitivity to text that she brings to every performance. Recent highlights include the role of Venus in Pepusch Venus and Adonis for the Valletta International Baroque Festival, and Second Witch in the Academy of Ancient Music's highly acclaimed Dido and Aeneas at the Barbican." ^ Hide Bio for Cathy Bell • Show Bio for Michael Hickman "Michael Hickman is a freelance Baritone who works as both a soloist and ensemble singer, and is based in London. Michael is a member of the Choir of St James's Church, Spanish Place, and sings regularly for ensembles including BBC Singers, EXAUDI, Westminster Cathedral Choir and Temple Church Choir. As a soloist he frequently appears for choral societies, in recital, and in operas. Michael began his musical education as a chorister in the Choir of Magdalen College, Oxford, and at the Junior Royal Academy of Music, London, where he was awarded the Ann Lampard Singing Prize. Michael read for a BA in Music at Durham University, where he held a choral scholarship in the Choir of Durham Cathedral, and additionally in his final year, the role of Assistant Director of Music at St Mary's College. After leaving university, Michael held the post of Lay Clerk in the Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford for four years, under the direction of Dr Stephen Darlington. As an ensemble singer, Michael has performed for groups including BBC Singers, EXAUDI, Stile Antico, Dunedin Consort, and Opus Anglicanum. He also sings frequently for the choirs of Westminster Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, St Paul's Cathedral and Temple Church. Michael is a heavily featured soloist in the Choir of Christ Church Cathedral Oxford's series of five recordings of music from the Eton Choirbook, and two of these were nominated for Gramophone Awards. Michael also works extensively as a concert soloist. Recent highlights include Handel Messiah at Southwell Minster, Bach St Matthew Passion (Armonico Consort) at St John's Smith Square, Fauré Requiem (David Hill and the Southern Sinfonia, Bath Choral Society, Armonico Consort) Mozart Coronation Mass (St Mary's Singers, Sydney, Australian Chamber Orchestra) in St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney, Duruflé Requiem and Messe cum Jubilo (Collegium Musicum of London) at Temple Church, Pärt Passio (Cappella Lascensis) in Cologne, Vaughan Williams Dona Nobis Pacem (Collegium Musicum of London), Bach Christmas Oratorio (Instruments of Time and Truth), Orff Carmina Burana, Elgar The Dream of Gerontius, Mendelssohn Elijah, Bach St John Passion (Pilate), and Rossini Petite Messe Solennelle. In opera, Michael has performed the role of Valentin in Gounod Faust (Brent Opera), Morales and Dancairo in Bizet Carmen (Windsor and Eton Opera), Silvano in Verdi Un Ballo in Maschera (Windsor and Eton Opera), Maximillian in Bernstein Candide (King's Opera) and Jupiter in Offenbach Orpheus in the Underworld (Opera Integra). In addition, Michael has sung in the Chorus of Opera Holland Park and participated in workshops with British Youth Opera. In recital, Michael has performed Butterworth Songs from a Shropshire Lad (Swiss Church, Covent Garden, Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford), Vaughan Williams Songs of Travel (New College Chapel, Oxford, St. Bride's, Fleet Street), John Ireland Songs of a Wayfarer (St. Bride's, Fleet Street), Brahms Lieder op.105 (St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney) and Arnold Bax 2 Fantasias on Polish Carols (St John's, Smith Square)." ^ Hide Bio for Michael Hickman
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Track Listing:
1. Colour Residua 10:53
2. Pulse/Shade 19:02
3. Parallaxis Forma 26:00Cardboard Gatefold
Compositional Forms
Ambient & Minimal Music
Electro-Acoustic
Unusual Vocal Forms
Electro-Acoustic
Electroacoustic Composition
Large Ensembles
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New in Compositional Music
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Another Timbre.
 | Denyer, Frank / Octandre Ensemble Screens (Another Timbre) |
| An exceptional collection of works by composer Frank Denyer written between 1973 and 2021, especially the monumental 5-part "Five Views of the Path", performed by the UK Octandre Ensemble led by composer Christian Mason and conductor Jon Hargreaves, which focuses on modern composers with an emphasis on works of timbre and ritual, Denyer's work being an ideal match. | |
 | Lamb, Catherine / Kristofer Svensson Translucent Harmonies - two duos for violin and viola, performed by andPlay (Another Timbre) |
| The New York-based andPlay duo of violinist Maya Bennardo and violist Hannah Levinson perform two extended works commissioned for their performance series, Translucent Harmonies: first an acoustic rendering of Catherine Lamb's "Prisma Interius VIII (Melodic Duo)"; then Kristofer Svensson's work of contrasts, surprises, modulations, and transformations. | |
 | Crane, Laurence Natural World (Another Timbre) |
| A work for voice, piano and electronics from experimental composer Laurence Crane, working with the closely associated UK ensemble Apartment House, Natural World is in three sections--"Field Guide", "Chorus" and "Seascape"--with vocalist Juliet Fraser and pianist & electronic artist Mark Knoop, Crane's work describing the natural world and portending the fragility of our ecosystems. | |
 | 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. | |
 | Lonsdale, Eden Clear and Hazy Moons (Another Timbre) |
| Splitting the album between two ensembles, UK composer Eden Lonsdale's beautifully languid compositions are performed first by Apartment House, and then by the young Rothko Collective, the four pieces showing Lonsdale's development of writing for harmony, timbre and resonance into works focused on the passing of time and the integration of prominent melodic elements. | |
 | Sugimoto, Taku Octet (Meenna) |
| Part of Japanese composer Taku Sugimoto's Solo for Strings series, these works focus on bowed stringed instruments played only with natural harmonics, arranged with clarinets and flute, using long tones and repetition that allow the performer decisions on their length, performed by a Berlin-based octet including Catherine Lamb, Johnny Change, Samuel Dunscombe, &c. | |
 | 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. | |
 | Leith, Oliver Me Hollywood (Another Timbre) |
| Five chamber works written by composer UK Oliver Leith, the debut CD release from the creative music group Explore Ensemble including a piece they commissioned--Me Hollywood--, the compositions spanning four years of work and reflecting a sort of portrait of the composer as he experiments with unusual arrangements, sampling sounds, and new instruments. | |
 | Weeks, James Summer (Another Timbre) |
| Five chamber works from UK composer James Week performed by Explore Ensemble, developing works extending the poetic idea of a piece as an imaginary or remembered space by exploring combinations of instruments such as the mixed instrumental duos, the use of slow-moving or static background harmonics, and intimate instrumental idioms based on long, breath-length sounds. | |
 | Lamb, Catherine / Harmonic Space Orchestra Prisma Interius VII 7 VIII (Sacred Realism) |
| Two hauntingly beautiful works in microtonal composer and violist Catherine Lamb's "Prisma Interius" series, the first a duo with violinist Johnny Change and Xavier Lopez on the "secondary rainbow synthesizer", which channels the sound outside of the performance space as a generator of ambient sound; then a sextet of strings and winds with two secondary rainbow synthesizers. | |
 | Oceans Roar 1000 Drums [VINYL] (Sacred Realism) |
| Their first proper vinyl release since forming in 2008, this studio album recorded in Berlin finds Berlin saxophonist and electronic artist Bryan Eubanks, double bassist Andrew Lafkas, and NY drummer & cymbal player Tod Capp in an extended and dark improvisation, with Catherine Lamb's "secondary rainbow synthesizer" interacting and filtering their work as a 4th member. | |
 | Denyer, Frank The Boundaries of Intimacy (Another Timbre) |
| A set of varied compositions from Frank Denyer, most of them of a delicate acoustic intimacy, with works for female singers & flute, two works for koto, a string quartet, one for flute and electronics and the two-part "Frog" for a bowed stringed instrument of Denyer design, the "sneh"; uncategorizable music of sublime imagination and unusual approaches. | |
| Denyer, Frank / Octandre Ensemble Screens (Another Timbre) |
| An exceptional collection of works by composer Frank Denyer written between 1973 and 2021, especially the monumental 5-part "Five Views of the Path", performed by the UK Octandre Ensemble led by composer Christian Mason and conductor Jon Hargreaves, which focuses on modern composers with an emphasis on works of timbre and ritual, Denyer's work being an ideal match. | |
 | Frey, Jurg / Apartment House String Trio (Another Timbre) |
| Reworking a piece for string trio originally commissioned by the Concertgebouw Brugge and premiered by the Goeyvaerts Trio as part of the 2019 SLOW Festival, this new version expands on the original composition to bring elegant calmness and clarity to the work, performed by UK's Apartment House members Mira Benjamin on violin, Bridget Carey on viola and Anton Lukoszevieze on cello. | |
 | Pateras, Anthony A Dread of Voids (Another Timbre) |
| Two works written for a group of Australian performers living in Berlin--Jon Heilbron, Rebecca Lane, Jess Aszodi & Sam Dunscombe--by Australian composer and pianist Anthony Pateras, A Dread Of Voids developed for a residency at the Archipel Festival in Geneva after enduring a pandemic quarantine; and Patterned Language, composed for the Astra Chamber Music Society. | |
 | Granberg, Magnus Evening Star, Vesper Bell (Another Timbre) |
| Written for and performed by the UK ensemble Apartment House, composer & performer Magnus Granberg's latest work reduces his working size from the larger Skogen ensemble to this sextet, opening new possibilities for composed structures that incorporate improvisation, in a work structured around components from Schubert's Abendbilder and So in Love by Cole Porter. | |
Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought:
 | Sikora, Catherine / Susan Alcorn Filament (Relative Pitch) |
| The first meeting of tenor saxophonist Catherine Sikora and pedal steel guitarist Susan Alcorn was at the Zurcher Gallery in New York City in 2022, an inventive dialog of free improvisation split between three "Filaments", their interaction ranging from delicate dialog to asservite discourse in a wonderfully expressive concert of sincere affinity. | |
 | Arnold, Martin Flax (Another Timbre) |
| Commissioned in 2020 by pianist Philip Thomas, whose health prevented him from performing the work, Canadian composer Martin Arnold's 79-minute hypnotic solo work for piano emphasizes the keyboard's upper register in slow moving textural melodies influenced by innovative 50's & 60's bop pianists, performed in 2022 at the University of Huddersfield by pianist Kerry Yong. | |
 | Armaroli, Sergio / Evan Parker Dialog (ezz-thetics by Hat Hut Records Ltd) |
| Recording remotely in a call-and-response, vibraphonist Sergio Armaroli and saxophonist Evan Parker resolved an issue of recording in the same physical space by interleaving recordings of solo improvisations recorded in response to each other's sequential recordings, Armaroli with the 6-part "Two Rooms One Vibraphone" and Parker with the 5-part "Interludes". | |
 | Gush (Gustafsson / Sandell / Strid) Afro Blue (Trost Records) |
| Recorded in 1998 but sounding absolutely modern, exuberant and often explosively inspired, this live recording at Jazzclub Fasching in Stockholm brings the then 10-year collaboration of drummer Raymond Strid, pianist Sten Sandel and saxophonist Mats Gustafsson to ecstatic heights, bridging free jazz forms and rendering Coltranes "Afro Blues" with intense passion. | |
 | Gustafsson, Mats Hidros 9 Mirrors (Trost Records) |
| Forming his NU Ensemble in 1997 to merge free-jazz, improv, noise and contemporary forms, Mats Gustafsson presented Hidros One for 9 improvisers, tape & conductor that same year, progressing over 25 years to this 9th conduction of the Hidros concept in his largest ensemble yet: 25 musicians in two 9-piece ensembles plus soloists, captured live at the 2022 Avant Art Festival in Warsaw, Poland. | |
 | Gustafsson, Mats / Ensemble E EE Opus One (Trost Records) |
| Merging contemporary and traditional instruments, including the spilapipa (a fipple flute), hardanger fiddle, the Bilgoraj suka (a vertical fiddle), alongside prepared piano, organ, trumpet, tuba, baritone sax & voice, Mats Gustafsson's ensemble merges folk, experimental forms, improv & free jazz in a conduction shaped by the participants; absolutely unique & fascinating. | |
 | Sanchez, Angelica Nonet Nighttime Creatures (Pyroclastic Records) |
| Assembling a masterful set of New York jazz luminaries including Michael Attias, Ben Goldberg, John Hebert, Thomas Heberer, Sam Ospovat, Chris Speed, Omar Tamez and Kenny Warren, pianist Angelic Sanchez tailors her compositions to these players through nine original compositions, along with Ellington's "Lady of the Lavender Mist" and "Tristeza" by Amarndo Carvajal. | |
 | Rothenberg, Ned (w / Courvoisier / Halvorson / Fujiwara) Crossings Four (Clean Feed) |
| Crossing styles, generations and approaches to improvisations, multi-reedist and composer Ned Rothenberg's quartet of Rothenberg on clarinets & alto sax, Sylvie Courvoisier on piano, Mary Halvorson on guitar & effects and Tomas Fujiwara on drums perform five Rothenberg compositions and one by Rothenberg & Courvoisier, of spectacular timbral, rhythmic and melodic intersections. | |
 | Frith, Fred / Sudhu Tewari / Cenk Ergn Lock Me Up, Lock Me Down (Carrier Records) |
| Recorded thirteen years before this release and rediscovered during pandemic lockdowns, the improvising and extremely open-minded trio of Fred Frith on electric guitar, Sudhu Tewari on percussion (or as credited, "recuperated junk") and Cenk Ergun on electronics recorded these seven superb improvisations in the studio at Expression College for Digital Arts, in Emeryville, CA. | |
 | Gayle, Phillip Mammoth Flower (Public Eyesore) |
| A psychedelic set of recordings based around the guitar work of Philip Gayle, improvised, recorded, and layered into diverse experiments in sound and performed on banjo, bass, cello, door, guitars, mandolin, percussion, piano, toy piano, voice, ukulele and waterphone, with guests including saxophonist Shogo Ohshima and vocalists Shizka Ueda, Omusubisan and Fuuchan. | |
