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Digital Discoveries 2: On Shifting Ground British Music Collection | Sound and Music 1 RICHARD BAKER Angelus 5’25 2 PHILIP CASHIAN Stroke 4’11 3 MICHAEL ZEV GORDON Resolution 6’23 THREE STRANGE ANGELS 4 JOSEPH PHIBBS Ritual Songs and Blessings 16’38 5 JOHN COONEY On Shifting Ground 3'53 6 GRAHAM FITKIN Ardent 14’28 7 JOHN COONEY Chasing Shadows 7’28 8 JOSEPH PHIBBS Fanfares for Harry 3’24 CHROMA Total timing 61’52 THE MUSIC [1] RICHARD BAKER Angelus for percussion duo Richard Benjafield and Chris Brannick are two performers whom I have worked with many times in various ensembles, and I am always dazzled by their virtuosity, and amused by the air of pacific calm which surrounds them, even when confronted with the most heroic or extravagant parts to execute. In celebration of the founding of their new ensemble, Three Strange Angels, I wrote this little piece for tuned cowbells, crotales, tuned gongs and vibraphone. The title alludes not only to the name of the ensemble, but also to the insistent chiming and air of quiet reflection and meditation. Richard Baker Richard Baker is a leading figure on the British contemporary music scene as a composer-conductor. He studied composition in the Netherlands with Louis Andriessen and in London with John Woolrich, Hommagesquisse, was commissioned by BCMG to mark Pierre Boulez’s visit to that city in 2008. Richard’s compositions have been performed by the London Sinfonietta, BCMG, Britten Sinfonia, the Composers Ensemble, the Brunel Ensemble and the BBC Singers amongst many others. In 2010 his music was featured in the Philharmonia’s Music of Today series, and the same year he wrote Gaming, a substantial chamber work for cello, marimba and piano, to a commission from the New York-based trio Real Quiet. Other recent commissions include Written on a train, commissioned by the Borletti-Buitoni Trust for mezzo-soprano Christianne Stotijn; Munby Songs, a cycle of songs for baritone Christopher Purves and pianist Andrew West; and a BCMG Sound Investment commission, The Tyranny of Fun, in 2013. As a conductor, Richard works regularly with the leading composers of our day. In 2011 he conducted Gerald Barry’s opera The Intelligence Park in Dublin, to high acclaim. [2] PHILIP CASHIAN Stroke for percussion duo Stroke was written in 2001 for Chris Brannick and Richard Benjafield. It is based on a solo percussion piece written several years earlier called Tag. Philip Cashian Philip Cashian's music has been commissioned, performed and broadcast worldwide. Among his many commissions are: Night Journeys (1998), a double concerto for timpani and percussion for the London Symphony Orchestra; Spitbite for the Britten Sinfonia; Io for the BBC National Orchestra of Wales; Three Pieces for chamber orchestra and Skein for Birmingham Contemporary Music Group. 2008 also saw the premiere of his first opera, The Cumnor Affair, for Tête à Tête Opera Company at the Riverside Studios, London. In 2004/05 he was the composer in residence at the Centre for Young Musicians and has written numerous pieces for children and amateur musicians; and in 2007 he became Head of Composition at the Royal Academy of Music. His music has been recorded by NMC on Dark Inventions and The House of Night. [3] MICHAEL ZEV GORDON Resolution for percussion duo This piece was written specially for Three Strange Angels and the BMIC’s Critical Notice recordings in the first instance. The music jumps quickly back and forth between passages of very different temperaments – from the very static to the extremely agitated; from the almost tonal to the densely chromatic. Towards the end, a series of harmonies slowly come into focus that recall, if hazily, some ‘low’ Brazilian bossa nova, arising out of the gestures of ‘high’ modernism. Many contradictions are looking for resolution… Michael Zev Gordon Born in London in 1963, Michael Zev Gordon is Professor of Composition at the University of Birmingham. His works have been performed by leading artists, including Britten Sinfonia, de Volharding, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, Endymion, CHROMA, the BBC Singers and EXAUDI. Awards include the 2004 Prix Italia for A Pebble in the Pond, an extended radiophonic work on the subject of memory; and twice winner of the choral category of the British Composer Awards in 2008 and 2011. Gordon has been a featured composer at the Park Lane Group series at London’s South Bank and on the CoMA summer school. Significant projects of recent years include The Impermanence of Things for piano, ensemble and electronics, commissioned by the London Sinfonietta (shortlisted for the large-scale composition category in the Royal Philharmonic Awards 2010); and the NMC release On Memory, played by Andrew Zolinsky, and chosen as one of The Times’ top 10 contemporary albums of 2009. Allele, for 40 voices, was premiered in 2010 by the New London Chamber Choir and James Weeks to critical acclaim. 2011 saw the commission of Act 1 of Icarus, a chamber opera, for the Tête-à-Tête Opera Festival at the Riverside Studios, repeated at the Royal Opera House’s ‘Exposure’ in 2012. That year also saw the first performance of a BBC commission, Bohortha (Seven Pieces for Orchestra), given by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Neeme Järvi at the Barbican in London. [4] JOSEPH PHIBBS Ritual Songs and Blessings for oboe, bass clarinet, French horn, piano, violin, viola and cello Ritual Songs and Blessings, originally commissioned for the 2002 Spitalfields Festival, comprises five short movements, each of which corresponds in style to the songs used in the ancient Yemenite Jewish marriage ceremony. A number of folk songs are integrated into the piece, although these rarely appear in their original form and are not restricted solely to songs of the Yemen, but rather from across the Jewish folk tradition. The ceremony as a whole may be regarded as a symbolic dialogue between God (the bridegroom) and Israel, of the human soul (the bride). The first of the five sections, the halleloth, traditionally presents paraphrases of psalm verses, although these are represented here by the slow emergence of an Israeli folk song, ‘Sholf, mayn feygele’ (‘Sleep, my pet’). A wild, melismatic clarinet solo is featured in the zafat (‘Processional Song’) that follows, which leads in turn to the nashid (‘Lament of the Bride’), highlighting the oboe. Following a lively hiddujjoth (‘Song of Joy after the Nuptial Ceremony’) the horn takes centre stage for the final shiroth (‘Love Song of the Bridegroom’). Joseph Phibbs Joseph Phibbs studied with Param Vir, Harrison Birtwistle and Steven Stucky among others. His works have been performed by leading ensembles including the London Sinfonietta, Britten Sinfonia, BBC Symphony Orchestra and London Symphony Orchestra. Much of his output has been broadcast on BBC Radio 3, and he has also written for the theatre. Large-scale works include In Camera and Lumina (both BBC Symphony Orchestra commissions) and The Spiralling Night, premiered by National Youth Wind Ensemble. His largest chamber work to date, The Canticle of the Rose, was premiered at Wigmore Hall by Lisa Milne and the Belcea Quartet, and shortlisted for the 2006 RPS Chamber Music Prize; it has been recorded by NMC in the Debut Discs series, along with Flex (a joint RPS/BBC commission), and From Shore to Shore, a song cycle for countertenor and guitar based on poems by Nicholas Heiney. Since 2003 Phibbs has combined his composing career with teaching at the Purcell School and the editing and promoting of Britten's music; he is a director of the Britten Estate. [5] JOHN COONEY On Shifting Ground for clarinet, piano, violin and cello On Shifting Ground is a short piece that sets out to explore extremes of music within a compressed form. Beginning with a spacious soundworld of crystalline harmonies the music quickly generates a frantic, propulsive energy that in turn subsides to reveal the short passage of fragile and delicate music with which the piece ends. The title was suggested by the opening section, where a series of chords stated in rhythmic unison by the ensemble gradually dislocate, and in so doing create the energy which propels the music forward. On Shifting Ground was commissioned by the London Sinfonietta. John Cooney John Cooney recently spent a three-year period as Composer in Association to the Allegri Quartet, for whom he is currently completing a substantial new work. Other projects include a commission from the Nash Ensemble and works for soprano and ensemble, solo piano and two koto. John Cooney is also active in the education field. He was recently appointed composition teacher at the Yehudi Menuhin School and also teaches at the Junior Department of the Royal Academy of Music. In addition he regularly devises and leads composition projects in schools and colleges, working with organisations such as the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Royal Festival Hall and Academy of St Martin in the Fields. He is increasingly sought after as an international consultant in music education, most recently working in Japan and Belgium. [6] GRAHAM FITKIN Ardent for flute, clarinet, marimba, piano, violin and cello Ardent was commissioned by the Vale of Glamorgan Festival in 1993. It was composed in the spring of that year and first performed at St Donats Castle in South Wales. Much of my music starts in a certain way and doesn’t deviate from those parameters set up at the opening. For instance if the piece is loud and fast then so be it for the whole thing. Ardent was the first piece in which I decided to incorporate different parameters (maybe different emotional slants) in the same piece. There are five distinct sections – fast, slow, fast, slow, fast.