Modern Music

La Mort Des Artistes - Ian Moore This work is the centre piece of a trilogy which is yet to be completed.  Written at a time when I was heavily influenced by the music of Pierre Boulez,  the titles of three compositions are reminiscent of 'Le Marteau sans Maitre'; the centre piece is a solo song based on the surrealist poem by Charles Baudelaire and it is framed by a prelude "Avant..." for solo clarinet and pre-recorded material and a postlude "Apres..." for mixed ensemble.  Unfortunately, "A vant  La Mort Des Artistes" has yet to be completed.  The technology and the opportunity in terms of orchestral resources are only now available to me. I believe that I will finish the piece soon. Out of all of my music as a young composer, I would say this work is one of the most important. This is because it closely defines the method of working for the following years and it even influences the way that I work today. The poem is at the heart o...

A newspaper report(Guardian) has revealed startling information about arts funding.  It says that spending public money on the arts was crucial, “not just for the good of society, but to nurture some of the best talent for our creative industries”.  “There is nothing ‘nice to have’ about the arts and the creative industries, there is nothing tangential, nothing ‘soft’. They are central to our economy, our public life and our nation’s health.” -  John Kampfner, the chief executive of the Creative Industries Federation It reveals a surprising figure; For every pound invested in arts and culture, an additional £1.06 is generated in the economy The reports also include some striking statistics. For example: •  Arts and culture is worth £7.7bn in gross value added to the British economy – an increase of 35.8% between 2010 and 2013. •  More than one in 12 UK jobs are in the creative economy, with employment increasing 5% between 2013 and 201...

I am writing this post to address the comments made in this article: "Why dissonant music strikes the wrong chord in the brain." The article reminds me of an investigation conducted by Plomp and Levelt on Tonal Consonance and the 'Critical Band Width Theory'. It explored the possibility that there is a natural human dislike of dissonance. Unfortunately, the experiment used 'sine' wave tones instead of real musical sounds which made the whole investigation 'void' in my eyes. Overtones experienced in 'real' music are rather different than those encountered in a science lab. The term "dissonant" presents another stumbling block as well. People from different cultures have a different concept about what is "dissonant" or what is "tonal". Confusingly, Plomp and Levelt use the same terms to indicate a completely different concept; in their case, it refers to a kind of tonal disturbance and not to ...

Sketch for orchestra is a short extract of a recent composition called "Narcissistic".  The original work began a few years ago.   Narcissistic (I) - revised version with percussion. It marks a significant change in the direction of my music.  Until recently, I have been writing chamber music (including a lot of solo instrumental pieces). Now, I have decided to mainly write for orchestra. This is a challenging decision because the economic situation at the moment means that it is incredibly difficult to get orchestral music performed. I already have two pieces of music that has yet to be performed, ("Transcience" and "La Cloche Felee") and they are nearly twenty years old. The thought of writing more music that is never played is an unwelcome one. The transition hasn't been easy either. Writing chamber music means you have the freedom to compose anything you want but with orchestral music many factors need to be taken into account. Co...

I was fortunate enough to attend last nights concert at the Barbican - the BBC Symphony Orchestra performing 'Notation' and 'Pli Selon Pli'.  Interestingly, both works are considerably old.  'Pi Selon Pli' was written at the end of the 1950s and 'Notation' was completed in piano form just at the end of the Second World War, pre Boulezian serialism.  Its present manifestation (for orchestra) begun in 1978 and was then reworked in 1984 and 1987.  "Pli Selon Pli" is over 50 years old.  In historical terms, it is halfway to being officially recognised as an antique.  "Notation" has been 'recycled'; it begun as a piano work and has been transformed into a modern orchestral work. In a modern terms, we would refer to this kind of recycling as something which has been "upcycled"; that's where recycled... ... old products are given more value, not less. (- Reiner Pilz) Imagine an item of furniture, at the en...

This can be described as music for the "‘the masses’  (through reference to  ‘their’  folk-music genres)  ... topical social and political ideologies,  chiefly nationalism and later,  at the start of the twentieth century,  evolutionism,  which influenced the composers’  selection of folk-music themes for their ... [compositions].  "  by  Rhoda Dullea

This is a prize that I can never see myself winning. The first obstacle is that I am not American.  I admire a lot of American music and a few of my British heroes have spent a long time in America building their career. Neither am I closely linked to music in the U.S.A. This is not a problem; every region has its own prestigious prize intended for their own countrymen and women. There certain expectations expected from a Pulitzer prize winner. Last year, it was John Adams forty minute orchestral work based on a single note group, " Become Ocean ".  The year before, it was  Partita for 8 Voices  by  Caroline Shaw   a mixture of vocal exploration and repetitive music. And so on..you probably get the picture; you have to be in the  America circle of composers and writing some form of repetitive music.  I don't fit the bill...never mind.   But are you happy with this? Do you think that it should perhaps be more open,...