Classical Music Now

Today we’re chatting improv and Adès with the Vonnegut Collective. An enjoyably Coronavirus-free interview recorded back in March with a healthy dose of silliness and fun to complement the deep thoughts on what makes a good piece, and the place of improvisation in music education.

Vonnegut Collective - https://vonnegutcollective.co.uk/

Links and Show Notes

Remix Ensemble

Frank Zappa - The Yellow Shark - Intro

Rem Koolhaas architect

As Gemma won’t give us her favourite Dire Straits song, here’s Spotify’s

Django Bates

Markus Stockhausen

Cornelius Cardew Scratch Orchestra

John Stevens - Search & Reflect

Iceberg

https://vonnegutcollective.co.uk/projects/thomas-ades-tullis-rennie/

Adès Piano Quintet score (check out the sorta uncoupled piano in the first movement)

Tullis Rennie - Muscle Memory (it’s really cool)

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Today we are blessed with a great window into the world of arts reviewing and writing thanks to Hugh Morris, and the similarities and differences to creative writing thanks to Georgia Affonso.

The pair collaborated on a piece for No Dice Collective in 2019 based on a photo of Anthony Burgess (the Clockwork Orange guy) walking his dog, and we share the stories behind the piece in this episode and play the piece in full.

Hugh Morris - https://www.facebook.com/hughmorrismusic
Georgia Affonso - https://twitter.com/georgia_writes

Links and Show Notes

Harrison Birtwistle Mask of Orpheus - ENO

ENO Baylis scheme

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Today I’m thrilled to share an interview with Adam and Rakhi of Manchester Collective. Emerging in 2017, they're already an established part of the Manchester scene thanks to their impressive work ethic and immersive concert experiences.

We discover their origin story: how the group was founded, its roots in changing the makeup of classical audiences, and how they came into the world seemingly full-formed with three seasons planned ahead (hint: a whole year of planning).

We also find out what their secret sauce is, their ‘warts and all’ approach to live performance, and Adam’s #logisticslife revealing the glamorous world of lighting rig updates and taping down crystal glasses that makes a concert really shine.

Manchester Collective - https://manchestercollective.co.uk/

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Black Angels score Google search

Black Angels performance

Quote from Black Angels: “The crystal glasses should be goblet-shaped. A fine grade of crystal will produce a truly beautiful effect. The glasses should be mounted on a board (by taping).”

Alphabet

Islington Mill

Heinrich Biber - Battalia à 10 (1673) Check out the col legno (back of the bow) in movement one, the nuts dissonance in movement two, and the musket fire in movement seven!

Australian Chamber Orchestra

Rakhi performs Spiegel im Spiegel

After the Tryst (not Rakhi)

Russian Ark

One of those incredible live Nina Simone performances

Intro/outro music: Goodbye by Luke Mather

I chat with composer David McFarlane and writer Gregory Kearns on their 2018 collaboration about the Christmas apocalypse, which all stemmed from a set of small bells David received in a Christmas cracker set.

As well as hearing excerpts of their piece, Carol For Our Children, performed by No Dice Collective, we branch out into chats about leading community workshops, space to make mistakes, struggling to take our own creative advice, hang-ups about writing overtly emotional work, and the role of intuition and emotion vs formalised thinking in the creative process.

A really interesting, cross-disciplinary chat that touches on broad themes of individual creative processes. Should be interesting to anyone with a creative urge!

David McFarlane - https://d-mcf.com/
Gregory Kearns - https://twitter.com/gregorykearns

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David McFarlane’s eye-tracking head theramin

Cath Snow

33 ⅓ Series: 93. J Dilla’s Donuts

Alicia Keys, John Mayer & Questlove- If I ain't got you / Gravity

Tweet us your poem!

Jonathan Harvey famous bell piece

Meet The Composer Podcast - New Music Fight Club (great name)

NB: My non-binary life

Christmas in L.A. - Vulfpeck

Christmas In L.A. - The Killers

The Handsome Family - So Much Wine

The Road OST - Nick Cave & Warren Ellis

Hello there! Come on in…

Today I’m speaking to Czech composer Jiří Kadeřábek and No Dice pianist Jasmin Allpress about their shared journey bringing the piece Hindyish together.

We’ll hear how they worked across Europe via Skype and phone calls to bring the piece together, how Jiří makes this very stylistically post-modern piece sound cohesive, as well as walk through the piece itself before ending with a recording of Jasmin playing it at our Soloist concert of June 2018.

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Ligeti Piano Concerto

Carl Vine 5 Bagatelles

http://www.jirikaderabek.com/en/

https://www.larisatrio.co.uk/