Tim Rutherford-Johnson's Blog, page 5

ICE and Music on the Rebound to present Pauline Oliveros’s The World Wide Tuning Meditation

The following press release just landed in my inbox. This looks like a terrific idea – I might see you there – and I’m pasting it here without addition: International Contemporary Ensemble and Music on the Rebound Present Pauline Oliveros’ The World Wide Tuning Meditation Hosted by Ione and Claire Chase Live on Saturday, March 28, … Continue reading ICE and Music on the Rebound to present Pauline Oliveros’s The World Wide Tuning Meditation →

Isolation Chamber: Alvin Lucier’s Nothing Is Real

Circumstances change how we hear things. Our ears, connected to our minds, connected to our bodies, moving through the air, touching and being touched, penetrating and distancing, hear differently in different situations. This was clear to me today as I listened to Alvin Lucier’s Nothing Is Real (1990), the first in a series of weekly free … Continue reading Isolation Chamber: Alvin Lucier’s Nothing Is Real →

Playlists for the Long Distancing

We’re going to be indoors for a long time now. In case it helps ease the pressure, I’m going to be revisiting my back catalogue of new music playlists and posting things here every weekend. Some of these lists regular readers will have seen before; some of them will be new collections. (Or at least … Continue reading Playlists for the Long Distancing →

Washing together

(With apologies to Frederic Rzewski and Samuel Melville.) And my favourite recording of this much-loved piece:

Sparrows in the hedge

The most striking things I heard today were the sparrows. Most of them live in the hedge at the end of our garden, where it backs onto the railway, but there are some under the eaves where our house joins our neighbours’. Last year there were two broods born in the hedge, and this year … Continue reading Sparrows in the hedge →

Sent to hospital – by Symkevi!

[NB this post was begun around ten days ago, while I was still in hospital. I’m out now, and have been for a few days. I haven’t bothered to change the tenses though.] I’m back in hospital. I’ve got an IV line in my arm, a ventilation machine by my bed and an antibiotic drip … Continue reading Sent to hospital – by Symkevi! →

Albums to look out for in 2020

This is the season of end-of-year lists (I’m pleased to see several of my top 10 make it into The Wire‘s albums of the year). But it is also a time of year when many great recordings are still coming out that might get overlooked in twelve months’ time. I want to give quick shoutouts … Continue reading Albums to look out for in 2020 →

This is not a love story: Chaya Czernowin’s Heart Chamber

Chaya Czernowin’s fourth opera, Heart Chamber, will receive its premiere at Deutsche Oper Berlin on 15 November, and subsequent performances on 21, 26 and 30 November, and 6 December. Tickets and other information can be found here. The following essay is a longer version of the text that is published (in German, translated by Wieland Hoban) … Continue reading This is not a love story: Chaya Czernowin’s Heart Chamber →

Speaking appearances, November 2019

I will be talking about music in two settings next week. On Tuesday, 5 November, I will be at the University of Huddersfield as a contributor (with Robert Adlington and Aaron Cassidy) to the first session in this year’s Speculations in Sound, a five-week series of seminar/workshop afternoons discussing the role and place of new … Continue reading Speaking appearances, November 2019 →

New piece, FEV1/FVC premiering at Deep Minimalism festival

Kathryn Williams will be including a short piece of mine in her performance of one-breath pieces Coming Up for Air as part of the Deep Minimalism festival at the Purcell Room, Southbank Centre this weekend. I am absolutely thrilled. Coming up for Air is an ongoing project of Kathryn’s, in which she collects and performs … Continue reading New piece, FEV1/FVC premiering at Deep Minimalism festival →