Tim Rutherford-Johnson's Blog, page 8

Radio Rambler – International Women’s Day 2018

Today is International Women’s Day, and as usual I have updated the Radio Rambler Spotify playlist with all-women composers. A year ago, the PRS Foundation published an evaluation of the first five years of its Women Make Music initiative, which revealed that 78% of interviewees said they had experienced sexism within the music industry. At the … Continue reading Radio Rambler – International Women’s Day 2018 →

RIP Klaus K. Hübler

I just read of the sad passing of Klaus K. Hübler. Hübler’s career was halted for several years by illness in the 1990s, although I’m not sure if there is a connection. He is remembered chiefly for his innovations in the ‘decoupling’ of instrumental technique – whereby individual performer actions (fingers, lips, bows, breath etc) … Continue reading RIP Klaus K. Hübler →

An Assembly play Feldman and Lukoszevieze

This Thursday, 22 February at Hackney Round Chapel, 7.30pm: Jack Sheen’s An Assembly present a rare performance of one of Morton Feldman’s final works, Words and Music, a collaboration with one of the 20th century’s greatest writers, Samuel Beckett. Originally conceived as a radio-play, this 40-minute piece exhibits two of the 20th century’s greatest artists at their … Continue reading An Assembly play Feldman and Lukoszevieze →

Walshe, Hartman, Takasugi, Distractfold, Kammerklang

I’m not finding time to plug as many concerts as I would like at the moment, but this one looks pretty special: the next installment of Kammerklang‘s 2017/18 season at Café Oto. Manchester’s brilliant Distractfold Ensemble play works by Hanna Hartman (pictured) and Steven Kazuo Takasugi; and Jennifer Walshe performs her There Was a Visitor. The … Continue reading Walshe, Hartman, Takasugi, Distractfold, Kammerklang →

Borough New Music in 2018

One of the more intriguing developments in London’s new music scene in 2017 was the founding of the Borough New Music series by pianist Clare Simmonds. These lunchtime concerts take place every Tuesday now at St George the Martyr Church on Borough High Street, near the famous market, in the shadow of the Shard and … Continue reading Borough New Music in 2018 →

2017: Sounds of the Year

I like to think not only of recordings of the year, but sounds of the year. My musical (sometimes simply auditory) experiences are all organised similarly in my mind, around moments in time and their subsequent reverberations; and that goes equally for things on record as it does for things heard live. So here goes. … Continue reading 2017: Sounds of the Year →

Late review: Ragnar Kjartansson, An die Musik @ LCMF

Five singer/pianist pairs play Schubert’s ‘An die Musik’, on a loop and at their own speed, together, in the same space, for seven hours. That’s the summary of Kjartansson’s piece. But it was one of those curious things that the more you watched and heard, the more you noticed and the more complex it became. … Continue reading Late review: Ragnar Kjartansson, An die Musik @ LCMF →

Alba New Music Festival, Edinburgh

Just a quick heads-up if you’re in the Edinburgh area this weekend that I will be appearing at the Alba New Music Festival on Saturday morning, speaking with John Hails on the subject of ‘Challenging Times/Challenging Music’. Events at the same venue straight afterwards include Simon Cummings introducing the music of John Wall, and a … Continue reading Alba New Music Festival, Edinburgh →

Quick thoughts on language, composition and ‘post-genre’ music

I was intrigued by this article by Bienen School of Music senior Hannah Schiller, recently published in NewMusicBox. Schiller tackles the thorny subjects of language, specifically how we describe certain kinds of music-making, in a post-genre context. I absolutely agree: language is a problem. What do we call what that musical stuff that our community likes … Continue reading Quick thoughts on language, composition and ‘post-genre’ music →

Is Culture (Necessarily) Digital?

Extraordinary column from Ed Vaizey in this week’s The Drum. Under the headline ‘The tech revolution is barely touching the world of culture – and it should be’ Vaizey, the former minister for culture, communications and sport,  writes that the ‘technology revolution is barely touching the world of culture’. Vaizey is writing on behalf of … Continue reading Is Culture (Necessarily) Digital? →