Tim Rutherford-Johnson's Blog, page 9

Gaudeamus 2017 nominees: Ethan Braun

It’s Gaudeamus Muziekweek, and as part of the festival I’m conducting on-stage ‘meet the composer’ interviews with the five nominees for the Gaudeamus award for young composers. Every day this week (and in alphabetical order) I’m also posting my own short introduction to each composer here. Once they’re published, you’ll be able to find them … Continue reading Gaudeamus 2017 nominees: Ethan Braun →

I’m going to miss Soundcloud

It seems that Soundcloud is about to disappear: the sound-sharing website has only a few weeks, possibly months, of money left in the coffers and, if current reports are to be believed, once that has run out it will disappear. There are reports of backups being made, by archive.org and even individuals, but time will tell how … Continue reading I’m going to miss Soundcloud →

On Birtwistle, Deep Time and over-production

One thing I like about Harrison Birtwistle is that, rarely among composers of a more radical bent, he never feels he has to apologise for writing for orchestra. His orchestras feel and sound like orchestras – although often cleverly reimagined – and his ideas are scaled to the orchestra’s size. There’s something thrilling about seeing … Continue reading On Birtwistle, Deep Time and over-production →

Gaudeamus Award 2017 – nominee videos

Five composers have been nominated for the 2017 Gaudeamus Award. Here are each of their nominee videos. Chaz Underriner Sky Macklay Ethan Braun Aart Strootman Ivan Vukosavljević Filed under: Gaudeamus 2017, Music Tagged: Gaudeamus

Notes from hospital (1)

I am in hospital. It’s Tuesday now, almost midday, and I’m supposed to be here for two weeks. I came in around Friday lunchtime: 95 of my expected 336 hours down; 241 to go. Because I have cystic fibrosis my body makes a very hospitable home for infections, especially in my lungs. Every now and … Continue reading Notes from hospital (1) →

Catch me at Gaudeamus

The programme for September’s Gaudeamus Muziekweek has been published, and I’m pleased to note that I’ll be appearing not once but three times as part of the festival. On Saturday morning, 9 September, I’ll be on stage interviewing two of the Gaudeamus Award nominees, Sky Macklay and Chaz Underriner (I believe the website listing is … Continue reading Catch me at Gaudeamus →

So who is on that shortlist to build the LSO’s new home?

I’m intrigued by the shortlist of architectural firms announced today to build London’s new Centre for Music, and the future new home for the London Symphony Orchestra. It’s no big surprise to see the names of Renzo Piano, Foster and Partners and Gehry Partners associated with a project of this scale and prestige (Rogers Stirk … Continue reading So who is on that shortlist to build the LSO’s new home? →

Only Connect

No, not that one. This one. I’ll be appearing at Oslo’s Only Connect new music festival in two weeks to talk about Music After the Fall. If you’re in the area come and say hi. My bit’s at lunchtime on Friday 19 May, but there’s lots else going as well, including Jennifer Walshe’s EVERYTHING IS IMPORTANT, which is currently taking … Continue reading Only Connect →

Some recent CDs

Self Portrait by Brooklyn composer and multimedia artist Grant Cutler (innova 961) is composed of artists improvising to recordings of themselves, the results heavy with loops, delays and textures. innova’s press release dresses this up as ‘an act of memoir, an active reimagining of the self’. I think that’s stretching a point: if that’s what these tracks … Continue reading Some recent CDs →

#promsnewmusic 2017

Iiiit’s Proms time! For the definitive list of new music in this year’s festival see below, or follow  #promsnewmusic on Twitter. A few quick observations: women composers: 11 (down from 12 in 2015 (did I not do this list last year?)) 12 (edit: I’d missed Andrea Tarrodi in Prom 61). Non-white composers: 2. Birtwistle, Hillborg, Larcher, Adès, MacMillan and Dusapin: all … Continue reading #promsnewmusic 2017 →