Blog
New recording
A recording of my recent piece Struction (how I attempted… is now available here. It’s a bootleg-esque recording from the first performance given by Red Note.
A little confession: I’m not entirely sure this piece works as an audio recording. If you do listen, bear in mind that the voice of the composer is disembodied – the “composer” isn’t in the room and his voice is delivered through loudspeakers. Without pictures, however, you won’t see the physical exertions of the ensemble as they react to this voice. It’s deliberately physical music.
As normal, Struction was conceived as a concert piece (and these days I’m always thinking about the relationship between music its context) and hearing this recording reinforces my belief that live musical performance and audio recordings are two completely different mediums, each with their idiosyncrasies. Why do we so often consider them the same when composing?
Mazsalaca 2
Here is a short sketch of mine that was performed by the ReDo string quartet during the 5th International Workshop for Composers in Mazsalaca, Latvia, last week. I can’t praise ReDo highly enough; they are four young, very talented players with so much warmth and enthusiasm for music (“we’ll play anything so long as it’s good”). It was a pleasure to spend time in their company, in and out of the rehearsal room.
ReDo with composers: back row l-r; Peteris Ozolins (cello), Rei Munakata (composer), Arturs Gailis (viola), me, Konstantins Paturskis (2nd violin); front row l-r; Anitra Tumsevica (composer), Madara Jaugiete (1st violin); Photograph by Andris Dzenitis.
