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  • About
  • Patrons
  • The Lists
    • List of compositions reviewed on 5:4
    • List of albums and EPs reviewed on 5:4
    • Festivals reviewed on 5:4
    • Best Albums of the Years
    • The Proms premières – Poll results
    • Complete list of ratings
  • Mixtapes, etc.
  • Contact
    • Contact Form
    • Submission Contact Form
5:4
CD/Digital releasesFree internet musicThematic series

Free internet music: Christina Vantzou – Nº2 Remixes

by 5:4 January 21, 2021 • 05:00 0 comment

Free internet music: Nikita Golyshev – 15 Songs from Glass, Oil and...

by 5:4 January 18, 2021 • 11:18 2 comments

Free internet music: Brothomstates – ReKobn-Tich-Ey

by 5:4 January 13, 2021 • 10:06 0 comment
CD/Digital releasesFree internet musicThematic series

Free internet music: Chelsea Wolfe – Folkadelphia Session 5/31/2014

by 5:4 January 11, 2021 • 10:40 0 comment

Free internet music: Nhung Nguyen – Oblivion

by 5:4 January 8, 2021 • 05:00 0 comment

Free internet music: Andrew Leslie Hooker

by 5:4 January 6, 2021 • 12:11 0 comment
Best of the YearMixtapes

Mixtape #59 : Best Albums of 2020

by 5:4 January 1, 2021 • 07:45 0 comment

Best Albums of 2020 (Part 2)

by 5:4 December 31, 2020 • 00:00 0 comment

Best Albums of 2020 (Part 1)

by 5:4 December 30, 2020 • 00:00 0 comment
CD/Digital releases

SWR Vokalensemble – Baltikum

by 5:4 December 22, 2020 • 11:32 0 comment

Adam Janota Bzowski – Saint Maud (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

by 5:4 December 18, 2020 • 05:00 0 comment

Best Albums of the Year, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying...

by 5:4 December 16, 2020 • 10:50 4 comments

latest articles

  • Lent SeriesPremières

    John Tavener – Flood of Beauty (World Première)

    by 5:4 April 9, 2020 • 05:00
    April 9, 2020 • 05:00

    i’m bringing this year’s Lent Series to an end with the last large-scale work by one of Britain’s most strange and singular composers, John Tavener. Tavener died in November 2013, and in some respects it would be hard to go out with a bigger bang than with Flood of Beauty…

    Read more
  • Mixtapes

    The Isolation Mixtapes : A

    by 5:4 April 6, 2020 • 08:55
    April 6, 2020 • 08:55

    Due to the ongoing battle against COVID-19, many of us throughout the world are currently experiencing various states of lockdown and isolation. That’s not a situation that looks like it’s going to change significantly for the foreseeable future, so today i’m beginning a new weekly series of mixtapes on 5:4…

    Read more
  • Lent Series

    Collin Thomas – April Triptych

    by 5:4 April 1, 2020 • 05:00
    April 1, 2020 • 05:00

    The penultimate work i’m featuring in this year’s Lent Series is both the longest and, possibly (depending on your perspective), the simplest. Collin Thomas‘ April Triptych was released nine years ago on the long-defunct, Berlin-based netlabel Resting Bell. There are a number of reasons why the piece is interesting, but…

    Read more
  • Announcements

    Krzysztof Penderecki (1933–2020)

    by 5:4 March 29, 2020 • 16:45
    March 29, 2020 • 16:45

    i feel terribly sad to have just read the news on the Schott website that Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki has died today. Composers impact on our lives in unique and unpredictable ways, and for me, Penderecki’s music has been an omnipresence. When i was still at school, just at the…

    Read more
  • Lent SeriesPremières

    Harrison Birtwistle – Semper Dowland, semper dolens (World Première)

    by 5:4 March 26, 2020 • 05:00
    March 26, 2020 • 05:00

    Last autumn, when i began thinking about this Lent Series, one of the first works i intended to include was by Harrison Birtwistle, his opera The Last Supper. However, in light of the events that have transpired in the last couple of months, and which now overshadow everything, i’m instead…

    Read more
  • Lent Series

    JLIAT – J / S / A / E

    by 5:4 March 20, 2020 • 05:00
    March 20, 2020 • 05:00

    As COVID-19 gradually succeeds in bringing the entire globe to a depressing standstill, it seems as good a time as any for my Lent Series to look at some large-scale works that, from one perspective, could be said to be doing exactly the same. i’m usually very good at remembering…

    Read more
  • Mixtapes

    Mixtape #58 : Virus

    by 5:4 March 17, 2020 • 14:21
    March 17, 2020 • 14:21

    Sometimes deciding a theme for a mixtape can be a time-consuming business – but not this time. If anything, not making viruses the theme for the new 5:4 mixtape would just feel like being wilfully contrary. So – a couple of weeks earlier than scheduled – here it is, a…

    Read more
  • CD/Digital releasesLent Series

    The Hafler Trio – An Answer

    by 5:4 March 14, 2020 • 05:00
    March 14, 2020 • 05:00

    Let’s turn our attention to drones. The respective roles of time and material are perhaps nowhere more controversial – and polarising – than in drone-based music. Even if you find yourself drawn into the complexities of one form of drone, another can push you away with its relative monotony. For…

    Read more
  • Lent SeriesPremières

    Rebecca Saunders – Yes (UK Première)

    by 5:4 March 8, 2020 • 05:00
    March 8, 2020 • 05:00

    One of the foci of this year’s Lent Series exploring larger-scale works is where time and material become convoluted. In the case of the next work i’m exploring, this kind of convolution applies not only to the music but also to the text that inspired it. Yes by Rebecca Saunders…

    Read more
  • CD/Digital releasesLent Series

    Chubby Wolf – The Last Voices

    by 5:4 March 3, 2020 • 05:00
    March 3, 2020 • 05:00

    The next piece i’m exploring in this year’s Lent Series is The Last Voices by Danielle Baquet-Long, who released her solo work under the name Chubby Wolf. At 84 minutes long, it’s by far her longest piece, and the more i’ve spent time with it over the years, the more…

    Read more
  • CD/Digital releasesLent Series

    Kenneth Kirschner – January 1, 2019

    by 5:4 February 26, 2020 • 05:00
    February 26, 2020 • 05:00

    It’s the first day of Lent, and also therefore the start of this year’s 5:4 Lent Series. Three years ago my focus was on miniature works, and for 2020 i’m going in the opposite direction, exploring compositions that occupy larger-scale durations. However, this is not simply about pieces that are…

    Read more
  • CD/Digital releases

    Jennifer Walshe – A Late Anthology of Early Music Vol. 1: Ancient to Renaissance

    by 5:4 February 19, 2020 • 17:45
    February 19, 2020 • 17:45

    There are times, believe it or not dear reader, when i honestly wonder if i’m starting to get a little bit jaded. Listening can feel like a chore, and the endless parade of the novelty and the newfangled can blur into a torrent of ‘musica generica’ that becomes (at best)…

    Read more
  • Announcements

    Gigs, gigs, gigs: Riot Ensemble, Illuminate, Electric Spring, Borealis, Philharmonia Orchestra, Louth Contemporary Music Society

    by 5:4 February 11, 2020 • 14:56
    February 11, 2020 • 14:56

    Lots of ensembles and festivals have been making concert announcements recently, so here’s a whistle-stop tour through some of the more interesting on the horizon. Most imminent, this coming Friday (14th), is Riot Ensemble at King’s Place in London. They’ll be kicking off their new concert series ReNew with a…

    Read more
  • FestivalsPremières

    Dark Music Days 2020 (Part 2)

    by 5:4 February 9, 2020 • 08:01
    February 9, 2020 • 08:01

    As i mentioned previously, allusions to or evocations of nature were few and far between at this year’s Dark Music Days, indicating the strength and diversity of Iceland’s more searching, abstract approach to composition. This seemed to be precisely the point of Sigurður Árni Jónsson’s Illusion of Explanatory Depth, premièred…

    Read more
  • ArtFestivals

    Dark Music Days 2020 (Interlude)

    by 5:4 February 7, 2020 • 06:00
    February 7, 2020 • 06:00

    As an interlude to my coverage of the 2020 Dark Music Days, I have to say something about two artworks that weren’t part of the festival but which contributed significantly to my time in Reykjavík. First is CAT 192, the product of a collaboration in 2013 by composer Hlynur Aðils…

    Read more
  • FestivalsPremières

    Dark Music Days 2020 (Part 1)

    by 5:4 February 5, 2020 • 06:00
    February 5, 2020 • 06:00

    It no doubt goes without saying that Iceland’s Dark Music Days festival is primarily named for the fact that it takes place in January, when the amount of daylight the country receives is minimal. In a less literal sense, though, musically speaking there’s a lot to be said for listening…

    Read more
  • AnniversariesPremières

    Éliane Radigue – Occam Delta XV (UK Première)

    by 5:4 January 26, 2020 • 06:00
    January 26, 2020 • 06:00

    To conclude my Éliane Radigue birthday weekend, i’m returning to a work in the Occam series that i’ve briefly written about previously, Occam Delta XV. The piece dates from 2018 and results from a collaboration between Radigue and Quatuor Bozzini. In a way that i hope isn’t too fanciful, the overall…

    Read more
  • Anniversaries

    Éliane Radigue – Occam XXI

    by 5:4 January 25, 2020 • 06:00
    January 25, 2020 • 06:00

    The second of the three works i’m exploring in this Éliane Radigue birthday long weekend is also the most austere. Not only is Occam XXI for a single instrument, violin, but also in contrast to perhaps the majority of the Occam series, the harmonic language of the piece is radically…

    Read more
  • AnniversariesPremières

    Éliane Radigue – Occam River XV (World Première)

    by 5:4 January 24, 2020 • 11:30
    January 24, 2020 • 11:30

    A composer whose work i return to more often than most – and find the experience completely different every time i do – is Éliane Radigue. Today is the grande dame’s 88th birthday – joyeux anniversaire! – so, as i did a few years ago, i’m going to devote another…

    Read more
  • CD/Digital releases

    Sæunn Thorsteinsdóttir – Vernacular; Siggi String Quartet – South of the Circle; Iceland Symphony Orchestra – Concurrence

    by 5:4 January 17, 2020 • 11:17
    January 17, 2020 • 11:17

    In just over a week’s time Iceland’s premier new music festival, the Dark Music Days, will be up and running again, and once again i’ll be heading off to Reykjavík to immerse myself in some of the goings-on. Details about the festival can be found here, and for any UK…

    Read more
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Nils Henrik Asheim: Lydkilder Sound and Image: Aesthetics and Practices Music Beyond Airports: appraising ambient music Simon Cummings | 間 Studies vol. 6

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