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5:4
CD/Digital releasesFree music

Sole Massif – Encircle

by 5:4 January 30, 2023 • 09:00 0 comment

Darren McClure – The World Is Made Of Words

by 5:4 January 26, 2023 • 09:00 0 comment

Fermata myrkir

by 5:4 January 24, 2023 • 09:00 0 comment
CD/Digital releasesFree music

Seaming – Mermaid

by 5:4 January 23, 2023 • 09:00 0 comment

Gelg – Look Around You

by 5:4 January 19, 2023 • 09:00 0 comment

Danz CM – While Mortals Sleep (Original Score)

by 5:4 January 16, 2023 • 08:36 0 comment
CD/Digital releasesFree music

Ektoise – Down River

by 5:4 January 12, 2023 • 10:32 0 comment

Gareth Davis, Jan Kleefstra, Romke Kleefstra – Sieleslyk

by 5:4 January 9, 2023 • 08:24 2 comments

Mixtape #67 : Best Albums of 2022

by 5:4 January 1, 2023 • 05:00 0 comment
Best of the Year

Best Albums of 2022 (Part 2)

by 5:4 December 31, 2022 • 00:00 1 comment

Best Albums of 2022 (Part 1)

by 5:4 December 30, 2022 • 00:00 0 comment

Helmut Lachenmann – Marche Fatale

by 5:4 December 25, 2022 • 05:00 0 comment

more articles

  • Premières

    Proms 2022: Thomas Adès – Märchentänze (UK Première)

    by 5:4 August 30, 2022 • 11:01
    August 30, 2022 • 11:01

    A few weeks back in this year’s Proms season, Sally Beamish’s Hive gave the impression that the occasion was aimed at children, and it was much the same listening to Thomas Adès‘ Märchentänze, given its UK première last Friday. Adès is such a strangely unpredictable composer, capable of extremes of…

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  • CD/Digital releases

    Fia Fiell – Endless Filament

    by 5:4 August 25, 2022 • 14:33
    August 25, 2022 • 14:33

    It’s a good sign when, despite being a passionate believer in the maxim “less is more” in terms of a composer’s output, i still find myself feeling frustrated and impatient waiting for certain artists to create something new. That’s been the case very strongly with Vietnamese-Australian musician Carolyn Schofield, aka…

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  • CD/Digital releases

    Boris Lyatoshynsky – Symphonies

    by 5:4 August 23, 2022 • 10:12
    August 23, 2022 • 10:12

    While the answer to the question, “What is it good for?” continues to be “Absolutely nothing!” where war is concerned, there’s a tiny sliver of comfort to be gained from the fact that the ongoing outrage perpetrated by the Russian regime has thrown a spotlight onto aspects of Ukrainian culture…

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  • Premières

    Proms 2022: Mark-Anthony Turnage – Time Flies (UK Première)

    by 5:4 August 17, 2022 • 15:50
    August 17, 2022 • 15:50

    i’m not sure whether to interpret the Proms’ decision to place Mark-Anthony Turnage‘s new orchestral piece in a concert alongside Vaughan Williams and Elgar as an attempt to imply some kind of genteel, ‘establishment figure’ status. Yet – would that be wrong? Now in his early 60s, Turnage’s music has…

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  • Premières

    Proms 2022: Missy Mazzoli – Violin Concerto (Procession) (European Première)

    by 5:4 August 16, 2022 • 13:53
    August 16, 2022 • 13:53

    Sunday evening’s Prom included the European première (so nice to see Britain still regarded as being in Europe) of Missy Mazzoli‘s new Violin Concerto. Parenthetically subtitled ‘Procession’, the work is something of a response to the time of lockdown, examining, in Mazzoli’s words “how we use music and ritual to…

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  • Premières

    Proms 2022: Hannah Eisendle – Heliosis (UK Première)

    by 5:4 August 15, 2022 • 16:48
    August 15, 2022 • 16:48

    Does it matter if the way a composition sounds doesn’t bear any meaningful resemblance to the composer’s stated inspiration? That’s a question that often suggests itself when listening to contemporary music, and it has completely dominated my listening to Austrian composer Hannah Eisendle‘s new work Heliosis, which received its first…

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  • Premières

    Proms 2022: Anna Thorvaldsdottir – ARCHORA (World Première)

    by 5:4 August 13, 2022 • 05:00
    August 13, 2022 • 05:00

    The relationship between Anna Thorvaldsdottir‘s music and nature has always been, to put it mildly, complicated. Far from being a composer merely setting out (as far too many have claimed far too often) to evoke the wildness of her native Iceland, Thorvaldsdottir has tended to be much more concerned with…

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  • Premières

    Proms 2022: Matthew Kaner – Pearl (World Première)

    by 5:4 August 12, 2022 • 13:44
    August 12, 2022 • 13:44

    Voices returned to contemporary music at the Proms on Wednesday evening, with the first performance of Matthew Kaner‘s new vocal work Pearl. The piece, for baritone and orchestra, takes its title from the Middle English poem Pearl, written by the anonymous Gawain Poet, setting portions of the text from Simon…

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  • Premières

    Proms 2022: Gavin Higgins – Concerto Grosso (World Première)

    by 5:4 August 10, 2022 • 15:34
    August 10, 2022 • 15:34

    Finally. Following six premières of, to say the least, wildly varying quality, this year’s Proms season finally struck gold on Monday evening in the form of Gavin Higgins‘ new large-scale work for brass band and orchestra, Concerto Grosso. First things first: it’s a bit of an odd title, as the…

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  • Premières

    Proms 2022: Julian Anderson – Symphony No. 2 ‘Prague Panoramas’ (World Première)

    by 5:4 August 8, 2022 • 11:20
    August 8, 2022 • 11:20

    Almost exactly 10 years ago, i coined a new adjective, ‘Faberian’, in reference to Faber Music, to summarise what i later described as “the kind of thing one hears all too often in works from the more mainstream protagonists of that particular publishing house”. On that first occasion i elaborated…

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  • Anniversaries

    20 years on: Autechre – Gantz Graf

    by 5:4 August 5, 2022 • 05:00
    August 5, 2022 • 05:00

    Though i find it a bit hard to believe, today marks the 20th anniversary of one of Autechre‘s most dazzling creations, Gantz Graf. It was the opener on a 3-track EP, but the other two tracks, Dial and Cap.IV, though significantly longer than Gantz Graf‘s mere 4-minute duration, were utterly…

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  • Premières

    Proms 2022: Hildur Guðnadóttir & Sam Slater (arr. Robert Ames) – Selections from Battlefield 2042 (European Première)

    by 5:4 August 2, 2022 • 15:59
    August 2, 2022 • 15:59

    As part of the Proms’ inexorable slide away from concert works in an attempt to remain relevant, yesterday evening’s event was given over to orchestral arrangements and reworkings of music from videogames. They included the European première (following a performance by the LA Philharmonic late last year) of Robert Ames‘…

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  • Premières

    Proms 2022: Nicole Lizée – Blurr is the Colour of My True Love’s Eyes (European Première)

    by 5:4 August 1, 2022 • 14:31
    August 1, 2022 • 14:31

    Canadian composer Nicole Lizée‘s new percussion concerto, premièred last month in Ottowa, received its first European performance at the Proms last Friday evening. Its title, Blurr is the Colour of My True Love’s Eyes, though somewhat strange at first, perhaps suggests the two main aspects of the work. The first…

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  • InterviewsThe Dialogues

    The Dialogues: Naomi Pinnock

    by 5:4 July 27, 2022 • 08:23
    July 27, 2022 • 08:23

    It’s a real pleasure to be able to present another instalment in my ongoing occasional series The Dialogues. This time, my guest is UK composer Naomi Pinnock, whose music has been a persistent highlight on my radar for the last decade or so. We’d been talking about recording this for…

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  • Premières

    Proms 2022: Cheryl Frances-Hoad – Your Servant, Elizabeth (World Première)

    by 5:4 July 23, 2022 • 12:54
    July 23, 2022 • 12:54

    Last night’s Prom was a monarchist’s paradise, waxing lyrical in the Queen’s platinum jubilee year with an evening of music composed for royal occasions. Nestling among all the sonic bowing and scraping and forelock-tugging from the usual early 20th century shower was a short new choral work from Cheryl Frances-Hoad,…

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  • Premières

    Proms 2022: Sally Beamish – Hive (World Première)

    by 5:4 July 22, 2022 • 17:56
    July 22, 2022 • 17:56

    Yesterday evening’s Prom concert wasn’t specifically aimed at children, but you’d be forgiven for thinking it was while listening to Sally Beamish‘s new harp concerto, Hive. The work’s narrative is structured in a simple four-movement form, corresponding to the seasons of the year, beginning in winter. This opening movement isn’t…

    Read more
  • Premières

    Proms 2022: Hildur Guðnadóttir – The Fact of the Matter (World Première)

    by 5:4 July 21, 2022 • 16:15
    July 21, 2022 • 16:15

    Last night’s Prom concert included the first of this year’s crop of premières. The Fact of the Matter is a 16-minute response to the current state of the world by Icelandic composer Hildur Guðnadóttir. In the pre-concert discussion, she spoke about the divisions between people, and the feeling that “we’re…

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  • ConcertsPremières

    Laura Bowler – The Blue Woman; Distance

    by 5:4 July 18, 2022 • 16:39
    July 18, 2022 • 16:39

    The opportunity to hear two new works by Laura Bowler within a single week isn’t just a exciting prospect, it’s a daunting one. Her subject matter has oscillated between the personal and the global, at both extremes seeking to address the pain and damage that far too many people are…

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  • ConcertsPremières

    BEAST FEaST 2022: Resonances (Part 2)

    by 5:4 July 10, 2022 • 11:41
    July 10, 2022 • 11:41

    In the previous part i highlighted the works heard at BEAST FEaST 2022 that went against the grain and handled their materials with gentleness. However, not surprisingly the dominant compositional attitude was one aspiring to power and heft. Though unassumingly titled, Helena Gough‘s Yolk featured an almost flamboyant display of…

    Read more
  • ConcertsPremières

    BEAST FEaST 2022: Resonances (Part 1)

    by 5:4 July 7, 2022 • 12:25
    July 7, 2022 • 12:25

    The key word, i think, is “feast”. There was something gloriously gluttonous about the quantity of music performed at BEAST FEaST 2022, though considering the festival was celebrating both the 40th anniversary of the founding of Birmingham ElectroAcoustic Sound Theatre and the recent 70th birthday of its founder Jonty Harrison,…

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5:4
  • About
  • Patrons
  • The Lists
    • Listening History
    • Complete List of Ratings
    • Compositions reviewed on 5:4
    • Composer Map
    • Albums and EPs reviewed on 5:4
    • Festivals reviewed on 5:4
    • Best Albums of the Years
    • The Proms premières – Poll results
  • The Dialogues
  • Mixtapes
    • Mixtapes
    • The Isolation Mixtapes
    • Mystery Mixtapes
    • Podcasts
  • Contact
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