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5:4
Tag:

piano

  • CD/Digital releases

    Francisco López – Untitled #400

    by 5:4 November 14, 2022 • 16:54
    November 14, 2022 • 16:54

    Nearly 40 years have passed since Spanish sound artist Francisco López‘s earliest releases. Whatever else has changed throughout those four decades of creativity, one thing has remained consistent: his use of the word ‘Untitled’ for his output. Not always, of course, but aside from a few exceptions, López’s output has…

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  • Premières

    Proms 2022: Betsy Jolas – bTunes (World Première)

    by 5:4 September 6, 2022 • 14:16
    September 6, 2022 • 14:16

    In an artistic context, there’s an obvious world of difference between observation, taking inspiration from and / or seeking to emulate or analogise aspects of the natural world and human culture, and critique, taking issue with and / or seeking to highlight problems arising from or endemic within those same…

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  • FestivalsPremières

    Estonian Music Days 2022 (Part 2)

    by 5:4 May 2, 2022 • 05:00
    May 2, 2022 • 05:00

    The smallest-scale events at this year’s Estonian Music Days were a pair of chamber concerts at each end of the festival. Irina Zahharenkova’s keyboard recital at the Arvo Pärt Centre encompassed extremes of musical invention. The most egregious were two works dating from the early 1990s by a Russian guitarist…

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  • Advent Calendar

    James Dillon – Charm

    by 5:4 December 21, 2021 • 05:00
    December 21, 2021 • 05:00

    Today’s Advent Calendar door contains a miniature by James Dillon. Similar to Dragonfly, explored during this year’s Lent Series, Charm (2008) is another short piano work composed quickly for a friend. The title is interpretable in a variety of ways (in a pre-concert talk, Dillon even mentioned the charm quark…

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  • Advent Calendar

    Peter Ablinger – Renate Fuczik

    by 5:4 December 13, 2021 • 05:00
    December 13, 2021 • 05:00

    i said at the start of this Advent Calendar that many of the pieces i’d be featuring would be miniatures, but in the case of the piece behind today’s door, technically a complete performance would last 24 hours – or, indeed, could continue endlessly. Renate Fuczik by Peter Ablinger is…

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  • CD/Digital releases

    Xiaogang Ye – Mount E’mei; Winter; The Song of the Earth

    by 5:4 August 20, 2021 • 00:00
    August 20, 2021 • 00:00

    Five years ago i was getting excited by an album of orchestral music by a Chinese composer previously unknown to me, Xiaogang Ye. That excitement has been rekindled recently by the coincidentally-timed release of three new albums of Ye’s music in the last few weeks, which together provide an excellent…

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  • CD/Digital releases

    Listening, isolated: solo music by Brian Ferneyhough, Sam Hayden, Olga Neuwirth, Rebecca Saunders and Salvatore Sciarrino

    by 5:4 May 4, 2021 • 16:19
    May 4, 2021 • 16:19

    Considering that most of us have been spending the last 12 months in varying forms of isolation, it seems a fitting time to focus on music for solo instruments. German label Kairos clearly feels the same way, as they’ve recently brought out a short series of five albums, each titled…

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  • Lent Series

    James Dillon – Dragonfly

    by 5:4 February 21, 2021 • 05:00
    February 21, 2021 • 05:00

    The longest work i’ve ever written about on 5:4 is Scottish composer James Dillon‘s magnificent three-hour Nine Rivers cycle, which i explored almost a decade ago. So it’s rather nice that the next piece i’m exploring in this year’s Lent Series focusing on nature, also by James Dillon, is one…

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  • ConcertsPremières

    CBSO Centre, Birmingham: BCMG – Migrating Sounds

    by 5:4 December 16, 2019 • 11:45
    December 16, 2019 • 11:45

    i’m going to start with an observation, a complaint and a plea. Yesterday evening’s concert given by Birmingham Contemporary Music Group featured four pieces of music that together lasted one hour and two minutes. The actual concert lasted more than double that length. It continues a trend that appears to…

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  • ConcertsFestivalsPremières

    HCMF 2019 (Part 2)

    by 5:4 November 28, 2019 • 15:53
    November 28, 2019 • 15:53

    It’s many, many years since i spent meaningful time in the company of music by Can, so i went to founder member Irmin Schmidt‘s HCMF piano recital last Thursday with precisely no expectations. What transpired was one of the most mesmerising, understated performances that i’ve ever witnessed in St Paul’s…

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  • CD/Digital releases

    Jakob Ullmann – Fremde Zeit Addendum 5; Stefan Fraunberger – Quellgeister #3 Bussd

    by 5:4 October 30, 2019 • 12:27
    October 30, 2019 • 12:27

    i’ve been spending time lately with new releases from two composers towards whose work i’ve hitherto felt almost universally positive. There’s something a little nerve-racking about this, inducing anxiety – and, to an extent, incredulity – that the unfamiliar new will be able to live up to the marvellous old.…

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  • ConcertsFestivalsPremières

    HCMF 2018: Ensemble Musikfabrik, Christian Marclay: Investigations

    by 5:4 November 19, 2018 • 00:27
    November 19, 2018 • 00:27

    It’s not unusual, considering HCMF’s openness to stepping outside the bounds of convention, for a new work at the festival to have to overcome how extraordinary it is. That was certainly the case in Huddersfield Town Hall yesterday afternoon, where Christian Marclay‘s Investigations received its world première. It wasn’t just…

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  • CD/Digital releases

    Alexander Knaifel – Lukomoriye

    by 5:4 September 13, 2018 • 12:43
    September 13, 2018 • 12:43

    What is it that holds music together? How loosely can it be structured and/or organised, and at what point does its integrity irrevocably break down? When does intense earnestness become perceived as affectation? When does patience cease being a virtue and become a problem, even a handicap? i found myself…

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  • ConcertsFestivalsPremières

    Estonian Music Days 2018 (Part 2)

    by 5:4 April 26, 2018 • 15:16
    April 26, 2018 • 15:16

    One of the defining features of the Estonian Music Days is its openness to including decidedly unconventional concert situations. Last year’s Obscure Avenues, a two-hour experience during which we were blindfolded and led around to various performance spaces, remains among the most radical and memorable musical encounters i’ve ever experienced,…

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  • CD/Digital releasesLent Series

    Rebecca Saunders on record (Part 4)

    by 5:4 March 28, 2018 • 14:15
    March 28, 2018 • 14:15

    Before i conclude my survey of the available recordings of Rebecca Saunders‘ music, i want to flag up some omissions. There are three works that i’m not able to discuss at this point as i haven’t yet got hold of copies of the discs on which they’re featured: rubricare (2005) which…

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  • Premières

    HCMF revisited: Michael Cutting – I AM A STRANGE LOOP V (World Première)

    by 5:4 November 13, 2017 • 17:00
    November 13, 2017 • 17:00

    In just five days’ time, this year’s Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival gets going. That’s a big deal anyway, but this is its 40th edition, so there’s even more cause than usual for celebration. As a warm-up, i’m going to spend this week revisiting a few of the more memorable pieces…

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  • FestivalsPremières

    Proms 2017: Julian Anderson – The Imaginary Museum (World Première)

    by 5:4 July 28, 2017 • 14:09
    July 28, 2017 • 14:09

    Last autumn, at the Royal Musical Association’s annual conference, composer Julian Anderson presented a paper addressing what he described as “the problem of professionals involved in modern music denigrating and otherwise attempting to devalue the music they are supposed to support”. The paper – which unfortunately i’ve not yet been able…

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  • ConcertsFestivalsPremières

    Cheltenham Music Festival 2017: Love Songs

    by 5:4 July 10, 2017 • 12:36
    July 10, 2017 • 12:36

    Last night saw the second concert of this year’s Cheltenham Music Festival to be almost completely devoted to contemporary music. i described the previous one, with E STuudio Youth Choir, as being “a mixed bag of confections”, and the same applies to this event, a piano recital titled ‘Love Songs’…

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  • CD/Digital releasesRetrospectives

    Michael Finnissy at 70: A Metier Retrospective – Part 3. Piano music

    by 5:4 March 14, 2017 • 14:41
    March 14, 2017 • 14:41

    It’s only a few days until Michael Finnissy‘s 70th birthday year comes to an end, so in the nick of time, here’s the final part of my retrospective of his music released by his most loyal label, Metier. In turning to the piano music, i’m conscious that, to some extent, i’m…

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  • Premières

    Howard Skempton – Piano Concerto (World Première)

    by 5:4 January 19, 2017 • 20:36
    January 19, 2017 • 20:36

    Another interesting première from 2016, also performed at the Tectonics festival, also for piano and orchestra, also featuring John Tilbury as soloist, is Howard Skempton‘s Piano Concerto. This is a work that i’ve been more than usually interested to hear. In conversations throughout the last couple of years, Howard has talked…

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    • The Proms premières – Poll results
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