Category Archives: Recordings

‘From the Sublime to the Ridiculous’

COVID-19 lockdown has been a hectic and strange time for all of us. I’ve not been massively creative, with a lot of my gigs and activities being cancelled, and a busy time working at the University of Southampton.

However, the fantastic pianist Duncan Honeybourne (and my colleague at Southampton) approached me to see if I’d like to write a short piece for his Contemporary Piano Soundbites series. From the Sublime to the Ridiculous is what came out…

Excited that Duncan is recording a bunch of these pieces for a CD later this year.

In the Alps

I had blast directing the Hartley Loop Orchestra in a major University of Southampton Music Department project at Turner Sims, IN THE ALPS. We performed Richard Ayres’ masterpiece No 42. (In the Alps: an animated concert) featuring soprano Juliet Fraser (wearing an amazing garment made by students at Winchester School of Art), as well as Carnival of the Animals with soloists David Owen Norris and Verity Brooks and a brand new work, Shadows, by Zoe Sones. Was fantastic to work so closely with Southampton students and colleagues on the project and Juliet was AMAZING. Here are some pics by the massively talented Ash Sealy and a short audio excerpt.

eavesdropping.london · Juliet Fraser sings Richard Ayres ‘No. 42 — In the Alps’ (extract)

‘Changing Up +’ Video

Video now online of the premiere of my Changing Up + for solo percussionist and large ensemble from the recent SHIFTS project at Turner Sims. Joley Cragg totally nailed the percussion as did the HARTLEY Loop Orchestra, which features students and staff from the University of Southampton Music Department.

Elizabeth Kenny CD and tour

Superstar theorbo player Liz Kenny has recorded my Extending from the inside (2014) for her new solo CD coming out on Linn Records this summer. She is doing a prestige tour to promote the disc taking in Cleveland Institute of Music, Aldeburgh Festival, Oxford Festival of the Arts and the Wigmore Hall.

Live video of ‘Piano Trio (with whistles)’

On 27 November Aisha Orazbayeva (violin), Alice Purton (‘cello) and Mark Knoop (piano) performed my Piano Trio (with whistles), which I wrote in 2014 as part of their concert at the University of Southampton Music Department professional concert series. I’m pleased to have uploaded to Youtube a video of their fantastic performance:

‘Loop Concerto’ Video

In February the incredible Ivo Neame (piano), Jasper Høiby (bass) and Jon Scott (drums) came to play a new version of my ‘Loop Concerto’ with the HARTLEY Loop Orchestra at Turner Sims. It was brilliant to work with the trio and University of Southampton students putting the project together and big thanks must go to the Music Department at the University and Turner Sims for backing it. A video has been made and is now up on youtube. One issue is that there is very little footage of Ivo as the camera footage corrupted…