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New Year, New Hip
January 2024: the new year did not get off to the best of starts - a cycle ride one Sunday ended with me being taken to hospital in an ambulance after skidding on a roundabout and landing heavily on my right hip. I've come off my bike before and bounced (sort of) but not this time unfortunately. Still, there have been some compositional upsides! […]
Damascene Redux Recordings Released
December 2023: the latest release by the Delta Saxophone Quartet - Late Music - contains cut-down versions of my Arabic lute transcription, Damascene Redux, alongside pieces by composers associated with Late Music York as well as music by Joe Duddell, Steve Martland, Hayley Jenkins and others. […]
A Book of Song
July and September 2023: in central London working with pianist and fellow composer Nathan Williamson and a trio of singers. Our aim is a modest one - nothing less than to reconfigure the traditional classical vocal recital! […]
Roll Over Beethoven
August 2023: down to the country (Hampshire to be exact) to work with Tim Redpath and Rachel Calaminus of Trifarious on our latest project. […]
Music and/as Process Ten Years On
June-July 2023. It was lovely to return to the Music and/as Process conference a decade after my last visit. […]
Musical Collaging with Jakob Fichert
March 2023: up in York with pianist Jakob Fichert to explore a collaging project incorporating Dance Maze. Jakob played on the eponymous CD recorded in 2017 that involved two versions of the piece with piano - Dance Maze Variations (the original version dating from the early 90s) and Dance Maze Duos (a 2017 re-working for piano and trumpet). Jakob and I are now working on a 'composed programme' that aims to 'suture in' a number of other pieces to Dance Maze's discreet sections. […]
Bouncing Back in Wymondham
Early in 2023 I received a text from Margery Baker, conductor of the Wymondham Youth and Pulham Village Orchestras, to the effect that Bounce (a piece dating all the way back to 2004) is to be played again in August as part of the orchestras' 40th anniversary celebrations. News like this is always really uplifting to hear as repeat performances, particularly of orchestral pieces, are rarely easy to come by. […]
Bartókiana in Budapest
February 2023: Katalin Koltai premiered two pieces from my ongoing Bartókiana project at the Budapest Music Centre. The concert included talks by Katalin, myself and David Gorton with the latter two simultaneously translated into Hungarian. The pieces Katalin premiered were my transcription of Bartók's Romanian Christmas Carols and Flute of the Slovak Shepherd from For Children. […]
DSQ at Canterbury
February 2023: the Delta Saxophone Quartet gave Damascene Redux another outing as part of the University of Kent's lunchtime concert series at Fergusson Hall. This was followed by a workshop with music students. […]
DSQ revisit Damascene Redux
September 2022: I am delighted that the Delta Saxophone Quartet are performing Damascene Redux again in their concert The Steve Martland Story as part of the York Late Music series on the 24th of this month. […]