Fri 20th Sep 2014: HEAT THE BEAT @ Limewharf

Nonclassical presents HEAT THE BEAT, a showcase of new music by some of the most promising young composers – MMus and Phd students from London’s premier music institutions: the Royal Academy of Music, the Royal College of Music, King’s College London and Goldsmiths. These emerging composers will present gripping compositions combining acoustic and electronic music, including the UK premiere of 'the Facts they deserve to know' by Brian Mark marking the 50th year anniversary of John F. Kenedy’s assassination. The event will have Nonclassical’s resident DJ’s Nwando from 6.30pm and live music from 7.30pm, with food provided by LimeWharf’s chefs and selected drinks from local producers. £6 on the door /

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READ MORE ABOUT THE COMPOSERS in the mini website: http://heatthebeat.co.uk/

Wed 11th Sep 2014: Nonclassical Berlin No. 2 @ Chalet

Piano & live electronics: John Kameel Farah (Toronto) Various recorders, including Paetzold contrabass recorder: Julia Andres, Yeuntae Jeong and Gineke Pranger

//

DJs: Gabriel Prokofiev (London / Nonclassical) Nwando (London / Nonclassical) Gagarino (a.k.a. Jürgen Grözinger) Joey Hansom (Expatriarch) Balzer & Hossbach (Certain People)

We're back in Berlin on Wednesday the 11th of September at Chalet, the 150-year-old mansion that's been transformed into a nightclub with an outdoor garden area.

Onstage, Toronto's John Kameel Farah will perform solo piano and live electronics, combining contemporary classical, free improvisation, jazz, electro–acoustics, middle-eastern modes and ambient minimalism and distilling them into cohesive, imaginative surrealistic structures.

Recorder performers Julia Andres, Yeuntae Jeong and Gineke Präger will play pieces including Luciano Berio's “Gesti” from 1966, and “Binary Opposition”, a new work by Stella Veloce that defies the strict dichotomy of sound versus noise.

Completing the lineup will be some of Berlin's most progressive DJs: Jürgen Grözinger—an experimental musician who plays percussion in some of Germany's top orchestras—will create an audio atmosphere as Gararino, the alias he's already introduced into different contexts such as Yellow Lounge at Berghain and Watergate. Joey Hansom will layer early electronic and computer music with an all-vinyl set, and renaissance duo Balzer & Hossbach—known for their DJ residency at Berghain's Certain People concert series—will present their own forward-thinking selections.

And of course, London resident DJs Gabriel Prokofiev and Nwando will be there, digitally weaving together tracks and remixes from the Nonclassical record label catalogue, alongside the best in contemporary classical, left-field electronic music and anything in between.

Nonclassical @ The Shacklewell Arms Wednesday 4th September: Workers Union Ensemble /// Kate Symonds-Joy /// Nonclassical DJs

UPDATE: THIS EVENT HAS MOVED AND WILL BE TAKING PLACE IN THE SHACKLEWELL ARMS, 71 SHACKLEWELL LANE, DALSTON E8 2EB We're delighted that our first monthly event after the summer will be in a NEW VENUE for us, The Shacklewell Arms. Headliner Workers Union Ensemble are an exciting new music ensemble dedicated to performing new works. For example, they've currently joined forces with LSO Soundhub for a special PRS scheme ‘Constructing a Repertoire’, which helps emerging composers gain exposure and have new work performed.

We're very lucky to be having them perform very recent works, including a pre-premiere from Joe Cutler as well as performances of recent work by Larry Polansky, Matthew Shlomowitz, Laurence Crane and Ryan Latimer.

Performing will be:

Oboe – Anna Durance

Saxophone - Ellie Steemson

Double bass – Mercedes Carroll

Percussion - Joley Cragg and Caz Wolfson

With special guest on Piano Yshani Perinpanayagam.

Conductor: Ben Oliver

Kate Symonds-Joy is an emerging young mezzo-soprano, who first came to our attention when she won the annual Nonclassical Battle of the Bands last year with a performance of Berio's Sequenza III. She'll be performing that again, alongside Berberian's incredible Stripsody and more. She'll be accompanied by Yshani Perinpanayagam from the Workers Union Ensemble on piano.

As always the performers will be joined by Nonclassical resident DJs Gabriel Prokofiev + Nwando, spinning the best in contemporary classical, electronica and anything in-between.

71 Shacklewell Lane, Dalston, London, E8 2EB (directions)

8pm-Late

Tickets

http://www.workersunionensemble.co.uk/

http://www.katesymonds-joy.com/

WEDNESDAY 3RD JULY: NONCLASSICAL @ THE MACBETH FT. LIGETI QUARTET + RARESCALE

We're pleased to be ending the Summer round of gigs with two of the most active and prolific ensembles on London's contemporary classical scene. The Ligeti Quartet

The LIGETI QUARTET were formed in 2010 to perform the music of Gyorgy Ligeti and within only 3 years have become one of the most important contemporary quartets in the country. Among many achievements they've performed over 20 world premières, trained with the Kronos Quartet and been selected as Park Lane Group Young Artists 2012-13. They're currently working on an album of new commissions for string quartet and trumpet.

Their programme for the 3rd is:

Christian Mason - Sai Ma John Adams - Fellow Traveller Anna Meredith - Songs for the M8 Arvo Pärt - Fratres Béla Bartók - Quartet No. 4 (finale)

www.ligetiquartet.com

rarescale

RARESCALE is a flexible-instrumentation contemporary chamber music ensemble, which since its formation by Carla Rees in 2003 has gained an international reputation for its work promoting and creating new repertoire for alto and bass flute. Carla is the UK's leading contemporary exponent of cutting-edge flute music; she'll make you throw away your preconceptions of what a flute can do, blending electronics and more to redefine the flute, with composer Michael Oliva handling electronics.

Lorenz DangelSoundtracking Michael Oliva - Apparition and Release Elizabeth Brown Antarctica Dan Di Maggio Same Old Monsters (world premiere) Michael Oliva Bereft Adrift Bret BatteyPaternoster’s Tricyclic Companion Scott Miller Anterior/Interior Michael Oliva A Memory of Spring

www.rarescale.org.uk

Advance Tickets at £5 Here

We will return to the Macbeth on the 4th of September with the Workers' Union Ensemble giving a special evening of premieres.: Tickets.

16TH JUNE: CONSORTIUM5 @ THE WILDING FESTIVAL

CONSORTIUM5

@ WILDING FESTIVAL /

16TH JUNE / 2PM / ST. GEORGE'S, BLOOMSBURY /

Nonclassical album artists Consortium5 perform at a festival to celebrate the suffragette Emily Wilding Davison. Premiering 3 new commissions by Roxanna Panufnik, Cevanne Horrocks-Hopayian and Litha and Effy Efthymiou supported by the PRSF Women Make Music scheme and the RVW Trust.

wildingfestival

Exploring both the life and death of this passionate suffragette, C5 will contrast new works from female composers of the present day with that of female composers in the Renaissance period including works by Raphaela Aleotta, a nun from the San Vito convent in Italy, Maddalena Casulana, an Italian lutenist and one of the the first female composer to have music printed and last but not least the infamous Anne Boleyn.

Tickets: £10 Here

http://www.thewildingfestival.co.uk

NONCLASSICAL Presents Energy is Eternal Delight: A Tribute to Steve Martland

/// CHRIS CALDWELL / DAVE MARIC / JOHN METCALFE / GABRIELLA SWALLOW / KRISTIAN BORRING / PIANO CIRCUS / SMITH QUARTET PAST AND PRESENT / RESIDENT DJs + MORE ///

"..a Blake aphorism “Energy is Eternal Delight” – a notion  which idealises my attitude to the band and confirms my instincts about music and even life itself”  - Steve Martland

On the 6th May 2013, Steve Martland died unexpectedly of a heart attack, aged just 53. By way of tribute we warmly invite you to come and celebrate the music and life of this true and irreplaceable maverick.

/// Wednesday 5th June 2013 @ The Macbeth,70 Hoxton St. N1 6LP

8pm - late ///

£5 in advance / £6 on the door >>>Find This Event on Facebook

ft: Contributions and performances from: members of the Steve Martland Band, Piano Circus, Gabriella Swallow, John Metcalfe, Smith Quartet members,  Richard Lannoy and more to be announced from the scene who have known, crossed paths with and influenced by him. Host and onetime student of Steve Martland Richard Lannoy writes his thoughts on Martland Here With Special Thanks and Kind Acknowledgement to Schott Music.

Host Richard Lannoy Shares his thoughts on Steve Martland

"..a Blake aphorism “Energy is Eternal Delight” – a notion  which idealises my attitude to the band and confirms my instincts about music and even life itself” Steve Martland "Strangely enough, music is always judged by its beauty. Strangely enough, because good composers only rarely strive for something which people call beautiful. Composers strive for clearness, functionality, explicitness, emotional expressiveness sometimes; they want to move listeners, to shock them, or to clarify things. They want to pose problems, not to solve them. They want to show that the world, and also the world of thinking, is more complex than we want to think.   Steve Martland's music shows this on different levels. It sounds sometimes simple, but it is complex. Sometimes it sounds very complicated, but in reality it is very clear. This is what I would call a 'dialectical' approach to composing, and in the long-term the best attitude toward creating something that could be understood as beautiful." Louis Andriessen

Martland first came to prominence on the British music scene with his break-through orchestral work Baba Yar, recording with the legendaryFactory Records and later forming the Steve Martland Band with the express intention to perform his compositions.

Martland's whole profound moral outlook expressed in music of celebratory optimism that dances and has joy, in-keeping with his almost apocalyptic idealism, a tendency towards the social morals of a latter-day William Blake in opposition to the Thatcherist material world of the early 1980's, encapsulated everything about the man and his music, music that has an immediate and compelling appeal.

When confronted with an orchestra, he'd expand its horizons with non-classical instrumentations found in rock, pop and jazz; confront him with a rock or jazz line-up and he'd expand its horizons with techniques from Mediaeval or Baroque. The man and the music contained the energy of rock, pop and dance music as well as the rigorous compositional technique and clarity of vision served by organised and strictly disciplined musical thought. At the same time, he conformed neither to the perceived social attitudes of the latter nor the commercialised musical limitations of the former. Simply fearlessly demanding and virtuosic music without apology.

Steve Martland was born in Liverpool, originally planned a career in the Royal Navy. After studying music at Liverpool university he decided to study composition, not in the UK, but in progressive Holland with Louis Andriessen, as well as with Gunther Schuller at Tanglewood in the US.

Martland's refusal to conform to the received stereotype of a composer and his outspoken criticism of what he regarded as the snobbery and elitism of the classical music establishment, particularly during the 1980's and 1990's, may have made him a controversial figure in some quarters. But among a whole future generation of performers and composers that followed, it set a bold, refreshing example for contemporary art music's energised existence beyond the marginal confines of institutionalised academia. Martland engaged the public with a concept of the value of music that potentially confronts its consumerist tendencies, a legacy and spirit that permeates todays contemporary music scene.

The strength of Martland's conviction that a composer has a moral responsibility to the social reality of their times was further reflected in his work in music education. His frequent workshops directing composition projects in schools and academies at home and abroad, saw him initiate and run 'Strike Out', a summer school which helped produce a new generation of young composers from less-privileged backgrounds. He was the artistic director of SPNM (the Society for the Promotion of New Music) from 2002-04, an organisation that had supported his own Babi Yar.

Steve Martland, great composer, boundary-breaker, a guiding light a true maverick and a very warm, funny and enormously likeable guy, his Blake-like spirit both the music and the man lives on.

(Richard Lannoy)

Further info: www.nonclassical.co.uk

>>>Tickets from WeGotTickets

>>>Facebook Event Page

'Making Mechanics' documentary

Earlier this year Gabriel Prokofiev's music was used in a new ballet production by New York-based Armitage Gone! Dance. Choreographed by Karole Armitage (Madonna's "Vogue", Bolshoi, and Cirque du Soleil among others), it's titled 'Mechanics of the Dance Machine". Now a fifteen minute documentary is in production about the making of this unique production, and Armitage Gone! Dance have set up a Kickstarter to help fund the final edit. You can view a trailer of the film here:

CELLO MULTITRACKS @ CLASSICAL NEXT

We're attending this year's Classical Next festival, held in Vienna from 29th May to 1st June. And we're happy to announce that for the closing event at the Austrian Museum of Applied Arts we'll have DJ sets from Gabriel Prokofiev and Nwando Ebizie, plus a performance by Tom Bayman of Gabriel Prokofiev's 'Cello Multitracks'. Excited for our first label appearance in Austria! >>> Classical Next festival

>>> Gabriel Prokofiev 'Jerk Driver' video

With kind support from the PRS Foundation: http://www.prsfoundation.co.uk

PODCAST #10

To mark our first foray into the North East on 18th May, as part of Northern Chords festival, here's a special podcast mainly consisting of pieces featured on the night - including cello-orientated music from Reich, Crumb, Gabriel Prokofiev and Thomas Demenga, with the Arvo Part 'Fratres'. We've thrown in a couple of Nonclassical remixes from Mira Calix and Heavy Deviance, of Tansy Davies and Mercury Quartet respectively, as well as an excerpt from Simon Steen-Anderson's String Quartet.

18.05.13: Nonclassical @ Northern Chords

We're looking forward to making our North East debut next month, as we host a late night event at the Sage Gateshead as part of the Northern Chords festival. The live programme spans a broad range of contemporary music, while our DJ sets will as usual be threading electronics beats and textures into these avant garde sound worlds. And to top it all off, entry is free!

Full programme:

Steve Reich: Cello Counterpoint Magnus Lindberg: Piano Trio (3rd movement) George Crumb: Movement from Solo Cello Sonata Gabriel Prokofiev: Cello Multitracks Arvo Part: Fratres for String Quartet Bela Bartok: Fuga from Sonata for Solo Violin

10:30 PM | Sage Gateshead Concourse

thesagegateshead.org northernchords.com thelateshows.org.uk

Here's a special Podcast featuring music from the night and Beyond.

1.05.13: WAGNER'S BICENTENARY @ THE MACBETH

Pleased to announce that our monthly residency at The Macbeth is again in collaboration with the brilliant Lore Lixenberg, who's bringing along a selection of special guests to mark 200 years of everyone's favourite megalomaniac composer / professional lunatic, Richard Wagner. We'll be revisiting some of Richard's best known masterpieces such as Tristan and Isolde and the epic Ring cycle, as well as lesser known gems and modern mashups.

*** NEW ADDITIONS ***

- Acclaimed soprano Alison Pearce will be singing 'Dich teure Halle' from Wagner's opera Tannhauser.

- Gijs Kramers and soloists from the Philharmonia orchestra present new arrangements of Wagner material. The performers are:

Vicky Wright, clarinet Jan Regulski, Mark Derudder, Adrián Varela, violin Sam Burstin, Gijs Kramers, viola Eric Villeminey, Maria Zachariadou, cello

Join us as we celebrate Wagner's epic and ground-breaking oeuvre in irreverent fashion. With resident DJs Gabriel Prokofiev & Nwando, and guest DJ Joel Cahen (New Toy).

>>> Advance Tickets (Wegottickets) >>> Find this event on Facebook

Sat. 13th April: Nonclassical @ Barbican (LSO Futures)

We're delighted to be collaborating with LSO Aftershock once again in April,  as we host a free post-concert event featuring new music by composers and composer/performers from the LSO's Soundhub scheme: Jason Yarde / Andrew McCormack / Edmund Finnis / Raymond Yiu / Tom Coult / Philip Venables / Elspeth Brooke / Darren Bloom / Matthew Kaner / Cevanne Horrock-Hopayian

LSO Soundhub composer/performers: Jason Yarde (saxophone) / Andrew McCormack (piano) / Cevanne Horrocks-Hopayian (vocals)

LSO performers: Lorenzo Iosco (bass clarinet), Jessica Lee (bass clarinet), Tom Norris (violin), Laurent Quenelle (violin), David Worswick (violin), Malcolm Johnston (viola), Paul Silverthorne (viola), Jani Pensola (double bass)

Plus DJ sets from Richard Lannoy spanning all manner of contemporary acoustic and electronic sounds.

The event is part of LSO Futures, a brilliant series of events profiling young composers with orchestral and chamber concerts, workshops, and more, running from 9th - 13th April.

SATURDAY 13th APRIL, 8.45pm BARBICAN LEVEL -1 FOYER FREE ENTRY

23.03.13 Cello Multitracks Live in Edinburgh

Gabriel Prokofiev & Peter Gregson

The Queens Hall, 85 Clerk Street, Edinburgh, EH8 9JG

>>> Full details and tickets

This Saturday Gabriel Prokofiev's 'Cello Multtiracks' gets its first Scottish performance at Edinburgh's stunning Queens Hall.Following recent performances in Berlin and at France's Nemo festival, Peter Gregson will again perform the suite's solo cello line along with eight pre-recorded tracks.

We released Cello Multitracks as an album last year to critical acclaim from The Times, The Independent, and Gramophone among other sources. More recently we followed this up with a remix contest for 'Float Dance', the results of which you can stream here.

For the night at The Queens Hall Gabriel & Peter will perform a newly developed version of the piece incorporating elements from the remixes included on the album, by the likes of DJ Spooky, Tim Exile, and others.

About the Music

‘Cello Multitracks’ continues Prokofiev’s interest in reconnecting concert music with a sense of what is contemporary and tangible: “Classical music has a long history of using dance forms that are popular at the time, a very exciting approach that has been largely neglected recently.”As the performer, Gregson comments that Prokofiev’s vocabulary of sounds is “pulled from a wider net than anything else I've worked on before. It wasn't just about learning the notes and rhythms (although this was a big thing, too!) - the most important thing was to be able to recreate sounds from electronica and dance music acoustically.” In this context, Peter Gregson’s own contribution was invaluable: “the fact that Peter makes his own electronic music and has a lot of studio experience, meant that he 'got' the music straight away and we were on the same wavelength immediately.”

03.04.13 Nonclassical @ The Macbeth ft. Thomas Gould + Music off Canvas

For April's Nonclassical we're back at Hoxton's favourite 'haggard old party pub' for a night in association with our good friends Platform33. Following the sonic mayhem of our recent Pioneers of Electronic Music series, it'll be nice to return to more acoustic territory with a headline performance from the celebrated violinist Thomas Gould, described by The Sunday Times as a 'soloist of rare refinement'. A very rare chance to see this acclaimed performer in such intimate surroundings, and he's put together the following killer programme:

Ewan Campbell - Everything, all at once (premiere)
Benjamin Ellin - Three States
Graham Williams - Mr. Punch (premiere)
John Hawkins - BoBop
Aziza Sadikova - La Baroque Nico Muhly - A Long Line Mark Bowden - Lines written a few miles below

Also performing on 3rd April is Music Off Canvas, a new group led by Hannah Grayson (flute) and Vanessa Howells (oboe) that collaborates with diverse arts specialists and includes LIVE PAINTING. They've already been sought out by venues such as the Southbank Centre and the Saatchi Gallery and this will be seriously good. More details coming soon!

Wednesday 3rd April, 8pm The Macbeth, 70 Hoxton Street N1 6LP (directions) £5 advance / £6 on the door

THE SAME TRADE AS MOZART: Documentary Evening

Sunday 17th March, 7:30 PM

Hackney Attic (at Hackney Picturehouse), 270 Mare Street E8 1HE

£7, concessions available

For the final event in our Pioneers of Electronic Music series, we present three  documentaries exploring very different aspects of early British electronic music, accompanied by two presentations and a rare performance:

Practical Electronica (Ian Helliwell, 2011) A boldly experimental film surveying the innovative tape-based work of British pioneer FC Judd. >>>Trailer

The Same Trade as Mozart (BBC, 1969) An earlier look at electronic music with contributions from Stockhausen, Daphne Oram, Tristram Cary and others.

The Delian Mode (Kara Blake, 2009) Award winning short documentary on the iconic British sound pioneer Delia Derbyshire. >>> Trailer

Plus:

- Simon Emmerson: ‘Changing scenes’ The celebrated electroacoustic composer and writer looks back at how electronic music in the UK has developed in the last 50 years or so. How so many ‘scenes’ – such as experimental, electroacoustic, electronica, soundscape, improvisation, radiophonic, installation – have emerged, evolved and interacted.

- Ian Helliwell: Tristram Cary’s Trios. A rare performance of Cary's music from the director of Practical Electronica (with reel-to-reel tape, slide projections, and CD players).

RAYMOND SCOTT'S SON STAN WARNOW CHOOSES HIS TOP 5 SCOTT MOMENTS

On Tuesday 12th March we present the London premiere of Deconstructing Dad, an award-winning documentary on Raymond Scott, made by Scott's son Stan Warnow - who below picks his top five tracks. >>> Tuesday 12th March: 'Deconstructing Dad' at Hackney Attic >>> Thursday 14th March: Raymond Scott's music live at XOYO

STAN'S TOP RAYMOND SCOTT MOMENTS:

1. 'The Penguin', from Scott's 'Quintette' in the early years (1937-39)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wo0JrbbiavI

2. 'Baltimore Gas and Electric', from the Manhattan Research time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czn5neGreLs

Initially a leader of jazz bands, Scott took a rigorous approach to orchestrating parts for different players and would shun improvisation in favour of complex arrangements. He had a glamorous celebrity lifestyle in the States and by the 1950s was presenting 'Your Hit Parade' on NBC. He also provided the soundtracks, loved by so many, for Warner Bros. 'Looney Tunes' cartoons.

What few realised was that he was using this to fund his research into electronic music and composition with his Manhattan Research Lab - during this time he invented several new instruments, worked with Robert Moog, and arguably invented the world's first ever polyphonic sequencer. He even made a series of records to help put babies to sleep, called 'Soothing Sounds For Baby' - which doesn't sound out of place next to Aphex Twin's 'Selected Ambient Works'.

Scott took the same technical approach to his electronic compositions as he had with his jazz arrangements, and has left behind an incredible legacy of music.

3. 'Oil Gusher' - another from the Quintette years (the video is of a new recording by Steve Bartek)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuJCvntrF14

4. 'Powerhouse' - Video with a specially made Looney Tunes montage from Warner Bros.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3FLN0iQ9SQ

5. 'Little Miss Echo' from 'Soothing Sounds for Baby'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l17kn0WpD2s

Find out More:

>>> Deconstructing Dad Website

>>> Raymond Scott Archives

The Delian Mode Filmmaker Kara Blake's Top 7 Delia Derbyshire Tracks

The Pioneers Festival is a celebration of all those who pushed the boundaries in electronic music and helped to shape the sounds that nowadays we are all so familiar with.

Delia Derbyshire was a part of the BBC's groundbreaking Radiophonic Workshop in the 1960s and she made her most best-known work during this time - notably the Doctor Who theme, along with so much more. Her legacy continues to inspire new generations of musicians and it seems that it's only decades later that the true extent of the work she and others did within the Workshop can command the acknowledgement and respect that it always deserved.

Our guest for this playlist is Kara Blake, who last year made a short Delia-focused documentary, The Delian Mode, which has already won numerous awards. We are happy to be giving the film a screening on the 12th of March as part of a special documentary night.

Here's the Trailer for the film.

>>>>Tickets and further info for the Documentary Evening

Kara Blake:

There’s more to Delia Derbyshire than the Doctor Who theme music. Sure that piece was a creative and technical feat that remains one of the most successful and recognizable theme tunes of all times but here are some other tracks that further purport Ms. Derbyshire as a laudable figure in the pantheon of electronic music pioneers.

The Dreams 1964 The first in a series of Inventions for Radio for which Delia collaborated with dramatist Barry Bermange. Voices describing their dreams are set adrift in a wash of electronic sounds which are simultaneously beautiful and frightening. It was this piece that hooked me, made me want to find out more about Delia, and eventually led to the making of my film The Delian Mode.

The Delian Mode (1968) The title track for my film is, to me, the definitive Delia Derbyshire sound. It’s like being led through a secret door and being granted access to unimaginable realms.

Door to Door (1968) One thing that drew me to Delia was the diversity of her work. There’s such a range of sounds, from ominous and otherworldly to beguiling and playful. I think this track is a great example of her wit and humour.

Firebird (1967) Delia co-wrote and created this wonderfully catchy blend of pop and experimental electronica with David Vorhaus and Brian Hodgson for an album called An Electric Storm. Be sure to check out the rest of the album for more “unconventional” sounds...

Dance from Noah (1969) This track was amongst the 267 tapes found in Delia’s attic after her death in 2001. Thought to be created in the late sixties, this piece solidifies the timeless nature of much of Delia’s work and had me wanting to hit the dance floor. Unbelievable!

Sychrondipity Machine (2000) This was a collaboration between Delia and Experimental Audio Research ( a.k.a. Pete Kember) that sprang from many late night phone calls between the two. Delia’s magic touch seems to tactilely bubble to the surface in this piece.

Sculptress (2010) A pioneer takes steps in unchartered territory so as to open the path for those who follow. I think we can safely say that Delia Derbyshire did just that. At a time when electronic music was a barely audible hum, she invented techniques in order to realize her creative ideas and established a legacy of music making founded on experimentation and ingenuity. It is unsurprising that many contemporary musicians cite her as an influence and choose to contribute to a growing list of works which pay hommage to her as this piece by contemporary composer Nicole Lizée does so well. Performed by the Standing Wave Ensemble and recorded live at The Clutch theatre in Vancouver, Canada in 2010.

Pioneers of Electronic Music Podcast

Here's a Podcast of Electronic Pioneers all themed round our Festival running March 6-17th.

It's been great fun compiling this podcast, and it features a good few of the pieces we've programmed for the Pioneers of Electronic Music Festival. The Stockhausen, Varese and Messiaen works are all being performed at our XOYO event on 14th March along with a DJ set from The Orb's Alex Paterson. Also included is material from people we are celebrating at our events, such as Daphne Oram - who has a tribute evening on the 6th March - and Delia Derbyshire and Raymond Scott, who we're showing biographical documentaries about during the festival.

The podcast has excerpts from the film scores of The Day The Earth Stood Still and Forbidden Planet, both pioneering in their use of electronics and showing at the Rio Cinema on Sunday 10th March.The Plastikman minimal techno track Psyk, takes us forward to 1998, proving although the technology has no doubt advanced since the mid-20th century, the sonic qualities aren't so different.

More info on the tracks:

1. 00'00": Clockwork Orange Title Music / Wendy Carlos (1972)

Wendy Carlos (as Walter Carlos) brought synth sounds to the household with her Switched on Bach albums in the late 1960s, performed on Moog. In the Clockwork Orange soundtrack, this approach continues as epic reimaginings of familiar works from the classical canon are given an eerie electronic twist which adds to the dystopian world of the film.

2. 02'31": Oraison / Messaien (1937)

Composed for 6 ondes Martenot. Talking about 'pioneers' would be difficult if we were to overlook this instrument - invented in 1928, its theremin-like wavering sounds come from varying oscillations in vacuum tubes. Getting hold of one now is fairly difficult but we've managed to secure a performer and an ondes for a rendition of this piece at XOYO on 14th March.

3. 07'53": Wheels That Go / Raymond Scott (1967)

Raymond Scott led what in effect appears to be a double life. On the one hand, he was a radio and TV celebrity and big band leader, who soundtracked among other things the Looney Tunes cartoons; while by night he developed some of the first synthesizers and sequencers in his Manhattan Research Lab. 'Wheels That Go' bridges that gap, being an electronic score for none other than Jim Henson. Scott has been gradually rediscovered over the last 20 years or so, and only now can we really appreciate the ingenuity and scope of his work with lovingly restored and remastered selections such as this one. Catch the first London screening of RS documentary Deconstructing Dad on 12th March.

4. 08'51": Occasional Variations / Milton Babbitt (1968-71)

The issue of who made the first synthesiser (Raymond Scott, Daphne Oram, Milton Babbitt or even the simple one-note oscillators of the late 19th Century?) has been a hotly contested issue since we started talking about the Pioneers festival. But Babbitt's lab - which still lies dormant at Columbia University - houses the original RCA synth which he worked on through the 1960s, and it's definitely among the first. Occasional Variations was composed in the late '60s and clearly demonstrates the capacities of his instrument.

5. 13'17": Snow / Daphne Oram (1963)

With her Oramics machine Daphne Oram was truly a Pioneer of electronic composition (she set up her studio in 1959). The machine is currently on display in London's Science Museum. Snow soundtracks a short film, and is interesting in sounding like big beat and sample-based hip hop, which it pre-dated by 20-30 years. On 6th March we'll be celebrating Oram with a special night at The Macbeth dedicated to her work and its legacy.

6. 14'56": Syncopation / Tom Dissvelt and Kid Baltan (Dick Raaijmakers) (1958)

Another hotly contested debate is who 'invented' the forms of repetitive modulating rhythmic sequences of House, Electro and Techno. These two would be prime contenders for that crown. Recorded in 1958, the frantic offbeat basslines of Syncopation pre-empts what Djs and Producers were doing in clubs and on pirate radio of early '80s Detroit, Chicago and beyond.

7. 16'28": Forbidden Planet Main Titles Overture / Louis and Bebe Baron (1956)

The soundtrack the Forbidden Planet is credited as being the first entirely electronic film score. We're screening the entire film at the Rio Cinema on March 10th as part of a double bill.

8. 18'30": Valse Sentimentale / Tchaikovsky Performed on Theremin by Clara Rockmore (1987)

Clara Rockmore is an important pioneer in being a virtuoso of the - incredibly difficult - theremin, an eerie sounding electronic instrument familiar to many from sci-fi soundtracks but not so much as a solo instrument in its own right. Here she takes on Tchaikovsky, from her 1987 album The Art of The Theremin, which was produced by none other than fellow pioneer Robert Moog.

9. 20'30": Schlum Rooli Glyn Jones, BBC Radiophonic Workshop, 10. 22'05": Major Bloodnok's Stomach Dick Mills, BBC Radiophonic Workshop, 11. 22'13”: Mattachin 1 Delia Derbyshire BBC Radiophonic Workshop

The BBC Radiophonic Workshop became incredibly prolific throughout the 1960s, providing in-house soundtracking to BBC television and drama. Most famously, the Doctor Who Theme, which was performed by Delia Derbyshire - subject of The Delian Mode, a documentary we are showing on March 17th. These three tracks are all examples of the kind of work that was happening in the Workshop at the time.

12. 22'15": IBM Probe / Raymond Scott (1963-64)

More from Mr. Scott's Manhattan Research era. On 14th March at XOYO Leon Michener will be performing his new transcriptions in one of the first fully 'live' performances of these works.

13. 25'05":The Day The Earth Stood Still Prelude / Bernard Hermann (1951)

This film was another important innovator - with the soundtrack including two theremins. Nowadays it sounds kitsch but still brilliantly futuristic, and it's definitely been imitated though never bettered. It's the other film we're showing in our Rio Cinema double bill on the 10th March.

14. 26'40": Diamorphoses / Xenakis (1957)

The Greek composer's first tape-based piece of 'Musique Concrete': using 'found' sounds, essentially an early form of sample-based music - in this case belonging to earthquakes, jet take-offs, skips’ shocks, musical instruments and more.

15. 28'45": Kontake / Stockhausen (1958-60)

A short excerpt of the much longer (c. 35") piece from Stockhausen which will be performed in its entirety at XOYO on the 14th.

16. 31'46": Poeme Electronique / Varese (1957-58)

Another important late-1950's work for electronic tape. Varese was keen to utilize the space in which this pre-recorded tape piece was heard, and at its premiere it was heard through 350 specially positioned speakers. Again to be performed on the 14th March.

17. 26'33": The Rhythm Modulator / Raymond Scott (1955-57)

More genius from Raymond Scott, illustrating in this one the similarities between his work and that of those coming from a club background some years later …

18. 38'27":Psyk / Plastikman (1998)

I wanted to end the podcast showing the similarities between minimal techno and electronica and the work of the pioneers in the mid 20th Century and earlier. Richie Hawtin aka Plastikman is often seen in dance circles as the pioneer of minimal techno.