University-Of-York-Music-Press

Anne Boyd's The Quiet Place for Oboe (doubling antique cymbals) Clarinet (doubling rin) Viola and Harp.The Quiet Place was commissioned by the Warwick andLeamington Festival for performance by Okeanos on their New Music Day on 14th July 2002.'The Quiet Place' is a meditation site in the University of York dedicated by Dame Janet Baker 'In honour of thespirituality which is in all people'. It was a place I visited frequently in the months I spent as visiting Professor at the University in late 2001. So soon after the attack on the New York Trade Centre the worldfelt a very unstable place especially to be so far from my Australian home. It was difficult to make much sense of existence in a world of fanatical fundamentalism - both Islamic and Christian. Perhaps for comfort I foundmyself thinking back a thousand years to the vital earth based spirituality of Hildegard of Bingen and uncovered an Antiphon she had composed 'Nunc Aperuit'. This chant became the basis of the work I have written forOkeanos in response to an invitation from Jinny Shaw whom I met in York last year. In English translation the words of the chant translate as 'Now the closed door has opened for us / What the serpent hassuffocated in woman./ Therefore shines forth in thedawn/ the flower from the Virgin Mary. ' The music of 'The Quiet Place' is a simple meditation which explores the moods of this text often retreating into a silencewhich is both breath and transcendence. - Anne Boyd

George Nicholson's String Quartet No.5.George Nicholson was born in County Durham in 1949 and studied at the University of York with David Blake and Bernard Rands receiving his doctorate in 1979. For ten years he pursued a freelance career in London before being appointed Lecturer in Music and Director of Composition at Keele University in 1988. In January 1996 he took up the post of Senior Lecturer in Composition at Sheffield University.

Phillip Neil Martin's Human Drum for three voices (SSA). Duration: 3 minutes Composed: 2006 Also published as part of UYMP's Songspin Songbook ISMN M 57036 603 3. Human Drum was a collaboration with the Juice Vocal Ensemble. The piece began in the recording studio where I recorded Juice singing notated fragments I’d popped together and also their own improvisations. I then edited and cut up all the audio into very tiny fragments in a myriad of ways to make a short rhythm-based electronic 3 part vocal piece. This forms part of my larger work Voices of the Asylum for voices human beatbox electronics fashion andspace. The final track bares very little resemblance to the original recording studio session. Several weeks after I had finished Human Drum Juice asked me to transcribe the audio so they could sing the piece live (which wasn’t easy to do after all the cutting and processing!) therefore coming full circle! There are now two versions of Human Drum the studio electronic track and the ‘live’ notated version. Human Drum is dedicated to the Juice Vocal Ensemble with affection. First performed by Juice Vocal Ensemble on 3rd May 2007 at York Spring Festival Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall University of York.

Oboe-Metamorphoses after Britten was written for Melinda Maxwell for UYMP's Signals volume of new music for Oboe. It was first performed by Melinda at York University on 24th November 2010.I - A MountainII -FixationIII - FlowersIV - Fountains Metamorphoses after Britten by philipvenables 'Metamorphoses after Britten arejust that: four miniatures each inspired by one of Benjamin Britten’s Six Metamorphoses after Ovid for solo oboe. Each movement over its short course transforms gradually from one thing to another ending with the exception ofFountains in a short cathartic coda. Some of the movements also take specific musical elements from Britten’s pieces.I very much viewed these pieces as musical Haiku and in that sense I hope they embody a sense ofpeace brevity and simplicity.The oboe version of Metamorphoses after Britten is dedicated to Melinda Maxwell.The saxophone version of Metamorphoses after Britten with an additional movement is dedicated to Vickiand Andrew Vaughan'      - Philip Venables     

Matthew Roddie's The Eden Myth arranged for orchestra was composed in 1998 written at the invitation of the University of York Music Department.

For Horn Trumpet Trombone and Percussion.First published in 1998.First performance by University of York New Music Group conducted by James Williams in June 1999.Score.

The Shades of Love-Six songs to poems by C P Cavafy (also English version by the composer). First performance: Akis Lalousis and the Orchestra of the State Conservatoire Thessaloniki conducted by the composer 10th November 2000. UK Premiere byStephen Varcoe with the University of York Orchestra conducted by the composer.

For Flute Mime 6 Suitcases and 6 Cassette Tape Recorders.First performed at the University of York in 1977.

Commissioned by the Duo Parker-Brown. First performance: University of York 1986.

James Lindsay's Sanbiki No Kashikoi Saru for three voices (SSA). Duration: 5 minutes Composed: 2003 Also published as part of UYMP's Songspin Songbook ISMN M 57036 603 3. Commissioned and first performed by Juice Vocal Ensemble at the York Spring Festival of New Music 8th May 2003. The text for this piece is taken from the Japanese myth of the Three Wise Monkeys (sanbiki no kashikoi saru): ‘mi zaru kika zaru iwa zaru’ literally translates as ‘nothing seen nothing heard nothing said’ but is more commonly known as ‘see no evil hear no evil speak no evil’. The piece itself came before the text and takesas its core influence from the music of the Japanese hip hop/drum and bass star DJ Krush centering around a sample from his track ‘Trihedron’ from his 2002 album The Message at the Depth.

David Breslin's Nornir for three voices (SSA). Duration: 10 minutes Composed: 2011 Also published as part of UYMP's Songspin Songbook ISMN M 57036 603 3. I. Urd II. Verdandi III. Skuld In Old Norse mythology Norns are maidens who visit everyone at birth to determine the shape of their lives. The three maidens - urd meaning ‘past’ verdandi meaning ‘present’ and skuld meaning ‘future’ - form a trinity of Fates. First performed by Juice Vocal Ensemble on 8th May 2003 at Heslington Church York as part of York Spring Festival.

George Nicholson's Salut for String Quartet. The death of Peter Cropper in May 2015 was an immeasurable blow to the musical community especially to those of us who knew him not only as a wonderful wise musician but also as a warm colleague and friend. His unceasing devotion to the cause of music and to the promotion of excellent standards in performance was in my experience beyond compare. The finest tribute we can pay him is to continue to make music to the best of our ability and to go on reaching out to continue to explore and learn. I always felt that I would need to commemorate Peter in a piece for StringQuartet the medium he was most obviously associated with and in Salut it is understandably the first Violin part that has pride of place. The piece develops contrasting textures and registers and above all it is concerned with the influence of the extremely high Violin writing at the beginning on the rest of the ensemble. - George Nicholson Salut was first performed by the Ligeti Quartet Firth Hall University of Sheffield 17 May 2016.