Category Archives: Musings

Mahler in Manchester: Take Eight

The Mahler in Manchester con­cert series is reaching its climax as we clamber up to the final, vast sym­phonies whose am­bi­tions outdid all pre­de­cessors and Mahler 8 is the largest of them all, com­bining the forces of BBC Philharmonic, Hallé, Hallé Choir, Hallé Youth Choir and CBSO Chorus, not to men­tion con­ductor Mark Elder and […]

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A stillness on the ear

On 30th April 2010 a new work of mine, Wege & Waldstille, for cla­rinet, hand­held per­cus­sion, piano, cello and elec­tronics will be per­formed by con­tem­porary music group Psappha. Here are a few more thoughts on that and si­lence in my music.

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“The point is to change it”

If we re­main grot­esquely un­equal, we shall lose all sense of fra­ternity: and fra­ternity, for all its fatuity as a polit­ical ob­jective, turns out to be the ne­ces­sary con­di­tion of politics it­self.” I’ve just got round to fin­ishing Tony Judt’s ex­cel­lent essay on the im­port­ance of the state printed in the Guardian Review the weekend […]

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Rise, Ancient Song

I have been listening a lot to this motet, Adesto dolori meo, Deus, by the late-Renaissance Flemish com­poser Alexander Utendal re­cently. The rising chro­matic line that forms the basis for the opening im­it­ative entries is mind-blowing in its de­ploy­ment, dis­playing fresh­ness and in­genuity des­pite being nearly 500 years old. By the time the sop­rano reaches her […]

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»Der Komponist hat nichts zu sagen, er hat was zu schaffen«

Helmut Lachenmann in Stuttgart, 13.02.2009 I was vis­iting Stuttgart, ho­metown of com­poser Helmut Lachenmann, to hear a con­cert of his music presented in the Stadtkirche of the suburb Bad-Canstatt. It seemed like a good omen when, at the head of the menu in the tra­di­tional Schwäbische Stube (I sup­pose this the local equi­valent of an […]

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  • Microbiography

    Chris Swithinbank is a British-Dutch com­poser who works with both acoustic in­stru­ments and elec­tronic sounds. He is cur­rently a stu­dent at Harvard University with Chaya Czernowin.
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