Have been listening to this splendid new release of Rubbra's choral music on @delphianrecords.com by @mertoncollegechoir.bsky.social & Benjamin Nicholas. Well worth a listen! A lot of these are new to me. open.spotify.com/album/0wcipW...
Sorry to hear of the passing of Bernard Rands (1934-2026). He leaves behind a treasured legacy of works, many of which are thankfully recorded. RIP.
What a treat! I well remember hearing it for the first time in a concert in around 1981 or so.
Huge thanks - I’ve greatly appreciated it and have learnt so much
Exemplary curation, much appreciated.
It's been wonderful - thank you for all your time and effort in doing this. It's been great to see old favourites, to rediscover works I'd forgotten about, and to be introduced to music and composers I'd not heard of before. 🙏
Hope you’ve also been aware of the cumulative playlist on Spotify. Final duration: 185 hours and 59 minutes. Put it on shuffle and play guess who? open.spotify.com/playlist/7BW...
The eagle-eyed amongst you will have realised that today is the last day of the year & therefore the end of these daily posts. I hadn’t quite realised a year ago what a commitment a daily post would be… But I’ve managed it & learned some things along the way. Hope you have as well!
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This piece underscores her trailblazing role in British electronic music, bridging wartime sound effects work with later commissions, lectures, & inventions, despite institutional resistance. Its belated revival highlights her enduring legacy as a visionary often overlooked in male-dominated fields.
Born in Wiltshire, Oram turned down a Royal College of Music place to join the BBC, blending classical training with electronic experimentation influenced by musique concrète.
In Oram's career (1925–2003), "Still Point" marks a pivotal early innovation, predating her co-founding of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop in 1958 & her departure in 1959 to develop Oramics, a drawn-sound synthesizer.
After the 2016 performance, a revised version debuted at BBC Proms on 23 July 2018, at the Royal Albert Hall. No recordings existed during Oram's lifetime; the earliest stem from the 2016 perf, with audio excerpts available online, including a full 2016 rendition shared on platforms like YouTube.
Not formally commissioned, "Still Point" emerged from Oram's independent experiments at the BBC, where she worked as a studio engineer from 1942. She submitted it for the 1950 Prix Italia via the BBC, but it was rejected due to its radical nature and remained unperformed for decades.
Lasting about 30 minutes, the piece evokes a meditative stasis amid dynamic sonic layers, reflecting Oram's fascination with sound spatialization inspired by her wartime BBC experiences in the Royal Albert Hall.
Often hailed as the first work to blend orchestral elements with live electronics, it features pre-recorded material played at varying speeds, filtered, & reverberated, creating spatial depth through microphone placement.
Oram's "Still Point" (1948-50) stands as a groundbreaking electroacoustic composition for double orchestra, turntables, & 5 microphones, pioneering the real-time manipulation of electronic sounds alongside live acoustic performance.
Born #OTD in 1935, English composer, Daphne Oram. Her orchestral work, Still Point was premiered in June 2016, at St John's Smith Square, at the Deep Minimalism festival, realized by Shiva Feshareki & James Bulley with London Contemporary Orchestra. open.spotify.com/track/5iQ5MM... #britsymphyear
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Amid over 100 works, it bridged his European roots with American opportunities, leading to residencies with orchestras like Philadelphia & further honours, including a 2000 Grammy for Canti d'Amor. The piece embodies his "inexhaustible" sonic exploration, fusing tradition with innovation.
In Rands' career, born in 1934 in Sheffield, & emigrating to the U.S. in 1975 (naturalized 1983), "Canti del Sole" marked a pivotal moment. After studies in Wales & Italy, & teaching stints at York, UC San Diego, & Harvard, this Pulitzer win affirmed his status as a major contemporary composer.
The 1st recording, released in 1986 on Composers Recordings Inc features Sperry with the SONOR Ensemble under Rands' direction, paired with Canti Lunatici. Later recordings include a 1994 New World Records version & a 2005 Arsis release with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project.
The work was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic. The first performance propelled the piece to acclaim, earning Rands the 1984 Pulitzer Prize for Music, highlighting its noble, exultant qualities.
Part of a vocal trilogy—Canti Lunatici (1980, soprano), Canti del Sole (tenor), & Canti dell'Eclisse (1992, bass)—it explores celestial themes through multilingual texts, showcasing Rands' fascination with voice & poetry.
Lasting about 29 minutes, it blends lyrical introspection with orchestral colour, drawing on Rands' post-serialist style influenced by his studies with Luciano Berio & Bruno Maderna.
Canti del Sole sets 14 poems by poets including Baudelaire, Dylan Thomas, Rimbaud, & others, evoking the sun as a metaphor for life's vitality & human experience.
Bernard Rands' "Canti del Sole" (1983) is a vibrant song cycle for tenor & orchestra. It premiered on 8 June 1983, at Avery Fisher Hall in New York, conducted by Zubin Mehta, with tenor Paul Sperry as soloist. open.spotify.com/track/69R5J1... #britsymphyear
youtu.be/VkcItO7n1qE?...
It underscores his "homeless" music—defying genres, fusing orchestral depth with electronic innovation, & reflecting a restless pursuit of sonic ambiguity amid influences from rock, jazz, & classical traditions.
In Poppy's broader career, spanning over 4 decades, this piece represents a pivotal transition from ensemble work to solo recordings & collaborations, including dance scores, operas, & commissions like his 2006 oratorio, Something In the Air (Levitation & Fall).