Another Timbre TimHarrisonbre
Downloads at Bandcamp
Downloads of all Another Timbre CDs are available from Bandcamp here
John Cage Number Pieces Box Set
The John Cage Number Pieces box set is out now, with Apartment House playing all of the number pieces for mid-size ensemble from Five to Fourteen. There was a good article in The Guardian here, and an excellent review here: “Apartment House’s performances are wonderfully committed - every note is there, you sense, for a reason - and reveal the strange beauty in these works….The whole set is a revelation”.
There’s also a wonderful in-depth review at Point of Departure here: “Monumental…the box sheds renewed light on this oft overlooked series. Through their dedication and peerless production values, they have created a singular lens into these pieces.”
Equally pleasing are the numerous comments I’ve received from people who have bought the box set: “This is a staggeringly beautiful release, impeccably played and perfectly produced”, I’m loving this box set…Cage wrote such beautiful music”, “I received the box set on Friday and have been listening to it most of the weekend, another brilliant release”, “it’s great to listen to the number pieces in these vivid, elemental versions from Apartment House”, and so on, and so on.
You can read the 44-page booklet that comes with the box set here, and listen to Youtube extracts of three of the pieces here: Seven2 Eight Thirteen
Morton Feldman Piano box set
£32 + £3 postage worldwide
And, if you haven’t got it already, do add Philip Thomas and Mark Knoop’s brilliant realisation of one of the other number pieces, Two2, to your order. It’s a double CD which was very highly acclaimed when it was released 3 years ago, and you can buy it at a sale price of £12. Youtube extract
You can also buy two realisations of Four6 by different groups here and here, and - although we have sold out of CD copies - you can buy downloads of a great version of the percussion quartet Four4 on our Bandcamp page here for only £7
Sale price: double CD for £12
And finally we’re offering two earlier releases of John Cage’s music for only £6 each until the end of September: Winter Music and Cartridge Music
Youtube extract Cartridge Music
Sale price £6
Sale price £6
Recent Releases
at177 Barbara Monk Feldman - ‘Verses’
Five beautiful chamber works by Barbara Monk Feldman, played by the GBSR Duo and Mira Benjamin
at176 Linda Catlin Smith ‘Ballad’
A new CD from Linda Catlin Smith, with two wonderful works for cello and piano, played by Kerry Yong and Anton Lukoszevieze from Apartment House
at175 Oliver Leith ‘Me Hollywood’
Following the success of his recent CD ‘good day good day bad day bad day’, more music from Oliver Leith. This time five chamber works, played by Explore Ensemble on their debut CD release
Youtube extract 2 ‘Me Hollywood’
at174 James Weeks ‘Summer’
Explore Ensemble again, performing five beautiful chamber pieces by Durham-based composer James Weeks
at169 Adrián Demoč ‘Hlaholika’
Chamber works by the Slovak composer Adrián Demoč, whose previous CD ‘Ziadba’ was extremely well-received. Apartment House again on three of the tracks, with one piece played by a Czech ensemble. The title track is the third of Another Timbre’s quarantine commissions. Stunningly beautiful music.
at170 Michael Winter ‘single track’
An extraordinary 7-part canon, which starts fast and gradually slows down across its 45 minute duration. Composed by the Berlin-based US composer Michael Winter, and performed by the leading Mexican new music ensemble Liminar.
at171 Josten Myburgh ‘Sculthorpe Studies’
Wonderful engaged and engaging music by the young Western Australian composer Josten Myburgh. ‘Sculthorpe Studies’ combines harmonies taken from the work of fellow Australian composer Peter Sculthorpe with field recordings in which birds become an additional instrument.
at172 Jim O’Rourke
‘Best that you do this for me’
A 50-minute composition for string trio by the Japan-based musicial pioneer and experimentalist. Commissioned by Anton Lukoszevieze of Apartment House, who perform it beautifully.
at173 Catherine Lamb - Muto Infinitas
An extended duo for double bass and quartertone bass flute by Catherine Lamb, another US-born composer now resident in Berlin, whose previous discs include ‘Point-Wave’ and the Viola Torros double CD with Johnny Chang.
Exquisitely played by Rebecca Lane and Jon Heilbron.
at164 Maya Verlaak
‘All English Music is Greensleeves’
Three ensemble works performed by
Apartment House, plus two solo works
played by Sarah Saviet & Mark Knoop
at165 Judith Hamann ‘days collapse’
Hauntingly beautiful music produced in
lockdown on an island in Finland for cello, electronics & voice
at166 Martin Arnold - ‘Stain Ballads’
Four totally individual chamber works played by
Apartment House. “Lyrical, endlessly meandering melodies….all the music I write is in some sense
dance music”
Youtube extract 1 Youtube extract 2
Other Recent Releases
Sales to EU countries and Soundohm
New customs regulations within the EU are making life difficult for people in some EU countries buying CDs from the UK. The new rules are being enforced with very different degrees of strictness, and in many EU countries our packets are slipping through ok, but in the most severe cases (Germany and the Netherlands) people are sometimes being charged extra customs charges and / or handling costs even on small packets from the UK (bloody Brexit!) We are very sorry about this and regret it hugely. If you live in one of those countries which is being stricter, you may be better off buying Another Timbre CDs from our European distributor Soundohm, who stock most of our discs. You can order our CDs from Soundohm’s website here
Aside from the Cage Number Pieces box set, our previous box set release of Morton Feldman’s piano music played by Philip Thomas remains our best-selling release ever. Released in September 2019 on 5 CDs, it is now into its third pressing, and has provided the income which has made the Cage box possible. It had a string of great reviews, with just two examples below.
“Everything about this six-hour, five-disc box set radiates the care, attention-to-detail and , yes, love that has been invested in producing it….absolutely essential. Forget about albums-of-the-week, end of year lists and so forth; Morton Feldman Piano seems destined to be played, discussed and cherished for many years to come. A historic five-star release.” John Eyles
“Throughout you’re aware of how thoroughly Thomas grasps the architecture of the music, and how deeply this sensitivity is grounded inside an intimate communion with the resonant swells and overtones of Feldman. Again and again I was reminded of Bach playing of the highest order as Thomas’s crystalline clear orientation around line makes the motility between contrapuntal lines dance internally.” Philip Clark, The Wire
Philip Thomas has performed Feldman for 25 years, and the box contains a 52-page booklet in which he writes about playing Feldman’s music. You can read the booklet here.
at167 Newton Armstrong ‘The way to go out’
Three mesmerising pieces performed by
Plus Minus Ensemble & Séverine Ballon.
A wonderful, rich and elusive soundworld.
at168 Antoine Beuger
‘jankélévitch sextets’
Apartment House’s magnificient realisation of Beuger’s 2004 composition for six musicians. Simply exquisite.
at163 Eventless Plot - ‘Parallel Words’
Three chamber pieces by the Thessaloniki-based ensemble.
“A mercurial intelligence that is both human yet beyond individual subjectivity, quietly confounding expectations as each turn creates a new hybrid of sound.” Ben Harper
at161 Oliver Leith
‘good day good day bad day bad day’
“New music does not get more lovable….it’s a piece you want to hug. A sweet-hearted hypnagogic gem.” Igor Toronyi-Lalic
at160 Kraig Grady ‘Monumnt of Diamonds’
Epic microtonal work for trumpets, saxophones,
trombones and organ by Australian-based
composer Kraig Grady.
“Ethereal harmonies rub together like raw silk” Greg Burk
at162 ‘Iteration’
Lucio Capece & Werner Dafeldecker
Two improvisations by two of the most respected Berlin-based musicians.
“Wonderfully controlled soundwork by two masters of the experimental music” Marcus O’Reilly
at159 Clara de Asís & Mara Winter
‘Repetition of the same dream’
Five pieces developed during lockdown in Basel,
the first of our quarantine commissions.
“Music of extremely reduced means, but of
astonishing power” Marcus O’Reilly
at154 ‘unfurling’ Angharad Davies / Klaus Lang / Anton Lukoszevieze
A stunning new piece jointly composed and played by the three musicians in March 2020.
“Incredibly beautiful” BBC Radio 3
at155 Ernstalbrecht Stiebler -
4 chamber works for strings, performed by Biliana Voutchkova, with Michael Rauter and Nurit Stark.
at156 Magnus Granberg & Skogen
‘Let Pass My Weary Guiltless Ghost’
Another exquisite piece by Skogen
“Its beauty is not to be missed.” John Eyles
“Fine work….a marvelous piece.” Brian Olewnick
at157 Giuliano d’Angiolini ‘Antifona’
Four beautiful new chamber works.
Youtube extract 1 Youtube extract 2
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