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Hearing Places

The latest in new music including the world premiere of Colin Riley's Hearing Places, inspired by a year-long quest to capture the fragility and power of the Welsh landscape.

Tom Service introduces some of the latest sounds in new music including the world premiere of Colin Riley's haunting Hearing Places - an exhortation to listen and to relate fully with the Welsh landscape, be it the clangour of the Port Talbot Steelworks or the delicate sounds of the valleys.

As the composer says: "In this suite of seven movements I am aiming for a new kind of symphonic experience. It involves immersive listening, and a way of sharing in the noticing of often inconsequential, yet hugely-beautiful sounds. The music aims to capture both the delicate fragility and massive power of our world, and to illustrate simply what we stand to lose in the environment crisis we are now in. It is my view that through the act of noticing our surroundings we can begin to value our world more. Natural elements are frequently referenced in the music (weather, times of day, natural phenomena and the seasons), as are the human imprints left in our world (machinery, vehicles, pattern-making, conversation). Hearing Places celebrates the rich audio and visual patterns found all around us, and I’ve spent the last year travelling to all corners of Wales collecting field recordings and video clips of interesting places that have captured my imagination. These small building blocks of pitch, rhythm, and pattern in turn then became the materials for the creation of the music itself. Sometimes I simply made a natural emotional response in terms of mood and feeling, and at other times took a more forensic approach....Sometimes a place may be recognizable, but very often it remains abstract and mysterious."

Colin Riley: Hearing Places
´óÏó´«Ã½ National Orchestra of Wales
Matthew Coorey (conductor)

2 hours

Last on

Sat 20 Apr 2024 22:30

Music Played

  • Angharad Jenkins

    Llonyddwch yr Hydref

    Performer: Angharad Jenkins.
    • Creiriau y Delyn Rawn / Relics of the Horsehair Harp.
    • AMGEN.
    • 16.
  • HOWL

    Night Swimmer (Sea Turtle)

    Author: Robert Macfarlane. Ensemble: HOWL.
    • Night Creatures.
    • HOWL.
    • 7.
  • Ian Wilson

    Mourning Song

    Performer: Gareth Davis. Performer: Dario Calderone.
    • Orpheus Down.
    • Far Point Recordings.
  • Shane Byrne

    Bolides

    Performer: Shane Byrne.
  • Colin Riley

    Hearing Places

    Orchestra: ´óÏó´«Ã½ National Orchestra of Wales. Conductor: Matthew Coorey.
  • Blair Boyd

    Slowly Tilting, Sinking

    Performer: Rachel Fryer.
  • Claude Vivier

    Pulau Dewata

    Ensemble: Bozzini Quartet.
  • Alois Hába

    5. Adagio - From Six Compositions For Sixth-Tone Harmonium, Op. 37 (1928)

    Performer: Miroslav Beinhauer.
    • Pieces For Sixth​-​Tone Harmonium.
    • Sub Rosa.
    • 1.
  • Klaus Lang

    Not One And Not Two (2022)

    Performer: Miroslav Beinhauer.
    • Pieces For Sixth​-​Tone Harmonium.
    • Sub Rosa.
    • 2.
  • Silvia Tarozzi

    Spazio from 'Mi Specchio E Rifletto'

    Performer: Silvia Tarozzi. Performer: Valeria Sturba. Performer: Stefano Pilia. Performer: Edoardo Marraffa. Performer: Cecilia Stacchiotti.
  • Ian Wilson

    Passing Ghosts

    Performer: Gareth Davis. Performer: Dario Calderone.
    • Orpheus Down.
    • Far Point Recordings.
    • 6.

Broadcast

  • Sat 20 Apr 2024 22:30

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