Something Positive

"Mallacht" by Linda Buckley perf @BBCSSO @tectonicsglas. Felt like entering an ancient world. Atavistic

"the stones in the river by our camp in the forest / the space on the ground where we lay" by Rufus Isabel Elliot perf @BBCSSO @tectonicsglas. Awesome moment when the strings nearly play open strings but it's just ever so slightly completely out of wack tuning, really unsettling

Innocence by Saariaho, seen tonight @RoyalOperaHouse. Everything rotates, the music, the set, the plot, like we're aliens seeing emotions through a petri dish

"Double-Face" by Aya Yoshida @aycomposer. Stumbled across this on youtube. Brilliant control of orchestral tone, particularly love the woodwind moment that appears around 3:30 youtu.be/RpvqGufPIJ4

"House of call" by Heiner Goebbels perf @LPOrchestra conducted by Vimbayi Kaziboni. Wow. This piece really had everything. I wouldn't even know where to start

'I cannot love without trembling' by Cassandra Miller. Incredibly lonesome music, made even more so by the fleeting and dispersed flashes of lively colour in wind entries throughout the piece, like something out of the corner of your eye 1hr 2 minutes: vrt.be/vrtnu/luister/…

"Coruscate" by @AnselmMcdonnell perf @UlsterOrchestra on BBC Radio 3. The colours of this piece really pull you along from every moment to the next, like rafting down rapids. Listen here bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0…

Graphic Love/B'Tselem by Elischa Kaminer perf @SouthbankSinf @nonclassical. I got to participate in this as an audience member!

"Indefinite dreams - I am Alive!" By Atefeh Einali perf @SouthbankSinf @nonclassical. Neat idea to have player stand and sit while playing. Enjoyed having audience attention dictated in that way

Sound sculpture no 7 by Simon Knighton perf @SouthbankSinf @nonclassical. Innovative use of conductor as active panning - where he walked, sound emerged

The mezzanine stair nail by @emilyabdy perf @SouthbankSinf @nonclassical. Loved the use of deliberate percussion marking entries and exits, like a shostakovich march but not like that at all

I'm BACK from a month away where I did not think about music at all and on Sunday am attending a concert with TWENTY new pieces ALL of which will be positively reviewed. Big start to positive ears 2023

"Növények" by @Thomas_ades perf tonight @wigmore_hall. Beautiful use of rarely heard very low mezzo soprano range

'Preludio a colon' by Julian Carillo perf @DalNiente. Incredible evocative atmosphere built through simple repetition of precise microtonality. OK this piece 100 years old but new to ME youtu.be/GnMpV9EpKYI

I won't be reviewing this piece I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with this composer's music... 🫢

"drought", one act opera by @AnnaAppleby and @Niallcam perf @BBCPhilharmonic cond @Jackfsheen. The entire introduction is strings only, so when the double winds suddenly come in it sounds completely miraculous. Will be broadcast on radio 3 - stay tuned all.

"shadows" by @_SamSalem perf @Distractfold and @BBCPhilharmonic at @RNCMPRiSM Future Music Festival last night. Love the nythological, neolithic vibes that emerge from careful sounds sculpted out of close micd players.

"outlier" by @megan_steinberg perf @DISTRACTFOLD @Drake_Music at @RNCMPRiSM future music festival last night. Incredible ending which goes round and round and round a weird AI-generated tune across the ensemble, fabulous use of repetition

"that's what they said" by @bofantheone perf last night by @Distractfold at @RNCMPRiSM. Amazing uncanny vibe achieved via live transformations of the sounds and faces of the performers throughout

"resonant thinking" by Katharina Wallace perf @pianistben @PsapphaEnsemble. Really beautiful sounds captured within such a delicate landscape that doesn't try to do too much youtu.be/zhL-8hKE7h0