I Stay Joined (2017)
I Stay Joined was commissioned by the London Contemporary Music Festival (LCMF) 2017, curated under the title ‘Ruins in Reverse’ and performed by Apartment House.
Robert Smithson coined the phrase “ruins in reverse” in his essay ‘A Tour of the Monuments of Passaic, New Jersey’ (1967) to describe the chewed up wastelands of his birthplace. LCMF 2017 explored the importance of ruination in music, celebrating work that builds with rubble and work that constructs using failed sounds. Pieces that, to quote Smithson “rise into ruin”.
I Stayed Joined responsed to Britain’s imminent exit from Europe as “memory-traces of an abandoned set of futures”. In the performance, the piano, woodwind, and strings as divided into islands, performing with and against one another.
Commissioned by London Contemporary Music Festival 2017. Performed by Apartment House.
Full programme: John Oswald Plexure (1993); Anton Lukoszevieze Dirty Angels (2013); Pierluigi Billone Mani.DeLeonardis (2004); Jack Sheen Slow motion romantics vol.II (2017) (world premiere; Sarah Hughes I Stay Joined (2017) (world premiere); Galina Ustvolskaya Sonata No. 6 (1988); Elisabeth S. Clark Book Concerto in One Act (2008); Yasunao Tone AI Deviation V1 #5, AI Deviation V2 #3 (2017) (UK premiere)
Robert Smithson coined the phrase “ruins in reverse” in his essay ‘A Tour of the Monuments of Passaic, New Jersey’ (1967) to describe the chewed up wastelands of his birthplace. LCMF 2017 explored the importance of ruination in music, celebrating work that builds with rubble and work that constructs using failed sounds. Pieces that, to quote Smithson “rise into ruin”.
I Stayed Joined responsed to Britain’s imminent exit from Europe as “memory-traces of an abandoned set of futures”. In the performance, the piano, woodwind, and strings as divided into islands, performing with and against one another.
Commissioned by London Contemporary Music Festival 2017. Performed by Apartment House.
Full programme: John Oswald Plexure (1993); Anton Lukoszevieze Dirty Angels (2013); Pierluigi Billone Mani.DeLeonardis (2004); Jack Sheen Slow motion romantics vol.II (2017) (world premiere; Sarah Hughes I Stay Joined (2017) (world premiere); Galina Ustvolskaya Sonata No. 6 (1988); Elisabeth S. Clark Book Concerto in One Act (2008); Yasunao Tone AI Deviation V1 #5, AI Deviation V2 #3 (2017) (UK premiere)