RECENT NEWS
Wood Street Galleries in Pittsburgh hosts a Longplayer listening post, from the 1st October until the 31st December 2010.
In addition, the opening night saw the world premiere performance of “Shortplayer”, the first of a new series of compositions by Jem Finer based on the principles of Longplayer.
An interview can be found here and an article from the Pittsburgh Post here.
Shortplayer
The method of Longplayer’s composition can be regarded as an algorithm whose variables may be changed to create a large number of new compositions. In this sense Longplayer is itself just one instance of these possible compositions, its title alluding directly to the extreme duration.
Conversely, there exist a group of possible compositions in which the variables are changed so that a composition lasts for a very short time. An hour for instance. Again, there are numerous possibilities as to how these rules can work and their resultant duration, as there are for the notation and instrumentation of the source music.
Shortplayer is a generic name covering all possible instances of these compositions, which can be made for any group or combination of instruments and/or voices. They can be made for different numbers of players and durations. As the scores will be of a graphic nature, and can be made for any instruments, they can be written for performers of all abilities.
The first ever performance of a Shortplayer composition, Shortplayer #1, took place on the 1st October 2010, at Wood Street Galleries, an hour long composition for 7 brass and reed players :
Roger Day (tuba)
Roger Dannenberg (trumpet)
Jem Finer (trumpet)
Mark Fromm (baritone sax)
Brandon Masterman (soprano sax)
Ben Opie (alto sax)
Lou Stellute (tenor sax)
David Bernabo (musical director)
With thanks to
Justin Hopper (without whom Longplayer may never have gone to Pittsburgh)
& Murray Horne and everyone at Wood Street Galleries.
The website has now been updated with an expanded LIVE section, two new texts and recordings of the Long Conversation held in parallel with the live concert at the Roundhouse in London in September 2009. This includes biographical details of all the participants and unedited recordings of each conversation. Many other sections have been revised, featuring new images and text.
On the 5th February 2010 a Long Conversation took place in Berlin as part of the Transmediale Festival.
More details here.
The HKW hosted a Longplayer listening post for the duration of the festival (2nd – 7th February).
Christian Payne’s documentation of the event is here.
A short video of Longplayer Live can be seen here.
A set of beautiful photos by Jana Chiellino and Bruce Atherton are here.
Meanwhile in the world of twitter . . .
The first live performance of Longplayer took place in the Roundhouse, London, on the 12th September.
Documentation of the 1000 minute long concert and the parallel Long Conversation will appear on the website in due course.
A short preview of the event can be seen here.
From the 21st June 2009 the listening post in the lighthouse, at Trinity Buoy Wharf, will be open every weekend. During the summer months this will be from 11 am until 5 pm.
David Rooney, the curator of time keeping at Greenwich Observatory, talks about Longplayer in his January 2009 podcast.
Longplayer also gets a mention in his appearance on Radio 4′sSaturday Live
A live performance of a 1000 minute section of Longplayer is currently in the planning stages.
It will be played on a 25 metre wide instrument made up of six concentric circles of Tibetan Singing Bowls.
Based on Jem Finer’s graphic score for 234 bowls and six players, the concert is scheduled to take place at The Roundhouse in Chalk Farm, London, on September 12th 2009. The 1000 minute long concert will start at 08.20 am and finish the following morning at 01.00 am.
In order to fund the building of this instrument and the production of the event, The Longplayer Trust is inviting donations on a bowl-by-bowl basis. When you fund a bowl, it will be engraved with a word of your choice and a premium ticket for the performance will be reserved in your name.